Two-wheel drive velomobile. Drawing, description

PERSONAL TRANSPORT: GROUND, WATER, AIR
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Two wheel drive velomobile. Personal transport

Personal transport: land, water, air

Directory / Personal transport: land, water, air

With the fact that the velomobile is good for health, I think no one will argue. Well, for lovers of technical creativity, it is doubly useful, as it allows you to gain invaluable experience before creating more serious designs. The velomobile, which will be discussed, was designed and manufactured in the workshop of the station of young technicians (SYUT) of our city, together with the guys from the circles. I must say that the idea of creating it came to me much earlier, and therefore I prepared the materials and most of the spare parts (in particular, wheels) myself, at my own expense. True, both the wheels and the materials were mostly picked up from abandoned bicycles, so the costs were not so great.

Two-wheel drive velomobile

Velomobile - double, four-wheeled. The front wheels are steering, the rear wheels are driving. The crew has two pedal drives - each for its own wheel.

Velomobile frame - welded, two-spar scheme. However, both spars and the front cross member are made as one piece - curved from a pipe with an outer diameter of 40 mm - from the handrail of a decommissioned city bus. The ends of the spars are bent upwards and, together with the traverses welded to them, serve as supports for the seat backs.

A rear cross member is welded between the supports of the seat backs - it serves as the upper support for the suspension units (springs and hydraulic shock absorber) of the rear axle.

The front support of the seats themselves is a low portal, supported by its uprights on both spars and also connecting them. In its middle, a handbrake handle is mounted, and at the ends of the crossbar there are gearshift levers.

The rear axle is of a rather unusual design. Its basis is a closed subframe, welded from the arches of the backs of metal beds. On its sides, the axle shafts of the drive wheels with a three-speed block of drive sprockets are fixed in bearings.

Double, four-wheeled, two-wheel drive velomobile with soft suspension of all wheels

Double, four-wheeled, two-wheel drive velomobile with soft suspension of all wheels (items pos. 7, 12, 14, 29, 30 are made of a pipe with a diameter of 40 from the bus handrails) (click to enlarge): 1 - front wheel (modified from the Kama bicycle ); 2 - rotary fist; 3 - steering shaft (duralumin tube O20); 4 - support stand with steering shaft sleeve; 5 - pedal assembly (from a road bike, 2 pcs.); 6 - steering wheel; 7 - portal (steel pipe O40); 8 - springs of the rear suspension (from the Karpaty moped, 2 pcs.); 9 - rear wheel (from the bicycle "Ural", 2 pcs.); 10 - hand brake caliper; 11 - hand brake disc; 12 - frame; 13 - rotary fist; 14 - front axle beam; 15 - transverse steering rod; 16 - interwheel tie rod; 17 - steering gear (rack gear); 18 - seat; 19 - hand brake handle; 20 - drive chain (from a road bike, extended, 2 pcs.); 21 - gearshift lever (from a touring bike, 2 pcs.); 22 - longitudinal rods of the rear axle subframe (corner 35x35, 2 pcs.); 23 - cross member of longitudinal rods (steel, circle 10); 24 - scarf (2 pcs.); 25 - rear wheel drive (2 pcs.); 26 - rear axle subframe; 27 - half shaft bearing shelf (corner 35x35, 2 pcs.); 28 - hand brake caliper stand; 29 - traverses of seat backs (2 pcs.); 30 - rear cross member; 31 - rolling axis of the subframe; 32 - hydraulic shock absorber (from the Verkhovyna moped); 33 - seat base (duralumin, sheet s 1,5, 2 pcs.); 34 - seat lining (foam rubber, sheet s30, 2 pcs.); 35 - cover (nylon fabric, 2 pieces); 36 - mounting bracket for the seat base (steel, sheet s1, 4 pcs.); 37 - fastening the base of the seat (M6 bolt, 4 pcs.); 38 - hub-hub with rear wheel flanges; 39 - screw M12x30 with a washer for fastening the rear wheel; 40 - threaded bushing M10 (2 pcs.); 41 - axle tip (M10 bolt, 2 pcs.); 42 - washer (nylon s3, 4 pcs.)

Rear wheel drive (click to enlarge): 1 - rear wheel hub; 2 - rear axle subframe; 3 - bearing No. 203; 4 - bearing housing No. 203; 5 - axle shaft; 6 - bearing housing No. 202; 7 - bearing No. 202; 8 - block of stars; 9 - bearing No. up to 201; 10 - anti-dust washer; 11 - ratchet; 12 - body of the block of stars; 13 - spacer distance ring; 14 - retaining ring; 15 - locking sleeve; 16 - nut M12; 17 - dog; 18 - return spring; 19 - pin; 20 - bearing shelves; 21 - cover; 22 - chipper

The parking brake disc is mounted (welded) on the left axle shaft. The service brakes are caliper and act on the front wheels. The subframe is connected to the frame (to be more precise, to the portal) by means of a oscillating axle and two oblique levers made of an equal-shelf corner No. 2,5.

Front wheel suspension - independent on springs. The springs are placed in the bushings of the steering knuckle axles. The suspension travel is small, and it absorbs only small bumps in the road. Therefore, to mitigate the impact from larger irregularities, soft rubber bumpers (thick washers) are also installed on the axle on both sides of the bushings.

Rear wheel suspension - "semi-independent". The subframe is suspended on springs (from the Karpaty moped) with a hydraulic shock absorber from the Verkhovyna moped. The wheels of the car are different. The front ones are from the Kama bike, the rear ones are from the Ural bike. But both of them are redone: they have replaced the hub bushings with longer ones (twice as long).

It should be noted that the assembly of the wheel is not an easy task, and a jig was made to facilitate this operation. A circle with a diameter equal to the wheel rim was cut out of a sheet of plywood, and four uprights-stops with a height equal to the part of the bushing protruding beyond the rim were fixed along its circumference. Then a new (elongated) bushing was fixed with a bolt with a spacer in the center of the plywood circle and the wheel was equipped with spokes - first the spoke was inserted into the hole in the hub flange, and then its end was inserted into the hole in the rim and baited with a slight stretch. After installing all the spokes, the wheel was removed from the jig and the spokes were finally tightened with a check for the absence of the "eight" in the wheel.

The front wheels are swivel. The steering is homemade. It consists of a steering wheel, a tubular shaft and a rack-and-pinion steering mechanism with a tie rod. The rail and the rod end are connected by a ball joint. The other end of the rod is connected to the steering knuckle lever of the right wheel, and another one goes from it to the left wheel - an interwheel steering rod. On the front wheels are mounted and caliper working (travel) brakes.

Velomobile drive - pedal. The driver and passenger each have their own, three-speed, independent. Three gear speeds are enough to move on any rough terrain. But it should be recognized that with an empty mass of a velomobile of 55 kg, it is difficult for one person to pedal even at the lowest speed when moving uphill.

Pedal assemblies are cut as an assembly from old road bike frames and welded at a convenient distance from the seats to the spars. The three-speed rear axle sprocket blocks are homemade, and only the sprockets themselves are used from a touring bike. Homemade and tensioner-switch drive chain.

Steering rack and pinion (click to enlarge): 1 - rack; 2 - bushing (bronze); 3 - mechanism body; 4 - gear; 5 - nut M6; 6 - cover; 7 - ball pin; 8 - M4 bolt (4 pcs.); 9 - locknut M12; 10 - threaded tip; 11 - rod (pipe Ø16)

Front wheel steering knuckle: 1 - wheel spoke; 2 - hub-sleeve; 3 - bearing No. up to 201 (2 pcs.); 4 - nut M10 with washer; 5 - axis; 6 - bearing No. up to 202; 7 - nut M12; 8 - bushing (bronze, 2 pieces); 9 - bushing of the front axle beam; 10 - spring; 11 - front axle beam; 12 - bump stop (rubber washer, s5); 13 - axis; 14 - bracket; 15 - washers

Jig for wheel assembly (click to enlarge): 1 - base (plywood s10); 2 - remote sleeve (4 pcs.); 3 - wheel rim; 4 - wheel speed; 5 - bushing; 6 - bushing flange (2 pcs.); 7 - bolt M10; 8 - washer (2 pcs.); 9 - nut M10

The crew seats are homemade. Their base, attached at four points to the frame elements, is made of 1,5 mm thick duralumin sheet. A lining is laid on the base - a foam rubber mat, which is covered with a cover made of bright nylon fabric.

On a long journey, I usually took a plastic cape, with which I covered other necessary things packed in the trunk. The trunk was a mesh stretched between the spars and the beam of the front axle in the bow of the crew (not shown in the drawing, but clearly visible in the photograph).

I also note that to connect the various elements of the frame and suspensions into a single structure, I used a household welding machine, and most of the small rotation details (axles, bushings, etc.) were machined on a small school lathe.

I confess that in addition to business trips, I used a velomobile for two seasons (during the warm season) to travel to work and back home. In addition, on weekends he made trips to nature on it with his wife or brother.

After two years of operation, the D-4 engine was installed on the velomobile, and specifically on its rear left wheel, and its other "life" as a "motor vehicle" began. It is this version of the velomobile converted into a motorcycle crew that is shown in the photo.

Author: A.Matvejchuk

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