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hey I was inspired by all you serious people and I decided to do something serious myself. I love love love watching the amazing work that goes on in AI and I finally made the leap from reading to doing. I have not been gainfully employed since 2013, when I quit a stressful tech support job and then we adopted. Now I'm a stay at home dad with a 3 year old. Not having any money (that I earned myself) sucks. Feeling guilty when buy guitar strings or whatever was getting old. So, I started looking at nextdoor.com for any random mechanical/design/handyman things I can do. I've got an associates degree in drafting (like, with vellum and ink on mylar, yes, I am kind of aged) and a background in marine structural design and computer systems administration. I've always been pretty handy but never really pushed it. I've done lots of household things ( a kitchen from demolition to finish, a basement from nothing to bathroom, music studio and TV room) and lots of other random stuff. Seeing magicians (Kevbarlas, Sockington, Slung Blade, and their ilk) inspired me. I found a guy who needed someone to design a pedicab/tricycle as a platform to sell Italian Ice. I designed it in Sketchup, made him some renderings and drawings and he got someone else to build it for him. He got taken advantage of by the fabricator and I ended up fixing and finishing all the stuff he did wrong. (No way to fill potable water tank, no way to empty grey water tank, tanks not secured to anything really, pump location wrong, etc, etc, etc) Then he asked me to build a roadgoing trailer to sell italian ice from. This is the story of that trailer. Here we go! Design criteria: 10' ish overall length, as low as possible to the ground, 35 gallons of potable water, 39 gallons of grey water storage, electric water heater, 120v pump, 19 can commercial freezer unit original design -  I'm actually finished with it, and did not get to post while doing it, because the schedule collapsed and instead of a 120 day project it became a 53 day project. Anyhow, with the initlal capital, I purchased some tools!!!  I got a big boy tool cabinet and babies first welder! yay!  Hey, this is pretty cool! Welding is neat!  It's not pretty, but it looks like a good butt joint
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Jun 2, 2017 04:41
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 19:41 |
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I remember the horrortricycle. Looking forward to the next instalment, hopefully with less horror!
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Jun 2, 2017 06:03
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Came expecting a trailer for Vanilla Ice's upcoming feature film. Left... not entirely disappointed. Let's see the finished trailer.
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Jun 2, 2017 21:39
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Welding IS neat!   I have that same welder, haven't used it yet.
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Jun 2, 2017 21:51
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Ok, imgur now happy again. Welding school continues, D's get degrees, amirite?  Man, you run out of scrap metal really really fast dinking around with welding. Better get some HEAVY METAL!!! (About $150 worth of heavy metal actually)  And we're off to the races. Snail races maybe  Of course, I realize later that a jigsaw is not best tool for cutting 3" X 3" X 3/16".
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Jun 3, 2017 00:22
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I'll show finished trailer at the end. The project link has the sketchup model and the finished picture I welded the first actual frame pieces and felt a great relief: this can actually happen, I might not get hurt while doing it, and it might not spontaneously disintegrate after I complete it. Onwards and upwards! Well, uprights anyway made of 1" X 1" X 3/16" Angle.  Learning curve: welding can cause fires, stuff I just welded is really hot, and safety goggles feel kind of like a welding helmet until you pull the trigger. Fortunately, fire was small (rag on floor), spray bottle of soap and water helps to cool things / clean things, and it only took one incidence of not wearing welding helmet for me to get with the program.  Starting to look like a thing. Well a box or maybe an old school aquarium.  We had seen pictures of an ice cream trailer with curved ends, and I resolved to incorporate curved ends into our design. Hulk bend steel bar! Actually did not require hulk strength and was kind of fun.  I ended up using a "universal" wrench as a metal working tool, first time that wrench was actually useful for anything.  Things to keep in mind: I am doing all of this either in 30 minute shots during the day while daughter is watching Netflix, or late at night after kitchen cleanup. I did have several Saturdays where I put in like 6 hours in a row, but honestly about 3-4 hours of this is all I need. That welder worked pretty good for $169 from HF; on the other hand, my alley neighbor has equivalent Miller machine and haa haa wow what a difference in quality/feel. His Miller setup was $1000~ but he also had gas bottles and stuff. some_admin fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Jun 3, 2017 |
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Jun 3, 2017 04:54
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All right finally got some help out here. Man, I am board.  That was fun, but now i have to figure out the front end. I want it very clean, nothing sticking out but the crank handle for the trailer jack and the hitch coupler. Metal warehouse did not have 3' X 3" X 3/16" Square Bar. Fortunately I still have some 3" X 3" angle!   Had to cut the bolt legs off the trailer jack, then precarious clamp city until I could tack it.    Finally a milestone that looks like something. PRIMER! 
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Jun 4, 2017 17:28
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Fun derail stuff, I am also keeping the tricycle on the road while building the trailer. Tricycle is a little delicate: Me - " don't go fast, treat the trike like overweight grandma with bad ankles, knees hips", 5 mph is probably all you ever need here" Him - "I made a sharp turn going into a curb, no, no no, I was being careful" (and then he kept trying to roll on down the road until the tire scrubbed against the frame and burst a sidewall)  There were odd noises from the very beginning and Funny shifting Then -   He got a bike guy to rebuild the cassette, I have enough problems.
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Jun 4, 2017 17:42
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Time for some Fatbike tires????
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Jun 5, 2017 01:03
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Find a steel place near you and call and ask if they do drop steel sales I have a place where I call one dude, go in on a thursday or friday, and come out with all sorts of metal. Long channels, boxes, plates, anything really; little stuff that comes in handy all the time too. It's all cut-offs and leftovers they're going to scrap out after using parts of them for fabrications they're doing or to meet contract requirements. I never pay more than $20 for a small pallet loaded up, and they forklift it for me.
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Jun 5, 2017 02:41
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caulking end panels in place. getting ready for a slide. Neighbors came be and helped me, and we emptied it first, so not too bad really.  Then I realized I needed to paint before I dropped the freezer in  Weights and balance! I didn't know where exactly the drop axle assembly was going to go, so I had to load the cart with most of its parts and then move the axle around to get 9-15% on tongue weight. Throw the tanks in, fill up the potable tank, throw all the plumbing stuff in the back. I think it is around 11%, on tongue (80lbs) and you can adjust it by filling/draining the potable and grey water tanks.  That worked ok, so on to the next challenge. Low budget butcherblock! Namely salvaged bowling alley. I was kind of worried because I thought it would be difficult (maple or something) but it cut like butter. Unfortunately, IIG bought it without supervision so it is super cupped.     Crap, we still need a piece of butcherblock for the front deck JBWeld, clamps and enthusiasm save the day.   Plumbing next: 1/4 turn after cementing is the key with PVC
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Jun 7, 2017 15:22
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Cool build, man. That butcher block is going to look neat.
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Jun 7, 2017 17:46
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Thanks for the compliments. I tried to do a proper job on it. I was getting an hourly rate so I didn't have to rush except for unrealistic client expectations. Yah, he got some kind of tougher tires/wheels, with an animal name. Will check them next time it comes in. Freezer trailer is actually back in my garage tomorrow, his ex-business partner backed over the wiring after not catching the ball in the hitch. Detour: Prequel to "Ice Ice Baby... Trailer" - "Cold as Ice, willing to Sacrifice (the center of gravity), the Italian Ice Tricycle Trailer" IIG was inspired to have a trailer to drag the tricycle around on top of. Took my best shot on craigslist on IIG behalf, I think this was $100 but maintained by a A/P mechanic and RC hobbyist, so it had good bones:             First operational deployment - picking up tricycle after wheel incident 
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Jun 7, 2017 21:30
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All righty. Freezer installed, bolted in   Such a relief at that point! Lets lay some pipe!    Hatches are here, let's put em in!   Front deck going in  Back deck       Glass is up!  plumbing continues   The actual attaching of the axles got missed in the shuffle: it actually went very quickly. If your not familiar with them, these are drop axle assemblies from Etrailer.com. This set is rated for 1350 lbs and lets me put the bottom edge of the frame at ~6.5". 6 1/2" holes, cut a 2" X 2" square bar to fit across, drill 2 more 1/2" holes and then bolt it on! I could have welded it, but bolting it let me finish the rest of the assembly.   Fore & Aft Yay another new tool purchase. I found the next challenge riveting. (pun) I like airplanes and the concept of monocoque structure as much as the next guy, but Italian Ice Freezer Trailer seemed like a hazardous candidate, with high density and large amount of mass. So, I just sheathed the nose and empennage with aluminum. (At this writing the final attachments are yet to be installed.) Challenge: no sheet metal brake, learning curve about spring/bend allowance for aluminum, lack of suitable work surface. Pros: Aluminum is so soft, especially after you've been cutting steel.     wrapped up the Sink 
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Jun 8, 2017 15:58
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 19:41 |
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ok. front sheet metal with holes for ventilation, winch  Lights    Delivered!  Graphics!  He took it away May 15. Hurrah, glad to have that done. Trailer is back in garage as of this writing to repair wiring harness after he ran over it. Also I noticed he's bottomed out the suspension a few times. Ouch. Also to attach dune-buggy style hold downs on the rear sheet metal, and LED lighting to make it interesting at night. Also to build a travel cover to fit the top and cover everything up and keep it from getting dirty/smashed to bits. I'll be wrecking some aluminum making radius corners.
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Jun 12, 2017 18:01
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