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Build a bike cart
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Build this handy tagalong for your bicycle
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By Rick Campbell, photos by Tracy Cox, illustration by Len Churchill
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Load up your lightweight cart and get moving.
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It's time to park the car and switch to a more environmentally friendly form of transportation, and this bicycle cart makes the change more convenient. This project has plenty of cargo room and its strong yet lightweight construction makes it easy to pull behind you as you ride. Featherlight cedar forms the frame structure of the cargo box and wheel carriage, and the insert panels are made from tongue-and-groove cedar wainscotting boards.
Boxed In
Start by cutting and gluing strips of ready-made tongue-and-groove cedar to create panels for the sides and bottom of the cargo box. Given the dimensions of the premilled wood, it's unlikely the panels will end up being exactly the right size without cutting. Make them wider to start, then trim the excess from the ends later. When you edge-glue the strips, you'll find clamps will make the thin panels buckle as soon as you apply force. Instead, stretch packing tape across the face of the panels to bind the strips together until the glue dries.
Next, build the frames that surround the panels. Cut out the horizontal rails and vertical stiles, then use a table-mounted router and a straight bit to mill a 5/6"-wide x 1/2"-deep groove on the inside edges to accommodate the panels. You'll also need to mill tenons on the ends of the vertical stiles to fit the panel grooves.
To assemble the frames, apply glue to the tenons but not the grooves, to allow the panels to float. After the panels are in place, secure the corners with clamps, then check for square before setting the parts aside to dry.
Once the glue has dried, mark 3/4"-radius curves on the top corners of the assembly with a compass, then use a bandsaw or jigsaw to cut the shape. Sand the corners before joining the sides and screwing the bottom panel in place.
Wheeling Along
The carriage supports the bicycle wheels along the sides of the cart. Cut the frame members to size, then fasten the front, rear and inner side rails to the base of the cargo box with glue and screws. Before you add the outer rails to the assembly, roundover the ends on one side with a table-mounted router and a 3/4"-radius bearing-guided bit.
As you can see from the plans, the outer side rails overhang the front and back rails of the carriage frame to accommodate the tires and the thickness of the bumper blocks that will be added to the corners. The main purpose of these bumpers is to reinforce the corner joints. Cut the blocks to size, round the edge on one end, then glue the parts to the frames.
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