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If you need to transport heavy cargo with your bike you can build a tough trailer like the one I helped to build in Piubici (http://www.piubici.org/) for the Bricheco(http://bricheco.wordpress.com/) girl.

You only need a pair of small bicycle wheels and some steel profiles, and of course a basic welding know-how.

(http://cdn.instructables.com/F4A/164P/HYC655LG/F4A164PHYC655LG.LARGE.jpg)

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To obtain cool and easy to weld steel bars I suggest you to look for a used oldbed frame. Since in last years people love to sleep on wood staves, youprobably will not have any difficulty to find those metal frames. And of courseyou will keep the springs for your next project (actually you need one for thehinge)!

tep 2: A sketch of the project

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Beauti ful acetonelamp f rom reused

The Remote Matc

Mistick - as in MistStick!

Every Day Carry(EDC) Book

LED Nametag Real Life SuperMario Concrete

Slicing with 123DMake

Levitating AcrylicWhiteboard Coffe

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You can see that this trailer frame has been designed to match the wood boxdimensions. Anyway you can go through the inverse process, build a frame youlike, then make a box with the right dimensions.

Draw a fast sketch, and note all the measures you need. This is very importantto avoid mistakes. Notice that I used the bed corners to become the trailer corners, that is very useful since you will need to only weld straight pieces.

Then ,using a grinding machine, cut the bed frame in the pieces you need. Tryto make straight cuts and to keep the blade orthogonal to the bar, to do that helpyourself with paper tape.. After cut a piece mark it with paper tape to recognizeit. place crossed pieces of tape to mark remains.

tep 3: Refining

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Having all the pieces cut, place them all together, referring to your project. Allpieces have to touch one each-other almost perfectly. The more the lengths areprecise the more will be easy to weld them. If you find out that a bar is too longchange the blade of the grinder and with the thicker blade smooth and shortenthe bars.

Now with the same grinder blade remove all the painting around the extremitiesof all the bars, and also on the surfaces corresponding to the welding points.You cannot weld on the paint.

tep 4: Welding(http://cdn.instructables.com/FUN/1TQ4/HY5NWUHD/FUN1TQ4HY5NWUHD.LARGE.jpg)

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Place all the pieces on a flat surface, and safe to welding. Then measure all

dimensions and also diagonals to be sure that the frame parts are exactly in theright position, as previously decided in the design.

Be careful since the first weld joints will pull the metal and change the angles.You can adjust the angles pulling and pushing the welded pieces, then continuethe work with the edge pieces. Then you can wedge the other parts in, so toweld them very handy.

To make a perfect welding(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shielded_metal_arc_welding) the best way is tohave a good teacher (http://roccosaldailmondo.blogspot.it/) ;-) anyway there area few rules to follow.

Try to not use a thick electrode, usually these tubes have a very thin surfaceand it's very common make an hole while welding with 2 mm or bigger electrodes.

Another way to avoid holes is to interrupt the arc every about half second,wait the same time, and make contact again, in that way you can regulatethe temperature of the fluid metal.If an hole appears you can close it, but it's not easy and it takes a lot of time(and material) so be careful to avoid holes.I found very difficult starting to weld with a new electrode, to avoid mistakesstart a new electrode on a test surface.If you have to weld thick metal pieces, like dropouts, increase the amperage,compared to welding two thin layers.

Avoid looking at the spark, always use good welding glasses or helmet, there

are very handy Auto Darkening Solar Welding Helmets(http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?

_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=Auto+Darkening+Solar+Welding+Helmet&_sop=12).Wear appropriate dresses: non-flammable gloves and coverall.

ALWAYS ASK TO SOMEONE EXPERT TO LEARN HOW TO WELDING, HIGHCURRENTS ARE VERY DANGEROUS!

tep 5: Dropouts

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You can make the dropouts from a thick steel par. Follow the schematic tounderstand the process steps.

At first cut four holes at the same distances (about 4 - 5 cm) then cut at half distance between them, and finally with the grinder cutting blade remove themetal pieces to open the little forks.

After the cutting process, place all the dropouts together in a big vise, and refinethem so that they all have the same shape.

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tep 6: Place the dropouts

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The dropouts have to stay aligned together and with the frame orientation, whilesoldering. The best way to do that is to squeeze them between nuts along athreaded metal bar, possibly with the same diameter of the wheels bar.

The distance between the dropouts depends on the wheels you wish to use. Inmy case is abut 9-9.5 cm. Use 10 cm if you want to use 26" wheels.

tep 7: Weld dropouts

Also in this occasion the first welding joints will pull the metal, so be careful tokeep the bar strongly connected to the frame. Weld the dropouts and completeall the welding process. Now you can remove the threaded bar and check thatthe wheels fit well.

Don't follow my example about the dress, remember, non-flammable gloves andcoverall!

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tep 8: Wood box

The wood box is not difficult to build. In this case we added metal profiles toprotect the wood edges.

tep 9: Mini-wheels

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Four mini-wheels will be very useful in two ways. They act as locker to keep the

box steady on the metal frame, and they will let you moving the box when youtake it off from the trailer.

It's very important that you secure the wheels in the right position with strongscrews. To determine the exact positions flip the box upside-down, flip the frametoo, and place it on the box. As you can see in red in the drawing the four corners are very good places where to screw the mini-wheels.

tep 10: The hinge

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The hinge has to be very strong, to avoid to lose the cargo on the street. A goodway is to use two chain rings, gripped in two pieces of metal pipe.

The long bar soldered at the pipe extremity will keep the hinge firm whenattached to the bike axle.

To avoid that chain makes a bothersome clacking with the bike movement youcan add a spring (one from the bed frame) which keeps the two rings in contact.

tep 11: Load it up!

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Now place the wood box on the frame and load it to test the strength and

stability. As you can see in the cover picture you can also carry a person if youwish! Enjoy!

tep 12: UPDATES

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I still have a few updates to do. As you can see I drilled some holes in the woodpanels, so to use them as handles.

Then I glued and screwed a red wood profile all around the edge, the wood

container now is more nice-looking in my opinion.

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Add also a bicycle tube around the bar soldered to the hinge to avoid ruin thebicycle frame paint.

The metal frame has been covered with a special paint to protect it from rust,and we have to paint it with a red colour. Next thing to make is also a goodfastening handy to lock and unlock, for the wood box, and rubber foot to avoidclanking against the trailer. So... stay tuned!

hunter999 (/member/hunter999/)

Heavy cargo indeed :D Great job done here, clear instructions too! :-)

Bujholm (/member/Bujholm/)

great job, this trailer. When I saw your first (the one out of bike parts) I wonderedwhat exactly can be towed on it since the platform seemed to be quite small. Butthat one is great - platform big enough and well balanced, and with a removablebox! Good idea - it can be replaced with a flat platform for example to towsometing long. Or with a more elaborate box with cutouts for the wheels andsticking out in all directions :)

One thing that makes me think when I consider building one of these is how to find

the balance between the weight of the thing itself and the carrying capacity - youknow, a lighter structure will fold under 100 kg, and a sturdier one weighs 100 kgon its own, all to be hauled by yourself.. Time to learn to weld aluminum, maybe.

effgee (/member/effgee/)

always a good idea to weak thick leather gloves and long (non-flammible) pantswhen welding - I imagine you ended up with some nice burns on your exposedskin from this session

Bujholm (/member/Bujholm/) effgee

seems like everybody who has ever welded feels inclined to comment onthese photos :) Mine is further..

andrea biffi (/member/andrea+biffi/) (author) effgee

No burns this time, I didn'tweld the entire frame, but youare undoubtedly right, I willorganize better next time.

(http://cdn.instructables.com/FGW/KMPX/HYC6CTN2/FGWKMPXHYC6CTN2.LARGE.jpg)

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eatteyah (/member/eatteyah/)

WOOOOOW Very Good , Need Some paints and finishings

andrea biffi (/member/andrea+biffi/) (author) eatteyah

Yes, still to be painted, almostcertainly with a red colour. Weare working on it :)

lindarose92 (/member/lindarose92/)

That looks like a lot of work, great job!

andrea biffi (/member/andrea+biffi/) (author) lindarose92

grazie! :)

Bujholm (/member/Bujholm/)

Gosh, I don't know how you can weld in shorts like this, and wearing your mask ina bare hand. The first time a tiny ball of molten metal burned through my skin Ihave learned to wear full cotton overalls in the hottest of weathers, even though itsucks in times of summer like right now. I am not even talking about UV exposurewhich is not to be sneezed at either. Or are you using some welding tools thatneither spit metal nor emit hard UV?

srilyk (/member/srilyk/) Bujholm

I've heard of people who've gotten flash burns, but I (not the OP) havenever had any. I wonder if you're less likely to get UV flashes whenwelding thinner metals - mine is a simple Harbor Freight 80 Amp buzzbox.

andrea biffi (/member/andrea+biffi/) (author) srilyk

I don't know about UV butundoubtedly with thinelectrodes and low amperagethe sparks are not terrible.

Anyway an appropriate dressis really suggested, I shouldadd it in the tutorial.

blissful2015 (/member/blissful2015/)

this looks like so much fun and you have a really nice workshop andrea! iwould love to be the 'heavy cargo'!

andrea biffi (/member/andrea+biffi/) (author) blissful2015

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The workshop is the Piubici (http://www.piubici.org/) laboratory!

Yeah a lot of fun, can't wait to make a new trailer/bike frame!

andrea biffi (/member/andrea+biffi/) (author) blissful2015

The workshop is the Piubici(http://www.piubici.org/)laboratory!

Yeah a lot of fun, can't wait tomake a new trailer/bike frame!

fred1968 (/member/fred1968/)

For a quick disconnect, you could have use this rapid link instead of the chain ring.

Nice work !

(http://cdn.instructables.com/FFZ/8L23/HYE5RL1S/FFZ8L23HYE5RL1S.LARGE.jpg)

noahl (/member/noahl/)

Great job, with very clear instructions! I built a similar trailer, and have one point toadd: consider offsetting the wheels towards the back of the trailer. If the load iscentered behind the trailer wheels, bumpy streets will apply upwards force on the

rear wheel of the bike, making for very strange bike handling. If the load isbetween the rear bike wheel and the trailer wheels, it is much more comfortable.

andrea biffi (/member/andrea+biffi/) (author) noahl

thanks, I'll take it into account for next trailer (more will come!)

Snidely70448 (/member/Snidely70448/)

Hardcore! Welding in that outfit, you must really be into pain!

andrea biffi (/member/andrea+biffi/) (author) Snidely70448

LOL! We are lucky since this julyhas been rainy and fresh in northItaly, but it's very humid, so it's apleasure stay with no t-shirt. Ididn't have accidents withincendescent sparks (not yet) ;-)

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KEUrban (/member/KEUrban/)

Andrea, nice technique for ensuring the dropouts are all correctly aligned.Ingenious.

andrea biffi (/member/andrea+biffi/) (author) KEUrban

it's Rocco's idea! look at his blog(http://roccosaldailmondo.blogspot.i

jmwells (/member/jmwells/)

Nice. I would consider adding handles to the box. Easier to load/unloadto/from the frame. Easier to control when using the casters. A box top wouldgive you more cargo space, tho more of a chance of overloading.

andrea biffi (/member/andrea+biffi/) (author) jmwells

Yes! We are improving the box,so I will update the insructablevery soon, stay tuned! ;-)

LynxSys (/member/LynxSys/) andrea biffi

For simplicity and strength, youcould add some cutouts to act ashandles using a router.

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