On the Timber Wolf the plans show the derailleur mounting pages 149 - 152 and clearly show they are NOT using the same derailleur you are try to use.
On the Aurora the plans show the derailleur mounting pages 159 - 163 and clearly show they are NOT using the same derailleur you are try to use.
I don't think it is fair to criticise the plans when you are using a different derailleur and find it does not fit !
Paul
Paul- I don't mean to criticise the plans- No one could publish plans to cover all the possibilities, So I was looking for help and ideas to cover the situation I have and could not make the plans work with what I had on hand. That being said, my deraileur is almost identical to the one in the plans, and I tried to follow the plans to the letter, but some aspects of the plans made me hesitate and try to improve, not only in my work process, but in the final outcome which is what I will be living with for years to come.
The Timberwolf
On the Timber Wolf the plans show the derailleur mounting pages 149 - 152 and clearly show they are NOT using the same derailleur you are try to use.
On the Aurora the plans show the derailleur mounting pages 159 - 163 and clearly show they are NOT using the same derailleur you are try to use.
I don't think it is fair to criticise the plans when you are using a different derailleur and find it does not fit !
Paul
Paul, Please don't take my request for help as criticism of the plans. That is not my intention. But anything can be improved on if it is done right. I am a trained machinist and trike enthusiast, and I have built my own delta trike from scratch which - if I may brag a little- quite a bit more sophisticated than anything on AZ. However, it took me 10 years to perfect the design and required a set of jigs and a tubing bender to fabricate which I no longer have.
So the situation now is that the wife wants something to ride and I thought it would be nice to build her a Timberwolf. This design has a lot of good features and the square tubing makes not having jigs and a tubing bender a non- issue.
I really did not have any questions until I got to the disc brake and deraileur brackets. This is where you are dealing in 3 dimensions and with a new (for me) disc brake parts that do not seem to have enough detail in the plans so that you can fabricate something in one try that will work. I started by chance with a 160mm disc and the identical caliper you see in the plans, but that combination puts the caliper too high above the frame to mount in any reasonable fashion that I could think of. So I bought a 140mm disc, and it was then possible to make everything fit, although I did make my front mounting point straddle the entire gap in the frame where the caliper sits to avoid any possible vibrations or hiccups later on. I wish I could figure out how to post pics on here as I am pretty proud of how it came out,
My disc hub is still not fastened to the axle, but the caliper itself is securely bolted down on some welded brackets that should be trouble free.
None of my brackets for the disc brake look anyting like the plans, but that is personal choice and not criticism in any way.
The deraileur mounting was another situation that needed some help. There were some problems that could have materialized down the road if not addressed, and don't take this as criticism, but why would you weld your deraileur to the bike frame?
If you ran over something and the deraileur gets bent up, you are now in for some frustration and time spent trying to find another deraileur, cut it up, weld on another extension and so on.
And in the plans he says - "if you want to see how to mount your deraileur - look at an upright bike" - So I did, and there were some differences from the plans once again. I just copied my old upright bike for the X, Y, and Z offsets - comparing the rear axle center to the deraileur mounting pivot bolt center- which is different from the plans and made my own desigh for a bracket that fits and is much stiffer and makes the deraileur removable with one bolt. Not only that, but the ends of the axle still touch for alignment purposes and do not interfere with the deraileur in any way. The shifting should also work as original because the offsets are all copied 100% from the upright bike.
So now I have the deraileur and disc brake modified to my personal preference, I hope some day to be able to post pics of these changes here and I think at least some builders will appreciate the difference. I also hope to see a lot more examples of all the designs being completed and rideable in the builder's gallery- I only saw two Timberwolf examples there? Are there more? And I want to hear from the builders about how well they work! It is all well and good to see plans, but it is another thing entirely to hear from the people who are actually building and RIDING their creations!