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Bicycle trailer for heavy cargo

by andrea biffi on July 29, 2014

Table of Contents

Bicycle trailer for heavy cargo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: Bicycle trailer for heavy cargo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: Frame material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 2: A sketch of the project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Step 3: Refining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 4: Welding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 5: Dropouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 6: Place the dropouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Step 7: Weld dropouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Step 8: Wood box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 9: Mini-wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 10: The hinge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Step 11: Load it up! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-trailer-for-heavy-cargo/
 Author:andrea biffi www.andreabiffi.com
I'm an Italian freelance structural engineer, graphic designer and photographer. I'm also investigating electronics, robotics and science in general. I enjoy
hacking and disassembling as much as designing... I love cycling, running, hikink, traveling in any way and taking spherical and gigapixel panoramas of
cityscapes and landscapes. I wish to have enough time to turn into instructables every my brainchild... but I still have to invent the time-machine!

Intro: Bicycle trailer for heavy cargo

If you need to transport heavy cargo with your bike you can build a tough trailer like the one I helped to build in Piubici for the Bricheco girl.

You only need a pair of small bicycle wheels and some steel profiles, and of course a basic welding know-how.

Step 1: Frame material

To obtain cool and easy to weld steel bars I suggest you to look for a used old bed frame. Since in last years people love to sleep on wood staves, you probably will not
have any difficulty to find those metal frames. And of course you will keep the springs for your next project!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-trailer-for-heavy-cargo/
Step 2: A sketch of the project
You can see that this trailer frame has been designed to match the wood box dimensions. Anyway you can go through the inverse process, build a frame you like, then
make a box with the right dimensions.

Draw a fast sketch, and note all the measures you need. This is very important to avoid mistakes. Notice that I used the bed corners to become the trailer corners, that is
very useful since you will need to only weld straight pieces.

Then ,using a grinding machine, cut the bed frame in the pieces you need. Try to make straight cuts and to keep the blade orthogonal to the bar, to do that help yourself
with paper tape.. After cut a piece mark it with paper tape to recognize it. place crossed pieces of tape to mark remains.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-trailer-for-heavy-cargo/
Step 3: Refining
Having all the pieces cut, place them all together, referring to your project. All pieces have to touch one each-other almost perfectly. The more the lengths are precise the
more will be easy to weld them. If you find out that a bar is too long change the blade of the grinder and with the thicker blade smooth and shorten the bars.

Now with the same grinder blade remove all the painting around the extremities of all the bars, and also on the surfaces corresponding to the welding points. You cannot
weld on the paint.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-trailer-for-heavy-cargo/
Step 4: Welding
Place all the pieces on a flat surface, and safe to welding. Then measure all dimensions and also diagonals to be sure that the frame parts are exactly in the right
position, as previously decided in the design.

Be careful since the first weld joints will pull the metal and change the angles. You can adjust the angles pulling and pushing the welded pieces, then continue the work
with the edge pieces. Then you can wedge the other parts in, so to weld them very handy.

To make a perfect welding the best way is to have a good teacher ;-) anyway there are a few rules to follow.

Try to not use a thick electrode, usually these tubes have a very thin surface and it's very common make an hole while welding with 2 mm or bigger electrodes.

Step 5: Dropouts
You can make the dropouts from a thick steel par. Follow the schematic to understand the process steps.

At first cut four holes at the same distances (about 4 - 5 cm) then cut at half distance between them, and finally with the grinder cutting blade remove the metal pieces to
open the little forks.

After the cutting process, place all the dropouts together in a big vise, and refine them so that they all have the same shape.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-trailer-for-heavy-cargo/
Step 6: Place the dropouts
The dropouts have to stay aligned together and with the frame orientation, while soldering. The best way to do that is to squeeze them between nuts along a threaded
metal bar, possibly with the same diameter of the wheels bar.

The distance between the dropouts depends on the wheels you wish to use. In my case is abut 9-9.5 cm. Use 10 cm if you want to use 26" wheels.

Step 7: Weld dropouts

Also in this occasion the first welding joints will pull the metal, so be careful to keep the bar strongly connected to the frame. Weld the dropouts and complete all the
welding process. Now you can remove the threaded bar and check that the wheels fit well.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-trailer-for-heavy-cargo/
Step 8: Wood box
The wood box is not difficult to build. In this case we added metal profiles to protect the wood edges.

Step 9: Mini-wheels
Four mini-wheels will be very useful in two ways. They act as locker to keep the box steady on the metal frame, and they will let you moving the box when you take it off
from the trailer.

It's very important that you secure the wheels in the right position with strong screws. To determine the exact positions flip the box upside-down, flip the frame too, and
place it on the box. As you can see in red in the drawing the four corners are very good places where to screw the mini-wheels.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-trailer-for-heavy-cargo/
Step 10: The hinge
The hinge has to be very strong, to avoid to lose the cargo on the street. A good way is to use two chain rings, gripped in two pieces of metal pipe.

The long bar soldered at the pipe extremity will keep the hinge firm when attached to the bike axle.

To avoid that chain makes a bothersome clacking with the bike movement you can add a spring (one from the bed frame) which keeps the two rings in contact.

Step 11: Load it up!

Now place the wood box on the frame and load it to test the strength and stability. As you can see in the cover picture you can also carry a person if you wish! Enjoy!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-trailer-for-heavy-cargo/
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http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-trailer-for-heavy-cargo/