Electric Cargo Bike Build - Custom Frame Jig, Custom Tooling, Questions

[@sparkiekosten5902]

Are you happy with the bike? That is what matters most! It is a very good build and definitely one of the nicest cargo bikes I have ever seen. Thank you for sharing!👍👍

[@PhilVandelay]

Yeah there's always things that can be improved but overall I'm very happy with it - still use it every day

[@siegfriedkettlitz6529]

17:30 you could mark the screw heads in a level position and then if both screw marks point in the same direction you're either level or a whole number of turns off. The difference should be obvious.

[@Alex2OC]

Thanks for the godlike Frame Jig Idea 🙏💪

[@Carlos-gm3zn]

i was checking in every day for the last post and almost thought that there wasn't gonna be any, thank you so much. I loved this project so much!!!

[@okatbikes4917]

A total "it me" moment there, where all of my outgoing shipping is done in either Bike24 or Bike Discount boxes :D

[@iteerrex8166]

Professional quality work 👍. Id be interested to a pull-along version, that can be installed on and off to a regular bike?

[@mozismobile]

The slack steering angle is what makes the steering feel sluggish when it's loaded up. If you look closely or check a CAD model the load bed actually drops very slightly as you turn the front wheel away from straight. Or conversely, bringing the steering back to straigh rquires lifting the load! I built one with a vertical headset and minimal trail and that was fine with 150kg or more on it. Sadly Sydney's roads are not the best and I broke the frame when I hit a pothole at about 50kph with over 100kg of stuff on the load platform. Which answered my question... how light is too light? Or how big is too big... a 1.5m long platform is surprisingly useful if you have space to park the resulting bike. I used cable and pulleys for steering rather than Bowden tubes

[@PhilVandelay]

The steering angle is actually still pretty steep compared to most production cargo bikes and the "lifting" effect really only comes into play when you do pretty sharp turns. At the same time, that effect is one of the things that keeps a bike upright so I'd imagine a vertical steerer would ride very twitchy especially unloaded. By "sluggish" I don't mean the force required to steer, that still works fine, but you simply feel the inertia of all that weight that wants to go straight and not change direction which is just simple physics. As I said in the video, what people consider "rideable" can of course vary vastly, I used to load up way more on these bikes but I don't consider it safe with a two-wheeler nowadays, no matter how it's built. Being able to brake fast enough in traffic also becomes an issue, even with good disc brakes. Again, hugely subjective, but I think there's more suitable designs for moving that much weight and from what I see it's not the use case for most people anyway. For anything over 100kg, a three-wheeler works much better

[@markthomasson5077]

No expert, but have looked into vertical steerers. I guy with a recumbent has a beautiful custom build with 95deg. He had to have a custom fork made. Not sure but recall it was 65mm trail.

[@sunc93]

Das Ding ist so dermaßen gut geworden und sieht dabei einfach unfassbar sexy aus

[@ingentingbra]

Steerer tubes are usually cryo-fitted, so next time you could try to put it in freezer first.

[@PhilVandelay]

Only helps for assembly though, not disassembly (since you'd be cooling both parts at the same time)

[@shaunsmith3660]

You should sell the cones and blocks, I would buy some 🤔

[@parkermusselman9824]

👏

[@13murdog1313]

Can you please tell us something about the ring at 22:46. Is the ring made of the same material as the shaft? And where did you find a tube that size or did you make the ring from a larger piece on the lathe?

[@PhilVandelay]

It's just a cutoff from some tubing that happened to fit and material is probably mild steel

[@FernandoMDB]

Sensacional!!!

[@patrickmiao1698]

I was wondering if you heat treated the frame?

[@TheAlStew]

Came to the comments to ask the same question

[@randytravis3998]

Great video well done on the bike . the old stile bike lights that had a generator that ran off the tire .. could you hook that up too help keep the battery life a bit longer ? charge as you ride ?

[@Dragehest]

That math does not add up, it's easier to just pedal the bike without electric assistance than trying to charge the battery. Just charge the battery when you are at home and make sure you have enough charge when setting off. Try a bike with a dynometer and see how 100w resistance feel, and then add that to pedaling an allready heavy cargo bike, it is like biking with your brakes on. And imagine doing that continuous for several hours for a few percent increased battery charge. This also means no free wheeling and free speed down hills, just pedaling all the time.

[@shadesinblack1]

Action equals reaction. So no.

[@metalhunter3301]

hi phil, kannst du bitte von der Sieg sc 10 die tatsächliche maße aufschreiben oder in einem Video zeigen....ich überlege mir die maschine auch zuzulegen....in den Videos sieht sie klein aus, aber bei die Herstellerangaben sagen was anderes....wäre sehr nett von dir..ansonsten top videos weiter so...

[@PhilVandelay]

Die Herstellerangaben stimmen, warum sollten die falsch sein?

[@metalhunter3301]

Ich sage nicht die sind falsch, in denn Video sieht die drehmaschine nicht aus als wäre sie 1400mm lang...alles ok fahre selber mal nach Ulm und gucke sie mir live mal an...danke

[@PhilVandelay]

​@@metalhunter3301 Es ist ja auch nicht das Bett 1400mm lang sondern die gesamte Maschine inklusive Spindelkasten usw., das kommt also schon hin

[@metalhunter3301]

danke

[@improprietary1]

apropos the phenol coated plywood. Its super hard on any cutting tool, so a woodworking bit would have dulled all the same.

[@greggroos4105]

Thank you! I have been seeing it around here and there (USA West) but no-one seems to know what it is.

[@mrMacGoover]

You can just put a straight edge of a steel ruler 📏 against the side of the clamping blocks, sometimes people tend to over complicate things in their mind when easy solutions surround them.

[@dariushmilani6760]

Really enjoyed this video. I had watched the previous episodes of your e-bike which was very well done. What really like about your work is that how much you like to future-proof your projects especially the belt grinder. Keep up the good work Phil and I look forward to watching more of your projects..👍👍

[@finnblackburn9583]

Do you prefer the linkage or cable steering now that you've built both? I built your simpler design with linkage, the one issue I ran into is the rod flexed and sprung back after I hit a pothole causing a nasty speed wobble, I fixed that by clamping a piece of aluminum angle onto it to stiffen it up. I don't have the tooling or skills to build cable steering but I really like the look of it!

[@PhilVandelay]

Not necessarily, but I also might still improve things about this solution so the jury is still out on that. Cable steering is definitely a lot more fuss compared to a linkage which simply works and it doesn't do super well with high resistance (lots of weight on the bike). At some point I think I'll try to use larger pulleys and thicker cables to see how that performs. But basically, except for weight and the tighter turning radius (which really mostly comes into play when you're off the bike) there's no good reason to use cable steering. For most DIY builds I would stick with the linkage, it's a lot more straightforward, easier to build and more reliable

[@wisedonkey_]

Do you frequently get stopped for questions when riding?

[@PhilVandelay]

Not really, cargo bikes are so common around here that I think most people just assume I bought it somewhere

[@Ziraya0]

For squaring the tube clamp blocks, if you clamp the threaded side to your work table with the split vertical, then the top side will be forced to align. When you're putting the bolts in you'll be able to seat both bolts and know at that point it's square, then if you tighten the bolts the same it should stay really close with relatively little effort

[@djizomdjinn]

As someone who does both woodworking and machining as a hobby, wood goes on my mill far more often than I'd like to admit. My mill actually has a longer head travel than the quill of my drill press, so if I need a super deep hole, onto the mill it goes.

[@jasonh3109]

This is fantastic! Thanks for sharing your process with us!

[@joell439]

👍👍😎👍👍

[@alistairmorrish8613]

3D print your next set of blocks. Single piece block with holes for drill guides at 90 and 180. I used this method to build a wheel house from aluminium tubes. You can cut them off after the build if you need to.

[@PhilVandelay]

Well I figure they'd melt very quickly but might be worth a try next time

[@alistairmorrish8613]

Yeah, I only used them for marking out and tacking. A full weld gets very warm! The great thing about 3D printing fixtures is the relatively short time it takes from concept to implementation. @@PhilVandelay

[@tomaszowczarek9550]

Super cargobicke👍👍👍

[@supersonicCoach]

Nice bike !!

[@Kai11017]

Hey Phil ich habe ein paar Fragen bezüglich der sieg sx4, da ich gerade am Überlegen bin mir auch eine Zuzulegen, könntest du mir eventuell die Daten oder ein Bild von dem Prüfprotokoll(Genauigkeit der achsen) der sx4 zusenden? Habe Paulimot angeschrieben, aber keine genauen Zahlen erhalten, nur die Information, dass es ein Prüfprotokoll gibt. Und was hat dich dazu bewegt die sx4, der optimum mb 4 vorzuziehen (über die Optimum mb4 habe ich ein Datenblatt gefunden)?

[@PhilVandelay]

Hi, ich hab ehrlich gesagt keine Ahnung ob ich das Prüfprotokoll noch habe, wenn dann ists irgendwo tief vergraben, da fehlt mir leider gerade die Zeit zum Suchen 😬 Ich kann dir aber sagen dass die Sieg Maschinen von der Genauigkeit her absolut in Ordnung sind und sich im selben Rahmen bewegen werden wie das meiste andere in dieser Preisklasse. Die MB4 wollte ich u.a. nicht wegen der MK-Spindel da ich SK30 für eine Fräse wesentlich sinnvoller finde, das andere was mich an der SX4 überzeugt hat ist die motorisierte Höhenverstellung und dass sie mehr Y-Weg hat. Da sie nicht auf der RF-45 basiert sondern etwas moderner ist, gehe ich auch davon aus dass sie aufgrund des Designs der Gussteile etwas steifer ist (hat z.b. deutlich breitere Gleitbahnen, größeren Radius am Drehsockel für den Kopf usw.). Gleichzeitig würde ich mir mittlerweile aber keine Maschine mit Frequenzumrichter mehr kaufen, da der an meiner Drehbank gerade abgeraucht ist (gibt's bald ein Video zu). Für die MB4/RF-45 spricht also vorallem das Getriebe. Es gibt übrigens tausend Varianten der RF-45 aus China auf der auch die MB4 basiert. Der Aufpreis den du bei Optimum bezahlst lohnt sich meiner Meinung nach nicht, da die Gussteile eh alle aus den gleichen paar Fabriken in China kommen, wenn dann würde ich mir für das Geld eher eine RF-45 Variante mit mehr Features fürs gleiche Geld von einem der zahlreichen anderen Kistenschieber holen - die haben zwar schlechtere Qualitätskontrolle, sind aber meistens kulant und am Ende wirst du wahrscheinlich so oder so anfangen, daran herumzubasteln und Dinge zu verbessern, anders kann man diese Maschinen eigentlich kaum sinnvoll nutzen. Bei manchen Importeuren gibts z.b. auch RF-45 varianten mit SK-Spindel, elektrischer Höhenverstellung, Zentralschmierung, usw., z.B. bei Kami (die haben allerdings den unfreundlichsten E-mail Kontakt den ich bisher hatte...) Hoffe das hilft etwas weiter ;)

[@Kai11017]

Ja, da stimme ich dir zu, danke für deine ausführliche Antwort, ein Prüfprotokoll hab ich nach explizitem Fragen auch von Paulimot zugeschickt bekommen 🙂

[@Kai11017]

@@PhilVandelayhey ich bin’s nochmal habe gerade dein video bezüglich deiner Drehmaschine geschaut (saubere Arbeit, wie immer) sind dir eig irgendwelche elektronischen Fehler bezüglich der sx4 aufgefallen ? Oder hast du bisher noch keine Probleme gehabt?

[@Dragehest]

When are you getting a computer controlled cutter, like plasma, water, laser or rotary cutter? You allready do all of your design in the computer, a 2D cutter will help you a lot with brackets and tooling. I love your super high quality content it is such a pleasure to watch.

[@PhilVandelay]

I'd be getting one right now if I had the money to spend, but I don't. Probably not gonna buy anything that expensive anytime soon

[@REAPER85151]

nice video man glad to see something like that , can u share the brand and model number of your lathe ?

[@PhilVandelay]

It's a Sieg SC-10, there's a few videos about it on my channel

[@EfficientEnergyTransformations]

A great build! One constructive suggestion though, in a need to increase the weight careening capacity one can put 2 smaller parallel freely-rotatable wheels under the basket, as a benefit that will tend to increase the stability too. Clearly that is an extrapolatable idea.

[@ccmmrrnn]

Bikes lean when they turn; it would prevent you turning. As he said, the carrying capacity is dictated by the geometry of the frame, mechanics of the cable steering, and what is reasonable for a human to control, not strength of the frame.