MaddysGarage

Maddy's Monster

2009-09-01T13:32:00.002-04:00

Steering wheel

2009-09-01T13:28:00.002-04:00

Nobody sells a tiny steering wheel. The only ones I could find were those ones you used to see in yellow Monte Carlos...you know the ones I'm talkin' about. So I asked around at the welding shop today and found a 7" O.D. ring rolled out of 1/2" tubing. It even has a grippy pattern from the bending process. Still a good amount of welding before it will be ready. The spokes will be cut to accept a hub in the center.

Front axle

2009-09-01T13:24:00.002-04:00

Still a bunch of grinding and smoothing to do, but the final product should look neater than a simple tube axle.

New headboard

2009-05-14T22:51:00.003-04:00

We finished Maddy's headboard today and bolted it onto the bed frame. The main board is 3/4" high density fiberboard which is nice and heavy with a very smooth surface. The outer petal pattern was cut with a reciprocating saw. The lines radiating from center are 1/4" deep, cut with a circular saw. The center disc is 1/2" HDF, routed over and painted. The ladder is temporary, screwed to the bed frame until it is no longer needed.

2009-05-06T21:26:00.002-04:00

Mostly done, here you can see the frame standoffs with the rubber body mounts. The steering box will be mounted behind the dash with an external radius arm.

2009-05-06T21:24:00.001-04:00

Rear crossmember finally finished, we still need to box in the frame tubes and build the mounts for the transverse springs.

2009-05-06T21:23:00.004-04:00

Not sure what motor we will be using yet. The body needs a lot more tweaking to make it look just right.

2009-05-06T21:23:00.003-04:00

Early mockup of Maddy's next ride. This should be large enough to carry her until around age 5 or 6 I'm hoping.

Stereo system

2009-03-22T19:45:00.002-04:00

The mp3 player behind the seat with speakers installed in the rear deck.

Cupholders in the front

2009-03-22T19:45:00.001-04:00

2009-03-22T19:44:00.002-04:00

The body of the wagon is made from solid PVC trim board with an oak plywood floor.

Nice soft seat

2009-03-22T19:44:00.001-04:00

Mom did an excellent job upholstering the seat in purple crush with a heavy vinyl overlay.

2009-03-22T19:42:00.000-04:00

New Wagon

2009-03-21T00:56:00.000-04:00

With summer coming up, Maddy will need a nice wagon to ride around in at fairs, festivals, and whatnot. Unfortunately, I did not take many build pics as I was in a rush to get the project done before the weekend. This design has 4-wheel steering for maneuverability and a pivoting front axle to handle uneven ground. Since this picture was taken, there is now a 2-speaker sound system on board driven by an mp3 player.

A step back

2008-11-18T13:52:00.000-05:00

The giant tires and heavy wheels were going to require either a lower steering ratio or more steering input than I intended, so they are being saved for Maddy's next ride. I found a defunct power-wheels type 4 wheeler at the transfer station, so I pirated the front and rear subframes with the motors. The tires are large, but very light, and the motor/gearbox units are in great shape. The steering effort is fairly low, so this should be a good first step to developing Maddy's skills before we move to something larger. We will run a dual 6 volt system, parallel for low speed and series for high. Hopefully, we will finally be able to get some yellow on this poor, abused, oft-modified frame.

Battery boxes

2008-06-08T16:30:00.000-04:00

Pictured here is the frame with battery boxes welded in and rear axle supports in place. The "axle" is a broomstick right now.

Speed Control

2008-05-31T22:08:00.000-04:00

Sourced a really nice little 24V speed control recently for Maddy's car. It uses a rheostat for the throttle and supports several neat features, including electric braking, brake lamps, kill switch, charge indicator, and safety lock while charging. The kill switch will actually be wired through a remote so we can control the severity of Maddy's stunts.

Steering box

2008-05-23T15:27:00.000-04:00

Found the Cub Cadet steering box I had been looking for...should be perfect for this application. It definitely needs some cleaning and adjustment. I will also have to modify the diagonal support on the frame slightly to fit everything where it needs to go, but the ratio and travel looks like it will be just about right.

Frame

2008-05-23T15:12:00.000-04:00

Side view of the frame in progress, the steering tube looks funny here because the frame sits at more of a nose-up attitude when everything is together. The battery is actually a store dummy with no plates, nice and light. It is a group 24, like the deep cycle ones that will be going in later, so it can be used to fabricate the battery boxes.

LED headlights

2008-05-20T21:54:00.000-04:00

Finally installed the onboard 12V battery. The 5-LED headlights don't get hot and are very efficient.

Measuring

2008-05-16T22:28:00.000-04:00

Here, the car is partially assembled again to check fit and to measure the pieces for the rear frame section. The rear axle bearing setup is still percolating in my brain at this point. While the car is mocked up like this, the front bumper and side hoop step can be fabricated.

Front stand

2008-05-16T22:22:00.001-04:00

Here is a shot of the front end with the new axle stand welded in. The original was cut out to optimize steering and wheel travel. This stand will be triangulated back to the middle crossmember. At the top of the V, you can see the tube that holds the steering shaft bearings.

Push Nuts

2008-05-16T13:46:00.000-04:00

Originally, the spindles and rear axle were retained with push nuts. These were removed and replaced with 3/8" shaft collars.

Headlights

2008-05-16T13:37:00.000-04:00

Instead of the headlight/grill sticker, two waterproof LED assemblies were installed.

Installed

2008-05-16T00:21:00.000-04:00

So....the steering column is reinstalled. No visual change, really. Of course, it will be quite a while until Madison can graduate to a powered vehicle, so the Coupe will be used in its intended role, a push car, until she is ready for the powered frame. With this modification in place, changeover will be about 5 minutes, as all of the other controls and components, including the floorboard, will be part of the subframe.

Drive end

2008-05-16T00:18:00.000-04:00

Shown here is the steering shaft, terminating in a 3/8" square male.

Components

2008-05-15T23:38:00.000-04:00

Here we see all of the components for the steering tube assembly. The fabricated parts are still in primer.

Steering Tube

2008-05-15T23:31:00.000-04:00

The original steering wheel is to be retained, as it is surprisingly sturdy and perfectly sized. Of course, it is not actually linked to anything presently because the front wheels caster in stock form. To interface with the steering box, a new steering shaft and bearing housing were constructed. When installed, the new column fits behind the dash, retaining the original appearance of the factory wheel.
(Of course the little horn still meeps)

Subframe...sort of

2008-05-15T23:20:00.001-04:00

Mockup of wheels/tires and beginning of axle stand construction. Madison's car body is unitized, requiring no external support in stock form. However, to preserve the original look and function of the body, and to support the higher stresses imposed by the planned drive system, an additional frame was fabricated. This frame does not interfere with the body itself and attaches using only the original mounting points.

Measuring, bending, cutting

2008-05-15T23:02:00.000-04:00

While Maddy slept peacefully, Dad spirited the coupe away for some quick measurement and fit-up.

So, does this thing have rack and pinion?

2008-05-15T23:00:00.000-04:00

Cozy Coupe II

2008-05-15T22:55:00.000-04:00

Grandma and Grandpa Campbell bought Maddy her first car, a shiny red Cozy Coupe. Maddy is still a bit small, but she likes to sit in it.