ObnoxiousKart: The Beginnings

This post, and probably several following it, are going to be about GOKARTS.  Specifically, one gokart, specifically obnoxiouskart (a.k.a. TriKart, FatKart, MiloKart, and others.).  ObnoxiousKart is the brain-child of myself and Helena Wang, and is an ongoing project in the class Design and Manufacturing (a.k.a. 2.00gokart).

First comes first: our designs, let me show you them.

Helena's idea sketches

My preliminary design

When we came up with the idea for a three-wheeled cart, we decided to theme it after three-wheeled motorcycles, with two wheels in the front and one in the back.  The front wheels are the turning wheels (controlled by the steering), and the back wheel will be driven.

In order to prevent the whole thing from torquing when weight is placed on it, we decided to make the frame two levels high (we're going to use a lot of 80/20 in this frame).

This drawing is a little more to scale for what the actual frame will look like: 1 block = 4 inches.

And, of course, in order to balance out the cart, the back wheel has to be huge.

This huge.

At this point, we've ordered some materials (see also: WHEEL), but we haven't gotten to building anything yet.  In the coming weeks: looking forward to cutting 80/20 and attaching it with our prototyped connectors. Lazzorcutting!