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General: Anyone make their own front rack?

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    Have any of you guys tried to make your own racks? I really like some of the racks I've seen that go over your front wheel, but considering they're all still pretty much being made on a smaller scale, they all cost $100+ while the same exact thing that goes over your back wheel is only $30 in any bike store you walk into. I've been thinking about trying to make one myself. I don't know much about metal work as far as actually building things goes, so I'm gonna have to do some research to see what to use, how to attach everything, and all of that, but I'd be curious to see some racks that other people have come up with.
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    I have also thought of building my own racks. I have looked at cheep TIG and brazing kits, but still lack the knowhow of how to weld. Is a low end kit good enough for this kind of work? Any suggestions on where one would find the material in low quantities for one or two racks?

    Hears a great link for ideas I think; http://www.flickr.com/groups/racksnsacks/pool/
    • CommentAuthorAaron C
    • CommentTimeMar 29th 2009
     
    cheap TIG kits? really? if you don't have any welding experience i would not spend any money on a tig machine. tig welding is a skill that takes a lot of practice. you could set yourself up with an oxy-acetylene rig for brazing, they are super fun and you can do a lot with them but unless our ideas on construction of a rack are very different brazing would be both very time consuming and impractical. brazing also takes some skills and the joints wouldn't be particularly conducive for that type of weld.
    honestly if you are looking at building a sweet rack and investing in a machine that has many utilitarian uses go with a MIG welder. they are very easy to use and its much easier to teach yourself to wire feed weld than to weld with flame or TIG weld. if you are tricky and want to use aluminum better quality home use MIG machines can do pretty decent aluminum welds too!
    i would say just buy some sticks of 1/4" round stock. use a propane torch to heat the stick then bend 2 90* angles into using diy jig. this could be the platform of the rack from there weld short pieces of stock inside this U shape.
    i dont know just go for it.
    • CommentAuthorAaron C
    • CommentTimeMar 29th 2009
     
    pete that link is basically spot on. i would say though that for a beginner brazing may not be the way to go.
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    Posted By: Aaron Ccheap TIG kits? really? if you don't have any welding experience i would not spend any money on a tig machine. tig welding is a skill that takes a lot of practice. you could set yourself up with an oxy-acetylene rig for brazing, they are super fun and you can do a lot with them but unless our ideas on construction of a rack are very different brazing would be both very time consuming and impractical. brazing also takes some skills and the joints wouldn't be particularly conducive for that type of weld.
    honestly if you are looking at building a sweet rack and investing in a machine that has many utilitarian uses go with a MIG welder. they are very easy to use and its much easier to teach yourself to wire feed weld than to weld with flame or TIG weld. if you are tricky and want to use aluminum better quality home use MIG machines can do pretty decent aluminum welds too!
    i would say just buy some sticks of 1/4" round stock. use a propane torch to heat the stick then bend 2 90* angles into using diy jig. this could be the platform of the rack from there weld short pieces of stock inside this U shape.
    i dont know just go for it.


    Perhaps I meant MIG, told you I didn’t know how to weld. Anyways this is what I had in mind;
    http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=55525\
    Think this would work for little stuff like racks, building high-bikes and small repairs?
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    I definitely plan to learn how to weld someday. I haven't done it since high school shop class. I need to finish getting my basement cleaned up, and get some other project out of the way first though. I asked what the difference was between the different types of welding in relation to random bike projects like this on the FGG forum, and got chewed out for not running to google for all my answers. I think that was when i finally decided to give up on that message board.

    I think for this project I'm leaning more towards trying to find a good metal that will bend smoothly(I have a mini torch that would atleast let me heat them up for bending), and then for the rest I was thinking maybe I would just drill some holes, and use a tap to thread the inside of some of the cross beams, and just bolt the thing together. It wouldn't look as nice, but I don't think a rack over my front wheel is the place to be testing out one of my first welding projects. Two things that would make it easy, is if I could find some square bars for the outer edge of the platform, or if I could find something completely random that would serve as the platform that I could just attach legs onto, like the top of a small metal decorative table that was meant to hold a vase in some rich ladies living room. It doesn't even have to look pretty if I just stain some nice strips of wood and attach them to the top.
    • CommentAuthorAaron C
    • CommentTimeMar 29th 2009
     
    pete: a little mig kit like that is exactly what i had in mind. you definitely get what you pay for but they are great utilitarian machines, the hardest part is just learning how to dial them in to get proper weld penetration w/o burning the shit out of the metal.
    • CommentAuthorAaron C
    • CommentTimeMar 29th 2009
     
    i wonder if you could make a rack that would hold up with JB weld. probably.
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    Posted By: Aaron Ci wonder if you could make a rack that would hold up with JB weld. probably.


    I have heard wondrous things about JB weld, but I’m much more of a nut & bolt guy. I think I would be leery of something glued together around my spinning wheels trying to hold up to the weights and jarring affects that a bike rack produces. A solidly welded joint makes better since to me, but if you give it a try, let us all know how it worked!
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    Is there any type of thin metal rod that has straight, 90degree, and 3 way fittings that you can think of? Same idea as copper pipe for plumbing, but only about half the diameter. That would make building a rack terribly easy, and as long as the fittings were reasonably tight, I bet you could still JB weld/epoxy them and be ok.
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    Posted By: upthemaidenIs there any type of thin metal rod that has straight, 90degree, and 3 way fittings that you can think of? Same idea as copper pipe for plumbing, but only about half the diameter. That would make building a rack terribly easy, and as long as the fittings were reasonably tight, I bet you could still JB weld/epoxy them and be ok.


    Yea, that would work well I think, as long as the tubes were up to the task. Then there’s the whole cost thing. I would think if there was such a material readily available for a reasonable price someone would have thought of it by now. I have seen stainless steel tubes like that, but again, I hate to think what they would cost.
    • CommentAuthorfilthpunx
    • CommentTimeMar 29th 2009
     
    Perhaps I meant MIG, told you I didn’t know how to weld. Anyways this is what I had in mind;
    http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=55525\
    Think this would work for little stuff like racks, building high-bikes and small repairs?


    that welder would be great, i use a miller that size and it works wonders. ive extended many pairs of forks and done some mild frame repair and i havent had any problems with it, ever. i dont know much about that brand but it should be more than sufficiant for what you would be using it for.
    • CommentAuthorAaron C
    • CommentTimeMar 30th 2009 edited
     
    Posted By: filthpunxi dont know much about that brand but it should be more than sufficiant for what you would be using it for.


    from what i've heard basically everything harbor freight is mediocre at best. i was actually just talking about this with a buddy of mine who does a lot of custom fabrication, i have not used the welders but i trust his opinion.
    in any case i like miller, there stuff is generally a great deal more expensive.
    honestly though the harbor freight one will probably work just fine.

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