AMPHIBIAN MUSHROOM PICKER AND FISHERMAN

I want to introduce readers “To the” constructed me an amphibian. Constructed I, in practice, to solve a number encountered in the design of problems and contradictions. There were quite a lot, but the main makes sense to call.

1. Is it possible to create a car with an engine of class 50 cm³? What will be its speed and capacity?

It turned out — you can! Weight 80 kg, he freely carries an adult with a speed of 30-35 km/h (on asphalt), provided that the vehicle has elastic suspension of the wheels. A stiffer suspension is much harder to control the car jumps and it understeers like crazy, which is already apparent at speeds above 20 km/h but at speeds just above bike (16…18 km/h), it easily carries two adults and takes any upgrades on the roads. One driver from the scene enters the ramp with the angle of elevation of 15°.

2. Is it worth to speed up the engine?

It turned out — not worth it. During the crossing of the motor increase power is by increasing the speed. Torque while not increasing. The engine characteristic becomes steep. All this complicates the starting and requires a multi-stage gearbox. Interestingly, the engines sh-51 and D-6, working with the same gearbox behaved identically, despite different capacities.

3. What can be the minimum dimensions of single amphibian? What possible speed?

I can report that my machine was assembled in an apartment located on the tenth floor. Therefore, the size of it was limited to the dimensions of the freight Elevator and drawer, which served as a garage for amphibians — 2000X2000X700 mm. So, the height is 300 mm; this allows the amphibious freely to stay afloat with two grown men, plunging in the water to a depth slightly greater than half the side. And one driver of sediment of only 120 mm. afloat the car is very stable — it is possible to throw a spinning, sit on the hood, side or rear without the risk of overturning. It has played the role of the low position of the engine and running gear, which has become a kind of ballast. I believe that the minimum possible size for a single option can be brought to 2000Х800Х400 mm.

The speed of the water at such a scale, fixed chassis and the contours of the “box” according to the laws of hydrodynamics may not be higher than 3 km/h. I was convinced, having the speed of a stationary water cannon — 1 km/h (affected by the low efficiency of the transmission and the intake); the speed on the oars and with outboard engine Sputnik (2.5 km/h) were the same. So I had to abandon the jet and outboard engine in favour of paddles. In the future, put on wheel lugs aluminum channels — managed to reach speeds of… 0,5 km/h. to Control it was comfortable due to the roll — spinning is presented to me it was fine.

Car amphibious.

I want to warn everyone who is going to build amphibian: if the machine is not designed for gliding, the speed of the water depends only on the dimensions — it is longer and the speed higher than it is wider and shorter, the less speed. Low power required to move such machines, the water is usually ¹/₃…¹/₅ the power needed for movement on land. Hence the simple conclusion — to collect the amphibious automobile according to the traditional canons, but to ensure watertightness and to provide water propulsion. The scope of application of such vehicles — mainly land. In water they are little and are short distances. Need this technology mainly fishermen and sometimes tourists. If you want to have high speed on water and land amphibian, then build a boat and put it on wheels — there’s no other way.

4. Well, what would be the throughput and fuel consumption?

Note that fuel consumption by reducing speed and increasing the mass has doubled (compared to the “moped”) and reached 4 l/100 km it is Necessary to consider that the majority of homemade products made on the base of motorcycle engines, are not Champions of efficiency and consume every hundred kilometers 10 liters of mixture! And when you consider that the engine is working with Overdrive, 15,000 km loses power, the dream of every homebrew about the daily travel on such a machine, for example, at work, in apparent utopia. Public transport to get to and faster and cheaper.

As for the patency of amphibians, it is almost the same as that of a moped. The latter, however, much better behaved on the sand. It turned out that the airplane “quilted” small diameter circular treadmill — not the best mover: they “cut” a groove in the loose soil and skidded, and the car eventually “sit” on the bottom. Did not help in this case and lugs. In principle, it appears that the permeability of the homemade “amphibious” vehicles should be the same as that of a conventional car; a scheme with a single rear axle and a ground clearance equal to the radius of the wheel, it is suitable for them. The fact that even the army floating cars sometimes can’t get to shore without the aid of a winch.

5. What additional equipment is required for amphibians?

My limited experience has shown: first, the bilge means. Without them, the car quickly becomes a kind of submarine. Water can get into the body through leaky seams, seals and other connections, in the rain, at an unsuccessful exit in the water, with a good wave. You need to ensure that the water in the body, flowed in a certain place, due to pitch and roll angles, hitting jumpers and partitions. Thus it will be easier to remove. The easiest way to do this any scoop or bucket, but they can be manual or electric pump or ejector (if using cannons).

The second thing absolutely necessary — winch of any design. I was convinced after the first “swim”, pulling the car out of the pond. When its mass is only 80 kg I handled this task with great difficulty. The simplest (but also the most uncomfortable) — wheel winch. Her simplicity and accessibility should be manual chain hoist: it can help pull the car from anywhere. And the most difficult to make a winch driven from the transmission. However in my case the last option was the easiest. To verify that winch I threw the anchor on the beam of the gate and, after checking, firmly if he got caught, turned on the grip — after a few seconds was in the air, along with the machine. Thanks my amphibious winch can get to the most inaccessible and inconvenient Bank. It is not an obstacle even open height of 2 m, with the runup, and even broke his foot.

The following, which is also important is ensuring flooding or simplifying rescue operations after the flooding. All floating cars, even the army, filled with water, go to the bottom. The fact that you put the blocks of buoyancy in the hull is simply impossible: they fill the whole of its internal volume. It’s one thing to provide life vests for driver and passengers, providing them the opportunity to quickly leave the car, and to provide for the buoys: floating, they will lift the ropes for me to get “drowned”.

It is also useful to provide the fender to the body structure that protects it on all sides from damage, dents and scratches when docking to other crafts. With the same purpose useful to think about the location of headlights, sidelights and tail lights, as the moorings and walkways in the Park afloat during storms can cause broken headlight or tear “with the root” tail lights.

My amphibian was built as a kind of model, or, rather, a laboratory on wheels, so it has a lot of simplifications. In particular, I was hoping to get a high speed, therefore, refused the suspension front and rear axles. The car body bearing, it is assembled in boating technology. The only difference is that he has two keel beams, and the frames are tilted — so it was easier to fix the wheel housing. Frames # 1 and # 2 converge in a triangle and have one common BIMS, performing the role of a dashboard. The frames No. 0 and No. 5 sewn: they are the transoms. The rear transom is reinforced and has an overlay for fixing the outboard motor. The body made of pressed cardboard (hardboard), niche wheels are made of roofing iron. The Assembly was carried out without the pile, all body parts are joined with nails and nitroshpaklevok used as a glue. Ready body specialsa and painted with oil paint.

The layout of amphibians:

1 front transom, 2 — rails 3 — frame № 1, 4 — the hinge of the windscreen, 5 — frame windscreen, 6 — panel, 7 — frame № 2, 8 — the relay of turns, 9 — removable part of the steering column, 10 — ignition coil, 11 — seat 12 — fuel tank, 13 — jointed frame awning, 14 — constipated frame tent, 15 — foot-node, 16 — niche the front wheel, 17 — front axle, 18 — well of the steering shaft, 19 — General Adjuster foot ropes, 20 — gear lever, the 21 — damper, 22 — engine sh-58, 23 — dipstick-oil gauge, 24 is a movable plate mounting the engine, 25 — a chain tensioner, a 26 — plate mounting shaft, 27 — mounting flange of the exhaust pipe, 28 — rear axle, 29 — niche rear wheels, 30 — keel beam, 31 — frame № 4, 32 — rear transom, 33 — throttle, 34 — brakes 35 — clutch pedal 36 — sealing control cables, 37 — flange of the well of the steering shaft 38, the brake light switch, 39 transmission with the transmission shaft on the drive axle, 40 — chain transmission from the engine to the transmission shaft 41, the brake drum 42, the holder and lead shield brake pad 43 is a coil hoist, a 44 — transmission shaft, 45 — housing of bearing 46, the corners of the seat mounting to the keel beam, 47 — shift lever.

Alteration engine:

A — installation of forced cooling, the B — turn of the cylinder by 90°, In — set probe oil gauge, G — booster return valve.

Transmission shaft:

1 — key finger 2 — sprocket (transmission from the transmission shaft to the drive), 3 — bearings with bilateral Salnikov seal (water pump “Moskvich-412”), 4 — the case of the bearing unit, 5 — wall of the wheel housing, 6 — the left bearing of the transmission shaft is fastened to the keel beam, 7 — sprocket driven (transmission from the engine to the transmission shaft), 8 — the case of the transmission shaft, 9 — pin-keyed lock finger 10 — retaining ring, 11 — leash shield brake pad 12 — shield of the brake pad 13 — brake pads 14 — brake drum, 15 — extension of the transmission shaft, 16 — drum winch self-recovery, 17 — pin-locking drum winch self-recovery winch, 18 stub shaft, 19 — support bearing 20 to the right bearing of the transmission shaft (mounted on the keel beam).

Front and rear axles are virtually the same as the sports card, but do not have brakes. The fact that the brake pads swell up from the water and quickly erased. Both bridges are attached to the outside beams to the keel of the hull with bolts. The steering is also “martovskoe”; the trapeze is outside the hull, it has two rods, United with a plow on the steering shaft. Sealed steering shaft like the centerboard on a sailboat: the bottom is attached to the pipe with the flange and the support, performing the role of “well”, and it rotates the steering shaft. The upper part, together with a steering wheel made removable, so as not to interfere with the work of the oars, and fastened by the clamp-clamp of a Bicycle “Kama”.

Rear axle has no differential, both wheels driving, which increases permeability and has little effect on the handling — machine, like map, takes place literally on the spot. Torque is transmitted to the bridge circuit; to ensure its tension, the bridge may move to the stern. The bridge axis rotates in two bearings, which are bolted to the keel beams.

Transmission or intermediate shaft receives torque from the engine via a chain drive, driven sprockets which are easy to replace. The number of teeth is selected from 13 to 25, depending on loads and roads. Next point is either on the spool of the winch, mounted freely on the intermediate shaft and having a removable locking pin, either through a packing gland and a chain transmission to the rear axle. On the same intermediate shaft mounted drum brake operating on rear axle and winch.

The engine is mounted on left side keel beam and for tensioning the chain moves along with the muffler and the ground. In the crankcase, sh-58 is the shaft the kick starter pedal is mounted the drive shaft sh-51. The left rod snapped off near the wedge and on the right welded pipe. Therefore, the kick starter of the engine was easy to start on the right and left hand. Engine converted to forced cooling. For this it was necessary to expand the cylinder head at 90°. Since the position of the studs do not allow, drilled holes in the jacket of the cylinder up to Ø 12 mm and unbent pins to align with holes in the head at her new location. Nut head should be extended and screws to attach the deflector. The impeller of the cooling connected with the engine crankshaft by a belt and rotates on an axis fixed between the cylinder head and the cylinder with two screws. Pulley to the crankshaft is mounted a hollow bolt, wrapped in a threaded hole in the flywheel. Drive pulley is rubber o-ring from the shell casings of the engine YAMZ-236. Engine management is little different from that adopted for the map of “pioneer” schemes.

Diagram of the pedal shaft:

1 — the clip on the pedal shaft to the frame No. 1, 2 — leash on the gas pedal, 3 — leash brake pedal, 4 — leash clutch pedal, 5 — clutch pedal 6 — brake pedal 7 — throttle, 8 — emphasis leashes (welded to the left of the clamp).

Diagram steering column:

1 — a Pitman arm 2 — wedge mount bipod, 3 — beam front axle, 4 — bottom, 5 — well steering column flange to the bottom, 6 — shaft, steering Pitman arm, 7 — additional support well, 8 — clamp extension cable, 9 — removable extension tube of the steering column. 10 — the crossbar of the steering wheel 11 frame No. 2.

The seat and the frame of the awning is made from parts of the clamshells. Tent can podvorachivaetsya on three sides, the openings of the tent closes with “lightning”. Windscreen if necessary, leans on the hood.

The machine is equipped with front and rear turn signals, brake lights and Parking lights. All lights, including headlamps and spotlight-seeker, from bikes and mopeds. Provides and audible alarm.

Amphibian turned out to be quite reliable and convenient. For the season, she passed about 2 thousand miles on the roads and rivers of Yaroslavl region. Damage there was none. However, met difficulties with a very cranky engine.

Wherever provided a car, everywhere it evoked a sincere delight, surprise and — frankly — envy. Was “trouble” with the police, who often stopped me — usually out of curiosity: after all, a vehicle with an engine displacement of less than 50 cm³ and a speed of below 40 km/h rules refers to mopeds and bicycles with motor, and therefore the registration is not subject to it, and ride it without a license.

Unfortunately, amphibians lasted only one season. Made as a test stand, it was nevertheless a convenient and reliable vehicle, and most importantly — gave me a craving for the further work. Now set a new goal — for her likeness to make a new amphibian, but double and with a more powerful engine. Calculations and drawings half-finished. Would like to correspond with other homebrew engaged in similar work. Knowing the experience of colleagues on hobby, it is easier to continue.

My address: 150052, Yaroslavl, PR. Dzerzhinskogo, d. 29/71, 62 sq.

Technical characteristics of amphibians

Number of seats: 1

Vehicle weight, kg: 80

Full weight, kg: 200

Overall dimensions, mm:

length — 2000

width — 1000

height — 1200

Base, mm: 1050

Draught with wheels, mm: 300

Speed overland, km/h: 30

Speed on water, km/h: 3

Fuel consumption, l/100 km: 4

The force on the winch, kg: 250

The angle of maximum lift, surmounted with seats: 20°

Engine: W-58

Power, HP: 2

Cooling: air

A. NATAROV, designer-lover

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