Way too cheap to buy a $1500+ sidewinder

[bcg]

It took me 10 months or so to finalize the design on mine. This one is simpler (easier and cheaper to build) than mine. But mine has a fatter tire and a more positive mechanism for attaching to the plane. I will be interested to watch how your design evolves.

I just realized you're at RDB.  My dad is in Dallas and I fly into RDB once or twice a month to see him.  Next time I'm up, you should join us for lunch.

[DXB]

@bcgI love the resourcefulness and innovation here - a low cost design that has no risk of chewing up the front tire (like the Sidewinder and Robotow) would be very desirable.

[bcg]

I think I'm going to move the wheel forward another 3/4" and it'll be good. It kind of rides on the side/top of the nose wheel but, that gives more surface area for contact so it should work well. Now that I know where the tire needs to go, I can put all the other stuff back on.

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[ZuluZulu]

I would love to see videos of these DIY creations in action 

[DonMuncy]

9 hours ago, bcg said:

I just realized you're at RDB.  My dad is in Dallas and I fly into RDB once or twice a month to see him.  Next time I'm up, you should join us for lunch.
 

I would like that. Just let me know.

[bcg]

Now that I have the wheel location nailed down, I should be able to safely mount the motor more permanently. I took a piece of 2" x 6" 1/8 plate and put a couple of slotted holes in it to allow adjustment of the motor to take the chain on it off and tighten it. Welded that to the tow bar and I'll bolt the motor onto it. Welding it on put a couple of bumps inside the tube so the smaller piece won't slide down anymore, which kind of sucks but, I'll be able to just pull it out and have 2 small pieces which will make this easier to keep in the plane so I can take it with me.

I'm liking how this is coming together now, I think it's going to be really functional and as lightweight/portable as something like this can be.

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[bcg]

V 2, minus the Milwaukee battery adapter that won't be here until Sat.

/// Side rant, Amazon Prime sure has gotten slow lately, it's ridiculous. ///

Assuming this works the way I expect, I'll pull the motor and tire off, strip the rest of the paint and powder coat it so it'll be pretty.

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[tim417]

Love this! Watching closely as my lower back will thank me later.

[bcg]

It worked, got the plane in and out but, not well enough that I'd have been happy if I paid for it. Using an already made tow bar won't let me put the drive tire where I really need it to be for this to work really well so I'm going to build one from scratch exactly how it needs to be.

It was nice to not be worn out and winded after getting the plane in the hangar though, especially since it was raining off and on and everything was wet.

And, I got a couple of approaches and a hold done today in actual with 700' ceilings so that was nice.

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[redbaron1982]

On 2/27/2024 at 3:28 PM, bcg said:

 

So I built something myself for about $200 in parts. I may have to drop the tire down or make a handle extension to get the geometry right, I'll find out when I try it tomorrow.

 

The little C seems to gain weight every time I push it back into the hangar. Plus, it's hard to steer and get enough momentum to get over the lip.

 

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This looks great! Is it possible to get the BOM? I´d love to build one myself.

[bcg]

10 hours ago, redbaron1982 said:

This looks great! Is it possible to get the BOM? I´d love to build one myself.

Let me get the rest of the kinks worked out first and then I'll share what I did and used.

[bcg]

Edit - battery adapter showed up today, adding a pic of that.

V3

The biggest issues with the last version were that the drive wheel was outside the center of the nose wheel where it wanted to pull the tow bar out when you started putting tension on it and trying to turn. The other problem was that to get enough pressure to have good contact, you'd end up so low you couldn't see where you were going.

To solve that, I built a new tow bar from scratch that has the part that goes into the nose gear offset so I could move the drive wheel over and I put a bend in the top part. I still made this a 2 piece tow bar so it can be broken down for easy storage in the plane. I think I'm going to put a quick connect on the motor cable so that the 2 parts can completely separate.

Milwaukee battery adapter is supposed to be here tomorrow, I'm going to wait on that to finish this and test it out. I expect this one to work the way I'd hoped the last one would and only take up a little more space.

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[DonMuncy]

Where did you get your wheelchair motor? Cost? Is it powerful enough?

[Skyland]

I paid around 35 for the Jazzy motor/gearbox from eBay.  Plenty of power and well built.

[bcg]

Success! I had to brace the wheel mounting bracket, it was deflecting enough to put too much slack in the chain. I also had to reduce the angle of the bend in the top section to clear the spinner and get the towbar in. It works pretty well, I still have to put the boards in between the hangar door tracks or it gets stuck between track 2 and the concrete lip, with those in place this is pretty effortless. Once split, it gets really compact so it'll be easy to find a place for this in the plane.

I'll put together a material list with Amazon links a little later.

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[bcg]

Here's the BOM, not including the steel to build the tow bar.

Motor

Motor controller

Wheel

Type 25 chain sprocket - You'll have to drill detents in the motor driveshaft to keep it in place.

Chain

Milwaukee battery adapter

I used the 1/4" pin from my original towbar on this one and had some Duestsch connectors on hand for other stuff so used a 2-pin connector for the motor connection.  The motor mount was made out of some 1/8" x 6" flat bar and I drilled and slotted the holes in that for the adjustment.  The rest of it is pretty straightforward.  If someone wants me to build them one, or just the tow bar part, send me a message and we'll figure something out.  I may try one with the wheelchair motor @Skyland used in his, going direct drive would clean this up a little and reduce some weight.

[Fly Boomer]

33 minutes ago, bcg said:

I may try one with the wheelchair motor @Skyland used in his, going direct drive would clean this up a little and reduce some weight.

Seems like the variable speed motor would make direct drive possible.  This has been fun to watch.

[bcg]

having used this guy for a little while now, it works really well and has been a real back saver.  I did make some improvements to it just because I didn't like how a few things worked.  I added a 2nd battery to have just a little more power to get over the concrete lip going into the hangar, it worked fine with one as long as I had a little momentum, with 2 it rolls over it a lot easier.  I also didn't really care for the motor controller so I figured out how to use a twist throttle from and e-bike which I like a lot better.  This allowed me to use a more intuitive Forward/Reverse switch.  I also used the 3D printer to make a custom box for the electronics so everything is nice and clean.

I've sold a couple of these to people that asked me if I'd make them one and they've been happy with it, I think it's a marketable product now.  I'll probably make a YouTube when I build the next one to show how to put it together for the CB's that just won't pay for anything but, if anyone wants one built just let me know.  I've got figure out how to make this work with Cessna, Piper, Beech, et al now.

[Hank]

That looks pretty nice!

The important questions are:

1. What are you selling them for?
2. How much does it weigh?
3. Where are you? (for pickup or shipping costs)

Thanks!

[bcg]

1 minute ago, Hank said:

That looks pretty nice!

The important questions are:

1. What are you selling them for?
2. How much does it weigh?
3. Where are you? (for pickup or shipping costs)

Thanks!

Thanks, after 4 or 5 iterations, I'm happy with it now.

1 - I can make a fair profit at $500, plus shipping, without the batteries.  I'm not a big fan of the way people tend to charge a lot just because, airplane so I'm not going to add an "airplane markup" into this.  I built it to use tool batteries and can put the adapters for DeWalt, Ryobi, Kobalt or Milwaukee.  I haven't looked but can probably find them for Makita or Hitachi also, that way there's no need to buy another battery or chargers.

2 - 19 pounds, it's pretty light for what it is.  Most of the weight is in the motor.

3 - Kerville.  I shipped one to Florida for $25 so, shipping isn't terrible.

[Fly Boomer]

23 minutes ago, bcg said:

didn't really care for the motor controller so I figured out how to use a twist throttle from and e-bike

How slow can it go?  Mine works okay, but it's on or off -- no in-between -- and the start is too abrupt for my liking.

[bcg]

1 minute ago, Fly Boomer said:

How slow can it go?  Mine works okay, but it's on or off -- no in-between -- and the start is too abrupt for my liking.

The twist throttle has infinite variation, twist a little to go slow, twist a lot to go fast.  I'll make a video of it in use next time I'm at the hangar.  I just need to remember to bring a camera and tripod, I'm almost always alone, hence the need for this to begin with.

[Hank]

5 minutes ago, bcg said:

I'm almost always alone, hence the need for this to begin with.

I'm at the point that I'm starting to understand this!  

[bcg]

2 minutes ago, Hank said:

I'm at the point that I'm starting to understand this!  

LOL, it's not that the family won't go with me, they just usually don't and the few friends I have still have jobs so they aren't available when I am.  Even when my wife and/or daughter are with me, they're not much help with pushing the plane into the hangar, which is fine, they're princesses and I don't really need them to get all sweaty pushing a plane around. 

[Hank]

3 hours ago, bcg said:

LOL, it's not that the family won't go with me, they just usually don't and the few friends I have still have jobs so they aren't available when I am.  Even when my wife and/or daughter are with me, they're not much help with pushing the plane into the hangar, which is fine, they're princesses and I don't really need them to get all sweaty pushing a plane around. 

I'm just getting older . . . . My wife helps push the plane when she flies with me, less than 20% of my flights.