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Installing suspension-frame in Meanderer trike

April 30, 2025 — BarryK

Continuing the Meanderer trike project, recent posts:

...the last post shows the suspension-frame plates and cutout of the trike backbone.

Now I have slid the suspension-frame onto the backbone, and attached bracing, 25x25x3 mm angle:

img1

Drawing of the the angle:

img2

Thinking about it some more, that angle bracing is not enough. There is such a massive cutout of the 25x25 backbone, something more is needed to prevent twisting. That part of the trike is going to take a pounding when riding on rough roads.

Yes, there is more angle, mostly for the purpose of holding the suspension-plates in place, rather than preventing torsional twisting:

img3

Note, those pieces of angle were stuck in place with epoxy resin. I used the resin from Red Dot, which is two small tubes, convenient for mixing small amounts. It becomes tacky in about 2 minutes, incredibly fast, so it is good to mix a very small amount, just enough for the immediate need. The aluminium surfaces are scuffed beforehand, and the result, epoxy sandwiched between aluminium, is incredibly strong.

This had led me to  a change in direction. I was going to do a basic bolt-together, then go to a welding shop and get them to run beads of weld along all required places for strength. However, now using epoxy resin, no intention of later welding.

The potential for torsional twisting is still there, so I built extra bracing, by layers of aluminium, sandwiched together with epoxy resin:

img4

...this is on both sides. It looks like a bit of a hack, but should do the trick.

If building again from scratch, would I do that multi-layer stengthening differently? If I had built in steel, and welded, I think construction would have been simpler. For the aluminium build, maybe could have used square rod. Anyway, the way I have built it should be strong enough.    

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