Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Building The Frame



Here are pics of the central frame that I have welded so far. You can see the bottom bracket shell (where the cranks attach) on the lower right side of the picture directly above.

Above you can see the central frame mounted on the two bike frames that are being used for the majority of structural support. Below is a side view of the same thing.
Below is a picture of the jig an I used to build the frame. This jig was constructed by a Metal Shop Aide, Thomas, who got his plans off of instructables.com. Thomas is also pictured below and I would like to put a special thank you out to Thomas, your help will be rewarded 10 fold in hazelnut butter!

Practicing


To get some practice welding thin walled steel tubes I cut up old frames and practiced putting them back together. After cutting up and re-welding frames I started to get creative and make some sculptures. Here's a picture of a garden guardian I welded a few weeks ago. It is made out of a stiff mountain bike fork.

Monday, May 18, 2009

I wrote a business venture plan to apply for a grant in the Dell Social Innovation Competition. If you are curious about the machine, check out the business plan.

Building the Model


Here are some pictures of building the model at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, Oregon. Thanks to Tyler's roomate kate, I was able to bring my invention from a 2 dimensional drawing to life. First we made two little model bike frames, you can see the shape of the frames in the cart pictures. Then we made a model man that was about the right size to ride the bikes and stuck 'em together. Thanks Kate!