Arachnid Build

[Silvergrizz]

Bob,

A word to the wise, ...

Be very, very careful welding those 68* pieces, ... They move, ... a lot. Go very, very sloooooo.

I did, as per your suggestion. It was along day today. I tack welded 1/4 in at a time to keep things from moving.

OH, ... I almost forgot to tell you, .. when welding the suspension block, ... on the open end, (rear of the block) tack weld a piece to keep them from closing in on you. They start bending right in the steering rack cross member piece.

I clamped a spacer about 2/3 of the way back just to prevent that, seems to have worked out OK.

The A-arms are all welded up and the suspension block is about half done. Taking the slow and easy path here also.

I sanded down one of the A-Arms to check for warp-age. After sanding, I laid it out on the table saw, which is a nice flat surface, and Flat as a pancake. It's been a good day. Attached are a couple of pictures of the finished A-arm, just have to weld the heim joint nut in tomorrow.

 

[T-man]

I tell you what, when you get this done , do a video and put it on youtube and then post it here. I don't know if you guys know this, But it is an unwritten rule here on diy that a build log is never done untill there is a video of it ripping around. If this is not done then we all ban together and send you a box full of dirty sox.

 

[Silvergrizz]

I tell you what, when you get this done , do a video and put it on youtube and then post it here. I don't know if you guys know this, But it is an unwritten rule here on diy that a build log is never done untill there is a video of it ripping around. If this is not done then we all ban together and send you a box full of dirty sox.

T-man, It will be done. I just ordered one of those Go Pro cameras yesterday that you talked about in one of your videos. Did the research and was quite impressed with the little thing. Should have it next week. I should have a rolling chassis by the end if this week, just need to work out the engine and jackshaft mount for a powered rolling chassis. I plan on mounting the camera to the front of the kart and taking it for a run on a 4 wheeler trail.

 

[Silvergrizz]

Grizz, I do my a arm jigs a little different. I find the 3 important positions, 2 pivot points and the rod end. Then the rest of the tubing can be a little off here and there.

Theo, hopefully the end result will be the same. I plan on assembling the bushings for the pivot points and clamping them to the suspension block, then I will bring up the A-arms and tack weld them to the bushings. As for the rod ends, I figure there will be enough adjustment between the ends and spacers at the pivot points to attain what alignment I require. Since this is my first crack at this, am I missing anything here? :toetap05:

 

[Silvergrizz]

Nice work Grizz, I'll be "borrowing" that idea for mine

Wobbly, glad I could help. Let me know how it works out.

 

[T-man]

COOL ... those go pro's are good , the one and only thing that I dont like about them is that you can't talk into a mike and have the camera record that also. something like that would have to be done seperatly with a differant device then put the two together in a video editing program like windows movie maker.

which camera did you get? I went with the older 5mps 170 deg. wide angle. you'll also need to get AAA batterys and an SD card.
You might want to put variouse mounts in differant places to show differant views.

Oh one more thing when mounting them make sure that its a solid spot on the main frame. It might be cool to weld on a bar with a flat plate to the back rest to give an over the shoulder shot.

 

[r97]

have you guys had any experience with helmet cams? i see tons of adds for them in my rock-climbing magazines (obviously),lol

 

[Silvergrizz]

T-man, I got the newest version, 5mps HD with lithium battery and a sdhc card. I have an old tripod mount that I plan to attach to the cart. I also got the tripod mount for the camera. I don't really trust those stick on mounts for a gokart. The kit comes with a bunch of different mounts, thought I might try one up high on the roll bar as well, if it clears my head. I also like what you did, putting the camera out on a mount in front of the kart. So I am going to try different locations for sure. What software do you edit your footage with? I don't see where any comes with the camera.

 

[T-man]

Sure, the software that I use is the windows movie maker. Those sticker mounts are tuff, the sticky stuff that they put on those are like super glue. so if you ever do use one make sure that you have it in the right spot. I have noticed that there is a little bit of play between the mount on the camera and placement mount , (the slide together point) you'll understand when you get them. But when that is happening to me I use a piece of paper between them and that snugs it up.
its kind of hard to explain without it sitting infront of you but you'll understand when you get it.

r97 yes I have seen those helmet cameras also, some look really good but the ones that I saw didn't seem to offer all the variouse mounts that the go pro did. Plus some of there prices were a little to high.

 

[Silvergrizz]

I don't like the looks of this. Bill, did you center your upper rear A-Arm in the spindle bracket? There will not be enough room to get a nut on if I do this. Bottom rack is OK, but upper rack is back set by 1/2". Only solution I can see off center that back bracket for clearance. Pictures attached.

I can gain a little by removing that outside washer, but then I would need to grind that nut to about 1/2 thickness to make it fit in the current configuration

 

[Wobbly]

Oh dear. Easiest way out of that is to grind the head of the bolt down and put the bolt in from the other side. The front block looks a little short, how long is it?

EDIT - That's a stupid idea because you'll never get the bolt out once the front block is welded to the frame.

EDIT EDIT - You could move the brackets towards the front and move the A frames further back on the bushings to compensate.

 

[Silvergrizz]

I've been studying that last picture and I realized I could gain .30 of an inch just by removing the back washer and moving the inside back washer to the other inside. Those washers are .15" thick each. If I offset the bracket by another
.20", then I will have gained the 1/2 I lost because of the back set.

Still like to hear from you Bill, what you did to get around this.

 

[gokart14]

I don't like the looks of this. Bill, did you center your upper rear A-Arm in the spindle bracket? There will not be enough room to get a nut on if I do this. Bottom rack is OK, but upper rack is back set by 1/2". Only solution I can see off center that back bracket for clearance. Pictures attached.

I can gain a little by removing that outside washer, but then I would need to grind that nut to about 1/2 thickness to make it fit in the current configuration

how did you notch the square tubing. iam doing the same thing for the suspension and dont now how to notch it

 

[Bill CNC]

I've been studying that last picture and I realized I could gain .30 of an inch just by removing the back washer and moving the inside back washer to the other inside. Those washers are .15" thick each. If I offset the bracket by another
.20", then I will have gained the 1/2 I lost because of the back set.

Still like to hear from you Bill, what you did to get around this.

Bob,

Ok, ... I suspected this would be the case. :toetap05:

My bushings are centered in the brackets, and I also tweaked the 68* slightly. The spread between the brackets are supposed to be 5.0". Knowing this guy cant draw plans for , ... I made the spread on mine 4.5". I also was going to modify the way the passenger section of the frame mounts up front. I was going to come off of the front with 4.0" long piece running out at a 45* angle then come out like the plan shows.

What is the height of your lock nuts?

I have 1.0" space from the rear bracket ear to the open end of the tubing. I also am cutting the bolt length down to were only .125" sicks out past the lock nut. It should be fine.

Sorry for the lame cell phone picture, ... but your lucky, ... I took it to work today and I just pulled it out of the paint boot after a coat of primer.

 

[Silvergrizz]

Bill, the height of the lock nuts is .535. I have .625 from the backi of the bracket to the main body. Just enough for a little paint.

The bottom brackets ended up at 5.125 apart, after modification, I got the top brackets on at 4.67" apart. Realistically, that whole front suspension support should be about 1/2" longer. I offset the rear A-arm in the spindle bracket by .20, hardly notice it, unless I point it out.

 

[Silvergrizz]

how did you notch the square tubing. iam doing the same thing for the suspension and dont now how to notch it

My original plan was to clamp the square tubing in a 2 way sliding vice on the drill press, then slowly cut the tubing in two, thus making two pieces at once, with 1" hole saw running as slow as I could and using a cutting oil. But, Bill had an extra set that he had made and decided not to use, so he shipped them to me, with my gratefull thanks.

 

[Bill CNC]

Hmmmm, ...Maybe I should start selling a few of those sets.

Here's one, ... "Oh - - Nid"

 

[Bill CNC]

My original plan was to clamp the square tubing in a 2 way sliding vice on the drill press, then slowly cut the tubing in two, thus making two pieces at once, with 1" hole saw running as slow as I could and using a cutting oil. But, Bill had an extra set that he had made and decided not to use, so he shipped them to me, with my gratefull thanks.

Ah common, ... I just wanted to pollute Canada!

 

[KieranM]

loving the build grizz, you take pride in what you do, love to see it

 

[Silvergrizz]

loving the build grizz, you take pride in what you do, love to see it

Thanks Kieran, from what I've seen on this site, I would say that applies to everyone.