Turned out pretty well for a first try. Wheels are spruce and douglas fir, with ash hubs, rest is poplar, axles are black gas pipe, box is 4 feet long. Up close there's a lot of room for improvement, but from 10 feet away it looks pretty good IMO.
It's going to be a lawn ornament for a friend of mine--he asked me if I could make such a thing if he paid for the materials, I told him I'd give it a shot.
It's not really a model of anything--somebody wanted an "Amish farm wagon" for a lawn decoration and offered to pay for the materials, I googled it, showed him a picture, , he said "that's it", and I went from there.
The guy who paid for the materials gets it for a lawn ornament--he's going to finish it to suit himself. He's talking about selling them for that purpose, so I may end up with a production line going. Gonna start another one for me--it's just such a neat thing that if all it does is sit there and look pretty that's enough.
It's usable in the sense that it will roll with my 250 pounds in it. Don't know how durable it will prove to be though--to really hold up it needs shrunk-on steel tires which I never got around to fitting. Right now the wheels are tight on the axles, they should loosen up though. Kids could pull each other around in it but I suspect that the wheels would come apart fairly quickly--on the other hand Titebond III may be tougher than I expect.
I'm thinking about drawing up a set of plans and instructions for making it.
I'd like to see details of the front axle pivot mechanism. I built a cart, about 4' wide X 8' long, with a wooden pivot mechanism for a single front wheel, with a (pull) handle like a child's wagon (toy). Turned out pretty good, but the cart wasn't for weighted loads... it was for potted plants to be rolled into the garage. Made it about 10 yrs ago and still in use. All cypress.
I'm not sure how a pivot might be made for an axle. Always thought I'd may make another cart, some day, but with a front axle as you have, there.
I've added the first attempt at a wheel , and the separate components. Note that the rim section ("felloe" or "fellow") is from the larger wheel while the spoke is from the smaller--the wedges are the same on both.
The center gets bored out after assembly and fitted with a turned hub--I don't have an extra of that.
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