Making a scooter from scratch

Z

zednero

Member
Hello Everyone, well i am new to all of this, and i am not with the whole scooter rage at the moment. But my brother on the other hand is, and keeps spending stupid money on these scooters, why are they soo expensive?
Well anyway i have set out as a challange to make my own custom scooter, as cheaply as possible and need some tips on doing so. So far its been trial and error, i first of all started by welding a scaffold tube and bending it to replicate the snakeboard tube framing and then i started to build a deck plate to sit on top, but this just didn't look right for me i used a mild sheet of steel which is 1.2mm thick, but i didn't think it would be strong enough. so my idea now is to use two square tubes at the base of the scooter and use the sheet metal to use on the top for the deck plate, i'm thinking of welding two bits of the sheet metal to make this a bit thicker. what are your guys thoughts? Please only give intellegent answers as i dont want some 11 year old kid, trying to tell me how to use metal and how what i am doing is completely wrong, i have a fair knowledge of metal works :) sorry for the long write, hopefully someone here will be interested enough to give me some pointers on what makes a scoooter good, is it more about strength or weight? how best to bend the metal etc..
Cheers guys.

Chris
 
humpurple kushiones

humpurple kushiones

Steel Member
Designing a strong and reasonably light deck is a lot more work than just welding some tubes together. When you make a deck you want it to be really strong, but also want it to be well under 4 pounds. If you want to make a good, strong, light deck, don't half ass it because it's not going to work.

Make a design, check for weak points, when you think you got them sorted out then make the deck, test it, then when it breaks try to fix that problem, repeat until the deck is perfect.
 
Z

zednero

Member
anthony07801 said:
Designing a strong and reasonably light deck is a lot more work than just welding some tubes together. When you make a deck you want it to be really strong, but also want it to be well under 4 pounds. If you want to make a good, strong, light deck, don't half ass it because it's not going to work.
Click to expand...

Made the designs about 3 or 4 months ago now, and thats why i started to build, i used some of my brothers mates advice on what decks are strongest, and pursued to see what they are made of (mostly aluminium) my problem is the alloys with aluminium i dont think are that strong so i am trying to use a mix of mild steel and aluminium now, to get a balance between weight and strength. obviously steel is a lot heavier than aluminium but like you said is needs to be strong and light at the same time, so i think its a comprimise i'll have to make, and 4 poounds (1.8 kg) is what i was aiming for from what i have calculated it will weigh about 1.94 kg, so we'll see how that goes. And i'm not a half ass man, i like to see a job through and do it properly, otherwise all of this would have been a waste of time. Just a thought, is anyone here can post pictures of the base of there scooter that would be great or even better there scooter from every angle, so i can steal some of the techniques :p
 
humpurple kushiones

humpurple kushiones

Steel Member
oh i though you were trying to do something else lol.

mild steel is pretty useless for scooters. to heavy for its strength. If you want to use steel use 4130. Theres no decks (anymore?) that are made out of steel, they are all made of aluminum. Most bars are made out of 4130 and forks are a mix of both. If i were making a complete scooter i would follow that because the weight of a steel deck would probably be too much for the average rider. You could do something completely different and use titanium though, there has been a lot of talk about it but no one ever took the time and money to try it out.

Another thing that you want to take into consideration is the balance. You don't want it to be too back or front heavy.
Heres some pics i have on my photobucket of my scooter
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn227/anthony07801/scooter/100_7596.jpg?t=1297552207
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn227/anthony07801/scooter/100_7550.jpg?t=1297552362
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn227/anthony07801/scooter/100_7557.jpg?t=1297552253
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn227/anthony07801/scooter/100_7592.jpg?t=1297552267
 
Z

zednero

Member
Titanium, now thats a great idea, i never thought of that! i will compare some prices soon enough to see how that will hit my finances :D.... I have made my forks already they are made from 4130, but i am going to strengthen them a bit more i think, as i dont think they will last forever, so i will re-inforce it.
 
Z

zednero

Member
Sorry been a little busy doing other things, so havn't been on here. I will upload a pic of my forks tommorow if i get time :).

Also titanium is very expensive yeh! And im not an annoying rich kid lol..... im not rich!
I think i will stick to the steel and aluminium, as i feel this wil be the best!
 
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