making the plug

There is news about Vrijwiel. As you know I was busy with the cardboard project. The last weeks I hid myself in the shed making the plug for the molds. Here you can see the different states the plug has been in so far. It isn't ready yet, though. A lot has to happen before I can make the molds of it but for a first idea of the shape you can have a look at the pictures.

Spring is here and the cardboard project goes on...

Today I was finally able to work with open doors again. It just feels so much nicer to work in daylight.
I've prepared the wooden ribs that will be the plug for my molds. End of this week I will cover it in PU foam and give it a nice Vrijwiel Solo shape. I'm looking forward to this.

The nose won't be as pointy as you can see on the picture.The horizontal pvc pipe couldn't handle the bending for too long and collapsed. I will give it a nice round nose.

I will think about a good hint for those of you who tried to win the test piece bowl but didn't succeed in it. I will post it soon.

Vrijwiel for hire

The Vrijwiel did a great job in raising funds for scouting Salwega Utrecht. The Vrijwiell helped the scouts earning some money for their summer camp. As a side effect there will be a few people enjoying a nice day trip in the not so distant future.
Would you also like to travel around in the Vrijwiel? Or just make a day trip? No problem, you can rent it. Just give me a call or write an email.

Prices:

½ day (4 hours)– € 35,00

1 day (8 hours)– € 65,00

1 week (7 days) – € 350,00

Test ride - for free

 

Call me for questions: 06 21 68 27 51

 

 

Captain Kirk is done, the bowl stays at home and Vrijwiel is ready for spring

The Captain Kirk experiment is definitely finished now. He was sucking on so much water through the cracks that he became so soft that the front is starting to collaps under the weight. The waterproof woodglue though stays where it is supposed to stay. Too bad that I've already chosen wallpaperglue to do the job, much cheaper and easier to handle. Now it's up to the new test pieces. As soon as I will start the project I will let you know.

Talking about testpieces and bowls, the bowl stays home. Even though a lot of you tryed it, still the right answer wasn't in the mail. Why not make it a bit easier? The beerbrand you can see imprinted in the testpiece is situated in a European country. Maybe that will help you a bit. If the good answer won't be in the mail until  Thursday 14th of february I will have to think about something else...Good luck!

Since you can win a bowl here, you might also be interested in winning the Vrijwiel. Yes you read it right, the Vrijwiel is to be won on Saturday 9th of february during the pancake restaurant organised by Scouting Salwega in Utrecht. First price of the lottery will be a day riding in the Vrijwiel for free! Those of you who where lucky enough to get a seat at the restaurant now have the chance to even go home with a day of "Vrijwieling" in your pocket. May the best eater win!

Captain Kirk as a softy and a great price to win!

Two weeks now Captain Kirk is sitting in our back yard, enjoying himself and the Dutch weather. He has seen a lot of snow and ice and since the snow is melting, he is almost constantly experiencing the Dutch rain.
What can I say about his survival skills? He is becoming a bit soft around the edges where water can be sucked in by uncovered paper, which was to expect. However, the dome part, except of the last 10cm of the tail, is still in very good (read dry) conditions. This leads to the impression that it is possible to make paper maché waterproof, given you do it a bit better than on this testpiece.

I've made another testpiece, partly because I wanted to try a different shape and partly because I started to enjoy keeping myself busy with paper maché. I've used an aluminium beercooler from a beer brand as a negative mold. This technique leaves such a good surface that you can see the imprint of the brand on the picture.

 And here is the deal:
The first person who provides the name of the brand either in the comments or via email wins one of the very fine, unused test piece bowls.
Lines will close on wednesday, february the 6th at 12:00 AM Dutch time.

Next step will be the production of negative molds for the bike. Any good advise for this project is welcome. Especially those of the "cheap and easy" departement.

Captain Kirk on snow patrol and cardboard progress

Captain Kirk enjoys his nice little spot in the garden. The chicken haven't eaten him yet and the cold is no problem for him. I'm waiting for snow to melt, then we can see how much he can handle.

Here you can see him enjoying himself in the snow

I've tested the red paper bowl by pouring in 1 liter of water.

The experiment ended after about 30 minutes. Water slowly went through cracks in the paint layers and softened the paper underneath. 
After the said 30 minutes the bowl was standing in a little puddle and the bottom of the bowl was weakened. After letting it dry on the heater it is hard again, but I see the experiment as partly failed. I didn't test the yellow bowl yet because I saw some cracks in the paint as well, so I can guess what the outcome would be.
 
BUT

 I have been busy with yet another test piece, this time I wanted to combine the sturdiness of the Captain Kirk piece with the good looks a velomobile should have in my opinion. So I made another little bowl.
I've used 4 layers of corrugated cardboard as a base and finished it with another 4 layers of paper using wallpaper glue. I've used a different applying technique this time and I'm quite pleased with the outcome.
After everything is dry I could also use one layer of paper on the inside to give it a smooth finish. this way the possibility of cracks is smaller and it will look so much better.

  Imagine, this is how your future velomobile could look like...

cardboard experiments

As you might have already read, I was busy trying out whether cardboard would be a good material to build a velomobile from. The first test piece finally dried and became a sturdy, light weight, ugly thing.

I was already prepared that it wouldn't be the most beautiful thing to see and I was mostly interested in the sturdiness of it. I haven't been disappointed. For this one I have used wood glue, three layers of corrugated cardboard underneath 4 layers of brown packaging paper.
Since this one had come out so ugly I've decided to use it as a weather test. Today I've painted it with a few layers of spray paint and after letting it dry it got a nice little spot in the garden. I will keep it there and will post on this blog how it behaves in the Dutch winter.

This is it, all dressed up as Captain Kirk, just before being beamed into the garden.

I've also started a new test piece yesterday. This one doesn't have any corrugated cardboard underneath, I hoped that it would get some straighter lines this way and again I haven't been disappointed. Here you can see it drying the 6th layer of paper.

The down part of this piece is that it probably won't have the rigidity of the piece with the cardboard. Again I will have to wait until I know how it comes out. I've also used a different kind of glue on this one: extra strong wall paper glue.

My third and last experiment includes these two little bowls.

Both of them consist of three layers of paper held together by the same wall paper glue as used in the second test piece. I've spray painted them with some left overs from the workshop. I've used two stainless steel bowls as mold, the yellow one has been made on the outside of the bowl, the red one has been made on the inside. Again, no beauties. Apparently I should have let them dry out on the mold, but I wanted to get the job done. 
As soon as they are completely dry I will fill them up with water and stop the time until they start to leak.
If they survive that experiment I will have two interesting crisp bowls.

That's it for today, keep an eye on the blog because there will be more posts about the cardboard project in the coming days.
If you have any comment or know a better way of doing it, don't hesitate to write it down.