Starting steelwork for custom trike #2

Previous post, for the "Meanderer", custom leaning full-suspension recumbent tadpole trike project:

• Meanderer trike toe and Ackerman fine-tuning — August 30, 2025

Here is the pictorial view of the steel backbone and steering and tilting structure:

Those two rings are stainless steel, 100mm inside diameter, 12mm thickness, purchased from here:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005646746570.html

There are lots of vendors that sell these rings, not just on Aliexpress.

The 12mm rod, that you can see in above drawing, ah, now, there is a bit of a saga. I first ordered a carbon steel rod, but thought about it some more and placed another order, for a stainless steel rod.

The saga is that the first order arrived yesterday, or rather, the package did, sans the rod. There is a little hole at the end, where the rod has slipped out. So, I put in a claim to Aliexpress for a refund.

Today the second package arrived, also the package sans rod. So I put in a claim for that too.

This evening, got a reply from Aliexpress, requesting more information. Huh? I sent them photos of the package, clearly showing the label and the small hole at the end. There is no more information that can be provided. So I responded with words to that effect.

We shall see what happens. Do they take responsibility if the contents of a package go missing in-transit?

Anyway, I want that rod, so have ordered it from eBay, from an Australian vendor, and paid extra for Australia Post Express.

A report on construction so far...

In the above drawing, you can see rectangular blocks that attach the 12mm rod to the trike backbone. They have holes, the rod goes through. For disassembly, constructed them with m5 bolts so that the rod can be lifted out:

Obviously, those holes and the rod will wear, but this is a prototype, to prove a principle. if I was building this for long-term usage, would probably have been better to feed the rod through ball-bearings.

it is not clear from the 3D drawing, but the rod has to be welded to the rings. So some kind of adapter-thingy is required. I used some 40x10mm steel bar and cut the end to follow the curve of the ring:

Two of those are required, each one cut, with 12mm hole, placed against the ring, prior to welding:

I want 50mm spacing between the rings, and found a suitable block of wood. Clamped it all together and welded:

As don't have the steel rod, that is just some 12mm aluminium tube, inserted to align the holes.

Tomorrow, intend to progress constructing the bottom swing-arms. These hinge on the 12mm rod, and they will have the bottom mounting for the shock absorbers.  

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