Stats: Single, age 40-49
Where you live: Adelaide, South Australia
Occupation: Contract labourer/storeman/Draftsman
How did you find Atomic Zombie Extreme Machines? Googled "Quad Bike Plans"
Joined the Atomic Zombie Builders Forum: 2009
How would you describe your bike building ability when you first joined? Newbie, no previous experience
How would you describe your welding ability when you first joined? Some previous experience
Had you built your own bikes before joining the AZ Krew? Yes
Why did you join the Atomic Zombie builders community? I promised to build a go-kart for my boys, and since then have been working on mine, will build theirs next!
What is your favorite type of bike project to build? Quadcycles
Why is this your favorite type of bike? More challenging, and all my boys can ride it when I finally finish it.
Which projects have you completed? Tandems, tall, trailers, fun/crazy
Which type of project(s) are you currently working on? Quadcycles, tandems, tall, trailers, fun/crazy
What welding method(s) do you use? MIG (Metal Inert Gas)
Challenges you faced while working on your projects: Complex secondary gearing, sliding seat arrangement, 'King Richard Quad Mod', suspension on front wheels, windshield
How did you overcome these challenges? Made my own 28 speed, gearbox with secondary gearing producing 13.33 mechanical advantage; built the seat to slide 8" and made all the cabling/wiring to telescope; built a version with the original front and then re-made another according to what I thought would work; played around with ideas to get the front end with full suspension, cut, weld, cut, weld, cut, weld...smile; placed it into the derailleur tube and did up a Transformers Deception, glow-in-the-dark sign to go behind clear perspex shield
What does it mean to you to be a member of the AZ Krew? Recognition for abilities and talents to diagnose various solutions to many problems. 'Family' of like minded individuals who want to be creative and build different things to the norm.
Bike and/or welding-related web sites of interest to other AZ Krew members: niteflux lighting
Advice and/or words of wisdom? Don’t fret if you make a “mistook”, learn from it and start again. It isn't the end of life as we know it.
Any other comments or interesting tidbits of information about yourself? Building a quad bike that is gonna break some serious records!
Welding Health Hazards
All welding processes produce fumes and gases to a greater or lesser extent.
Galvanized steels produce added fumes from the vaporized zinc coating. Fumes from welding galvanized steel can contain zinc, iron and lead. Use precautions, including high-velocity circulating fans with filters, good ventilation, air respirators and fume-extraction systems.
