Itzy Bitzy, my first build.

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planejob

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I've always wanted to build my own go kart. I had one as a kid that was way too fast for the space we had to ride it, mom compelled us to sell it, and that was it. I've tinkered with Mo-peds, minibikes, scooters, motorcycles, cars, etc. But I've never welded up my own go kart.

My five year old daughter is the perfect excuse for me to build a kart - and she's small, so the kart can be small, and a small kart can be a good first welding project... right?

I downloaded the Itzy Bitzy plans from Spidercarts.com and if I am successful in this build I am going to build the Recluse. Now, I realize that purchasing somebody's old kart off of Craigslist (I looked at several), or wherever, is much cheaper - but I want to be able to say, "Yeah, I built that."

I bought 17 dollars worth of steel this morning and started cutting and grinding. I've got the whole frame cut out and laid out on the garage floor.

Pictures soon.
 
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Welcome to the forum. Geez is everybody from Texas!
Your plan sounds cool. I have one bit of advice. You have the frame "laid out on the Garage floor" Do you have a good flat steel top table, You need a perfectly flat surface so that the frame comes out square, level, plumb, true etc. etc. You want to be able to say "Yeah, I built that." Heck yeah you do. I speak from experience I built a big hunk of junk last year and I had to mumble and say uh i built that.
Hope fully someone else weighs in here and either backs me up or has a better idea of how to keep things straight.
 
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planejob

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planejob

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I do not have a steel table. The garage floor is all concrete and level, so it will have to do.

In the pictures above the rear tubes are laid out incorrectly - I've not started welding yet so I will fix them.
 
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planejob

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Perhaps a moderator could move this whole thread to the "builds" section?

Welding! It's awesome! I am using my Northern Tool Flux core (only) wire feed welder and after practicing on a few scraps I finally figured out that the tension was way too low on the wire feed - other than that I just set the machine to the recommended settings for 14ga steel and it worked fine. I took a 5lb sledge to a few of my practice welds and they held up, even the ugly ones held up.

Some welds were pretty, most were pretty ugly. I welded small sections at a time so I could check the squareness of the frame. All of the joints were eventually welded all the way around.

It's quite obvious which of the wleds came later - they aren't as hideous as the first ones. I eventually found a position where the gun rested on left hand while the right hand pulled the trigger. It worked for me.

Like I told my friend when I showed him this, "I am no kind of welder, but I am some kind of grinder!"



All of the parts to complete the kart will be in this week. I'm going to use a 79cc Harbor Freight engine, geared down through a jackshaft assembly to an 18:1 final ratio. It'll have a 4" band brake.

As you can see in the picture above I added an additional cross brace 8" behind the front axle. My daughter does not have legs that are long enough to wrap around the steering shaft brace as depicted in the plans so I added this and will weld a vertical tube once the final height is determined.
 
chancer

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Poboy kartman said:
Is that just my eyes....or is the spindle bracket tube on the right hand side 3/4" longer than the left????
Click to expand...

That is strange. I noticed it yesterday when he had all the pieces mocked up on the garage floor. I just figured it was because nothing was welded yet.
Planejob. We are not picking on you. :thumbsup:I know how it feels when someone points out your flaws, But better to know now than later if there is an error.
But actually that thing is lookin pretty good.:thumbsup:
 
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planejob

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You guys had me really second guessing myself! I was at a child's birthday party and couldn't go check... I kept thinking "man, I couldn't be off by 3/4 of an inch, no way!"

So I made it home, got my kid put in bed, and headed out to the garage to check. First, I agree - the picture makes the front right spindle tube look longer. This only added to my stress.

Also, the front "bumper" does not line up exactly with the longitudinal frame rails, not in the plans nor in real life. This gave me **** during the welding because even when I measured it and centered it several times it still 'looked' wrong. So this, combined with Chancer's comment also added to my stress.

Luckily for me I am just as bad a photographer as I am a welder. The spindle tubes are both 4" from the frame rail. They are within 6 hundredths of an inch of being equal. It's the picture! :wai:
 
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Sorry to freak you out.:oops: But it made for a good story.:lolgoku:
Glad to here everything is good.:thumbsup:
 
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planejob

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After being out on travel all of last week I made it home, and made some progress.
I'm currently researching the proper angle to separate/overlap my tie-rods on my steering pitman arm to achieve Ackermann steering.

Some details:
It's a Harbor Freight 79cc engine. "Logo Delete"
The driven wheel's axle is 7", and that's 2" too long. It will be cut off and replaced.
The 5/8" shaft on the engine really is 5/8", I was worried it would be 16mm as some have reported.
The gearing is a 10 tooth clutch to a 32 tooth jackshaft input, a 10 tooth jackshaft output to a 60 tooth drive sprocket.
It looks like I need a smaller drive sprocket or a larger set of rear wheels - clearance is tight.
YES, the front has camber built it - 8 degrees on each side. just for fun (and because hellaflush).
I haven't figured out the brake yet.








I'm looking forward to my DIY Go Karts stickers to remark the engine!
 
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Phew. I'm sure glad I made my frame pretty close to square haha.

From a constructive criticism stand point it personally seems like you're in a hurry to get this done. That's fine but from what I have learned rushing through one step usually ends up in another take longer than it should have.

Either way id try to fix that alignment a little, the camber and toe might be too much to overcome when driving it.
 
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planejob

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Vartz04 said:
Either way id try to fix that alignment a little, the camber and toe might be too much to overcome when driving it.
Click to expand...

I did the camber on purpose. Currently, there's no toe angle - the steering isn't hooked up, the tie-rods have never even been bolted on. I drew out a couple of pitman arms

If the camber doesn't work out I'll cut it off and re-do it. It's kind of like the "hot rod wagons" - they look cool, but maybe aren't the most practical. The excessive camber just seems like a fun idea to me - that's why I built it on my kart.
 
Poboy kartman

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Planejob....Your slight inaccuracies in the frame shouldn't matter that much....it will track just a bit sideways....but that won't hurt anything...

The camber is excessive though, and I doubt you will be happy with it and it will make it harder to steer....

I apologize for the way I responded....I actually missed the part where you said you would cut it off and redoit if you didn't like it...and I just took the posting of that car pic and your response the wrong way...

My bad all the way....sorry..
 
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