My 4 year old sons first car - the swing bin racer.
Discussion
Started building one of these yesterday! Had a really enjoyable afternoon cutting out MDF as per the plans.
Just got an email from Amazon to say my swing bin is despatched, so arriving soon :-)
Spoke to the designer yesterday - nice bloke - ordered a few bits from him too. Really looking forward to making this, looks like great fun.
Unfortunately, my youngest child is 17... Grandson is 18 months, so I guess he'll grow into it. :-)
Just got an email from Amazon to say my swing bin is despatched, so arriving soon :-)
Spoke to the designer yesterday - nice bloke - ordered a few bits from him too. Really looking forward to making this, looks like great fun.
Unfortunately, my youngest child is 17... Grandson is 18 months, so I guess he'll grow into it. :-)
Hi everyone.
Just signed up top Pistonheads so I could join in the SwingBin Fun, having made a start already. Making use of what is available makes this more fun. So far departues from the original concept are:
Engine: I happened to have a wheelchair "outboard". That's a motor/gearbox/wheel assembly that clamps on under a normal wheelchair to turn it into a powered one.
Front axle: A couple of lengths of Spur shelving upright from shelves that had just been declared no longer needed by Mrs Marmite,front axle spacers and front wheel swivels are hinges from an electronic cubicle (Rittal parts) and the front wheels are off a kiddies bike (£2 for a knackered bike from our local charity warehouse). The seat will be a kiddies school seat (£5 for 7 seats in 2 sizes, courtesy of EBay - and a nice afternoon out at West Green Gardens after collecting them.
Everything else is pretty much in line with the basic idea but with one other major change. I didn't want to dismantle the wheelchair outboard and had no other wheels that would fit so, inspired by the new Morgan EV3 ( http://www.morgan-motor.co.uk/ev3 ) I present middle grandchild testing:
The SwingBin 3 weeler
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/PzeRKP02.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/h6buSiGP" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/h6buSiGP.jpg)
Front track is slightly wider and battery sits in the front, all for better stability, back end is slightly longer to accommodate the motor and powered wheel. Estimated speed is 5-6 mph possibly more if I replace the outboard wheel with another bike wheel
Lots more work to do yet and a bit of painting to finish.
More piccies when we get further down the line.
Just signed up top Pistonheads so I could join in the SwingBin Fun, having made a start already. Making use of what is available makes this more fun. So far departues from the original concept are:
Engine: I happened to have a wheelchair "outboard". That's a motor/gearbox/wheel assembly that clamps on under a normal wheelchair to turn it into a powered one.
Front axle: A couple of lengths of Spur shelving upright from shelves that had just been declared no longer needed by Mrs Marmite,front axle spacers and front wheel swivels are hinges from an electronic cubicle (Rittal parts) and the front wheels are off a kiddies bike (£2 for a knackered bike from our local charity warehouse). The seat will be a kiddies school seat (£5 for 7 seats in 2 sizes, courtesy of EBay - and a nice afternoon out at West Green Gardens after collecting them.
Everything else is pretty much in line with the basic idea but with one other major change. I didn't want to dismantle the wheelchair outboard and had no other wheels that would fit so, inspired by the new Morgan EV3 ( http://www.morgan-motor.co.uk/ev3 ) I present middle grandchild testing:
The SwingBin 3 weeler
Front track is slightly wider and battery sits in the front, all for better stability, back end is slightly longer to accommodate the motor and powered wheel. Estimated speed is 5-6 mph possibly more if I replace the outboard wheel with another bike wheel
Lots more work to do yet and a bit of painting to finish.
More piccies when we get further down the line.
Getting there with the SwingBinRacer-3
Still in need of a steering wheel (Discarded Wii item promised by a work chum), cables to be tidied and cleated inside and a reversing switch to be added when it finally arrives from China (Hopfully with enough contacts in the right place so I can do a speed limiter interlocked with the reversing switch)
Enjoy
Still in need of a steering wheel (Discarded Wii item promised by a work chum), cables to be tidied and cleated inside and a reversing switch to be added when it finally arrives from China (Hopfully with enough contacts in the right place so I can do a speed limiter interlocked with the reversing switch)
Enjoy
.Just ordered some headlights. These looked useful:
http://www.dx.com/p/l-221-universal-3w-180lm-6000k...
http://www.dx.com/p/l-221-universal-3w-180lm-6000k...
The Inventor of the Marmite Laser said:
Just ordered some headlights. These looked useful:
http://www.dx.com/p/l-221-universal-3w-180lm-6000k...
And at £4 each it doesn't matter too much when the lad bashes them first time he crashes teh car. Which he will http://www.dx.com/p/l-221-universal-3w-180lm-6000k...
RichB said:
The Inventor of the Marmite Laser said:
Just ordered some headlights. These looked useful:
http://www.dx.com/p/l-221-universal-3w-180lm-6000k...
And at £4 each it doesn't matter too much when the lad bashes them first time he crashes teh car. Which he will http://www.dx.com/p/l-221-universal-3w-180lm-6000k...
http://www.dx.com/p/qook-jhrd50001-12v-car-red-led...
and these:
http://www.dx.com/p/qook-jhbk675001-white-red-ligh...
Not ordered any ........... yet :-)
Been busy with mine - I'm pretty pleased with the current progress, especially given that I have the mechanical aptitude of the average snail...
Here's the base..
Track rod assembly in place
Sides going on..
Dash panel and Rear Panel in place.
and the boot assembly in place...
The wheels are just balanced on for now to see what it will look like - they need spacers as the foul on a few things. The boot needs a bit of attention - I need to cut some wood to put behind the plastic for the hinge screws to bite into...
Definately going to get those lights posted above!! they'll look great. This is a real fun project - shame my Grandson is not even 18 months old yet....
Here's the base..
Track rod assembly in place
Sides going on..
Dash panel and Rear Panel in place.
and the boot assembly in place...
The wheels are just balanced on for now to see what it will look like - they need spacers as the foul on a few things. The boot needs a bit of attention - I need to cut some wood to put behind the plastic for the hinge screws to bite into...
Definately going to get those lights posted above!! they'll look great. This is a real fun project - shame my Grandson is not even 18 months old yet....
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