Homemade sled made of plastic pipes. We use plastic pipes to make sleds: step by step instructions

You will need to spend about 1 thousand rubles for Consumables and take a day of time to manufacture, but as a result you will get a reliable design that is not inferior in performance characteristics store-bought products and save a lot of money.

Even a girl can lift a sled made of plastic pipes

This article provides instructions on how to make a sled. We will consider constructive ones, we will give a list of tools and materials necessary for their manufacture.

Difficulties of choice

Initially, decide what kind of sled you need to make - for the entertainment of a child or a serious trailed structure for a snowmobile. There are no difficulties with products for children - the standard Soviet-style configuration, consisting of a supporting frame, skids and a seat with a back, while plastic snowmobile sleds are variable in their design.

Based design features and functional purpose, plastic sleds for snowmobiles are classified into 3 types:

Freight;
Volokushi;
Passenger.

On products used for the transport of goods, skis are used as skids, connected to the carrier platform by means of shock absorbers that eliminate vibrations of the transported object on uneven surfaces. The carrying capacity and stability of such structures is achieved by increasing their dimensions - the frame (a wide cargo platform prevents the sled from tipping over on turns) and the sliding surface (the larger the area of the runners, the better the sled passes loose snow).

When operating in conditions of high and loose snow, it is rational to make plastic drag sleds. This is a trough-shaped structure in which there are no runners - when moving, the smooth bottom of the sled rubs against the snow. These products are used for the transportation of goods, they are not intended for the transportation of people.

Plastic drag sleds have a key drawback - due to the design features, when driving, they perceive the impact of stones, bumps and potholes, which leads to damage to the front of the structure. The advantage is low weight, ease of manufacture.

What are sleds made of?

A typical design of a sleigh of a standard configuration (cargo, children's or passenger) consists of three key elements:

Assembled sled

Bearing frame for seat fixation;
Poloziev (skiing);
Racks connecting the frame with skis;
Seats - platforms made of wood on which cargo or a passenger is placed.

The final operational suitability of the product depends on the mechanical strength of each element. Homemade sledges made of PVC pipes can be considered as a reliable design - plastic does not lose strength at sub-zero temperatures, does not deform during point impacts (in collision with stones) and has a low weight.

To make a sled from PVC pipes with your own hands, first decide on the functional purpose of the product - compact sleds do not need wide runners and frame reinforcements, while structures for transporting goods require the use of widened skis and an increased number of racks in the carrier frame.

What is needed for this

To make a sled with your own hands, you will need the following tools and materials:

PVC pipe with a diameter of 30-40 mm (for the frame) and 110 mm (for the skids);
Fittings of the appropriate diameter;
hacksaw or grinder;
Building hair dryer or blowtorch (required for bending pipes);
Apparatus for;
Sheet of plywood 10 mm thick. (for the seat);
Marker, tape measure, level, stationery knife;
File, sandpaper;
Steel corner profile (for strengthening the connections of structural units).

Equipment and place for assembly

The consumption of materials depends on what dimensions you plan to make the sled. Purchase pipes in lengths of 1.5-2 meters in order to cut them into blanks of the required dimensions during work.

Manufacturing process

When making a do-it-yourself snowmobile sled, give preference rectangular structures- they are easier to implement. The optimal dimensions are 180 cm in length and 75 cm in width between the skids. An increase in size is acceptable, with a decrease, the stability of the product will suffer.

Sledge from pvc pipes produced according to the following algorithm:

Pipes of smaller diameter are marked for the supporting frame - two belts, 180 (longitudinal) and 70 (transverse) cm, respectively. The cutting sections are marked with a marker, pipe cutting is performed by a grinder or a hacksaw;
After cutting, the edges of the pipes are processed with a file and sandpaper to eliminate burrs;
The blanks are laid on a flat work surface and connected by soldering or self-tapping screws and metal corners. Corner profile joints are the preferred option, providing greater final strength of the product;
Racks are marked for connecting the frame and skids, use a height of 20-30 cm. Pipes are cut and deburred. The number of racks - 5-7 pcs. on each side (step 10-15 cm);
With a knife and a file on the docking edges of the racks, necessary for a snug fit of the frame elements to each other;
Racks are attached to the supporting frame by means of corners;
Are made homemade skis from plastic pipes. A pipe blank of the required length is cut by a grinder into two longitudinal sections, which are heated with a hairdryer and bent to a flat shape. The front parts of the skids are bent at an angle of 150 degrees;
Skis are mounted on racks by means of two-sided fixation with corners;
A seat made of plywood and additional accessories - hand holders, a trunk are attached to the supporting frame.

Using the segments remaining in the process of assembling the sled, you can make snowshoes from polypropylene pipes. You will need two pieces of pipe 150 cm long, a strong cord (kapron or nylon) - 50 meters, and rubber pads (purchased in sports or hardware stores) to fix the foot.

We make snowshoes with our own hands from plastic pipes:

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Two pipe blanks 130 cm long are cut;
A mark is made in the central part of the pipe and the bend section is heated with a building hair dryer, after which the pipe is bent so that the straight sections are parallel to each other;
After bending, the pipe is cooled in a container with water;
The oval section of the workpiece warms up and bends at an angle of 120 degrees (lifting is necessary to prevent snow from catching when walking);
The edges of the straight sections are given an inwardly curved shape, then they are glued together and fixed with a screw;
In the central part of the workpiece, a transverse jumper is installed on the screws;
The inner space of the snowshoe is covered with a mesh of nylon cord, knots are knitted according to the diagram below.

We note right away that there are no universal sledges. In this case, mutually exclusive factors are such factors as the specifics of the track and snow cover, terrain, etc. By the way, a professional always has several sleds for various situations, which is undoubtedly very convenient and practical.

When choosing a sled, the buyer usually has to solve a number of problems related to the material and design of their manufacture. Plastic is suitable for deep snow, metal skis are needed for a rocky track, and if passengers are expected to be transported, you need to take care of shock absorbers for the sled. Let's conditionally divide all types of sleds into 4 groups, namely: cargo sleds, sleds, passenger and home-made. Let us now make a brief overview of the proposals that exist today, their specifications and cost.

Snowmobile cargo sled

This type of sled is more complex in design than conventional plastic sleds. The demand for such sleds is very significant. Skis serve as the sliding surface of the cargo sleigh. In addition, suspension with shock absorbers is very often used.
When distributing sledges into groups, the class of such utility sledges is distinguished by the ability to transport heavy and oversized cargo. There is another popular class of cargo sled boxes used by tourists for travel.
However, the main advantage of any type of such sled is their maximum load capacity. Another important property is comfortable driving characteristics, depending on the suspension device and the sliding surface area. Unlike drag sleighs, cargo sleds have a smaller area of contact with the track, equal to the area of skis. Thanks to the wide ski base, these sleds are more stable during maneuvers, and the stability of the course on the slopes is ensured by the presence of skates.
Due to the rather high landing of the platform, the transported cargo is better protected from water ingress. The main disadvantage of cargo sleds is their large dead weight. Moreover, due to the use metal frame and other parts, such sledges are always covered with thick ice, which additionally increases their weight. Therefore, you have to carry a mallet with you for periodic churning of ice.
On platform sleds, luggage must be stowed carefully and competently to ensure the best balance of load and increase the tightness of the package. From this point of view, the best will be sled boxes, which already have an optimal area for stowage and protection of cargo from moisture.

Snowmobile drags

These sleds are the most commonly used. Their popularity is due to the simplicity of design and cost. In this regard, the maximum number of proposals from manufacturers of our country and foreign companies foresees the production of drag sleds. Yes, and masters of home-made equipment can make such a sled, the cost of which will be about 5-8 thousand rubles.
However, given the simplicity of this design, drag sleds have a very significant drawback. They are more likely to damage the front corners of the hull and tow hitch.
The advantages of such sleds, in addition to their ease of manufacture and low budget cost, also include their low weight, low center of gravity, fast luggage loading, low freezing of the plastic case, and they ride on water like a small boat.
The main disadvantage of drags is the inability to adapt them for comfortable transportation of passengers, because due to their contact with the surface of the track, it is impossible to install shock absorbers on them with the entire lower part of the hull, and every flaw on the road is “caught” by the sleigh body. As an example, we note that sleds with skis are able to skip stones, bumps and irregularities between the track. The same property of drag sleds excludes their use in rocky mountainous terrain, where there is a significant threat of damaging the bottom on sharp stones.
Another disadvantage of these sleds is their small carrying capacity, the inability to carry a long load, the instability of the course on a slope, and the load getting wet when moving through water or in sludge.

Passenger sled for snowmobile

In our country, such sleds are rare because of their high cost, as well as the lack of well-equipped snowmobile routes with prepared surfaces.
Sometimes you can find a copy of a passenger sleigh at some recreation center or at the box office. Passenger sleds are still found among fishermen who are fond of ice fishing, but they are usually homemade devices.

The most common passenger sled design in our country is a plastic capsule with sprung skis. You can sometimes find open-top sleds, which are less practical due to snowmobile exhaust fumes on passengers. Therefore, the best combination for transporting people is a powerful snowmobile with a four-stroke engine on the bottom and good momentum.

Homemade snowmobile sled

Homemade snowmobile sleds can have a wide variety of original designs, including combinations of the previous three groups of devices. Sometimes there are so original technical solutions that even foreign manufacturing companies can envy them. But only the design itself can be envied, and no more, because the earnings of do-it-yourself craftsmen, as a rule, do not justify the waste of time, and the “brainchildren” of masters are always a manifestation of the ambitions of inventors. It is among homemade products that you can pick up good sleds, the cost of which will be two or even more times cheaper than foreign branded ones. However, with regard to repair, the specificity and originality of the design can cause obvious difficulties. And no one gives guarantees for such products. Therefore, before ordering such a sled from one of the craftsmen-inventors, one should analyze the nature and method of his communication on snowmobile forums and draw appropriate conclusions about the popularity and perfection of his products.

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE SNOWMOBILE WHEELS

Wheeled snowmobiles - all-terrain vehicles (snow and swamp vehicles, jokingly called "karakat" or "moon rovers" by do-it-yourselfers) on tires low pressure(often referred to as "pneumatics") are very popular machines among enthusiastic designers. However, the high labor intensity of manufacturing wheels, and most importantly, the low reliability of their tires (usually made from the chambers of wheeled tractors) often cool the creative ardor of craftsmen.

Meanwhile, a tire for the wheel of such an all-terrain vehicle can be made from a suitable tire (with a diagonal fiber cord, not torn and not completely “bald”) from a truck wheel or a wheeled tractor. To convert an ordinary tire into a “pneumatic”, everything superfluous is cut off from it: after all, the load of an all-terrain vehicle (even with passengers) on them is several tens of times lower than in the standard version.

As you know, any pneumatic tire is a multilayer shell structure made of rubber welded onto the cord, which on the sides is wrapped around steel core rods with a layered loop. For clarity, you can cut any unnecessary tire across the grinder (after all, they are lying around everywhere, even in the taiga and tundra), and everything will become clear. Conventionally, a tire can be divided into the following components: a treadmill, beads and sidewalls (external and internal for tires with a directional tread pattern are the same in design, but mirrored).

Each part, in turn, consists of several (and even many) closely related elements. So, from the outside it is necessary to remove the excess rubber of the sidewalls and the tread, and from the inside - to remove the landing cores (leaving only one if necessary) and even part of the rubberized cord base of the tire, but it is very difficult to leave the cord threads of the remaining nearest layer intact. For the wheels of my all-terrain vehicle, I used "Krazov" tires with dimensions of 1090x508x420 mm (rolling diameter x landing diameter x width).

While the tires were still raw, they weighed so much that he alone could not lift them and put them on the tread tread. After stripping, the tire weighs a maximum of 30 kg, and the entire wheel - about 50 (another chamber - 4 - 5 kg and a disk - 16 kg). I think that it is already impossible to make it easier, at least very difficult. In the course of the process of lightening (reducing the mass) of the tire, he made several devices (mainly various shaped bits).

The main requirement for them is strength, since they are all percussive. And further. Side knives of shaped chisels should have a collapse of 3 - 5 °. Then they will not jam in the cut grooves, and stones will not get stuck in the tread grooves themselves. First, on the edge of the bead (landing diameter) of the tire, I cut a corner with a knife to steel wires core and studied the internal structure of the bead of the processed tire. Then I cut the seating edge from the inside with a knife indented from the inner edge by 17 - 20 mm to a depth of 4 - 5 mm along the perimeter.

Layers, or rather, loops, must be moved apart. For this I used makeshift fixture(like a compass) of two beams (pipe sections with an outer diameter of 22 mm), at the ends of which wedges are welded (I have them from a U-shaped profile - a channel, but it would be better to cut them out of the corner). He brought the shelves of wedges together, hammered them with a sledgehammer into the slot between the hinges and first stretched them with two mounting levers for the free shelves of the channels with a winch. But tearing apart the layers was no easy task.

Therefore, I welded traction to the wedges and delaminated the side loops of the tire with the help of a winch. Having broken the layers in this place, he moved the device further along the landing circle. For one installation tore off 60 - 70 mm. You can help with a knife, but only a blunt one so as not to cut the cord threads. With the initial cut, it is unlikely that it will be possible to please between the layers, but this is not important. But then it is necessary, cutting the threads, to get exactly between the desired layers. The extra layers from each sidewall (from the side to the middle of the tread) were separated in three passes in a circle (three stripes).

When the detachable strip began to interfere with the operation, he cut it off, leaving 10 millimeters of the already separated strip, otherwise it would be very difficult to get to the same layer later. I cut the side part of the cord base from the inside and tore it off, wrapping it on a crowbar with an ear (a key for assembling heating registers into a battery with two teeth-hooks). I had a weak winch, and I was in no hurry: in two hours I tore off the sidewalls, in an hour - the transverse slots of the treadmill, for three hours I screwed pieces of 300 - 400 mm into scrap.

Now I would do this operation differently. It would be necessary to make one slot with a depth of 60 - 70 mm. Inside, insert the wedges of the device so as not to break the remaining core. Screw the sidewalls along the perimeter with bolts to any external anchored frame. Hook the cable onto the removed inner rings of the core and tear out all the insides - a loop with a core and several layers of the base-frame - with a "tractor" at a time.

Next - processing outer side tires. It is necessary to cut off excess rubber from it. To do this, it is first desirable to examine the thickness of the rubber welded on the sidewall, piercing it with an awl to the threads: you can hear it from the characteristic sound of hooked threads. Then you need to assemble the wheel and pump up the chamber - it's easier to cut. I cut the sidewall almost to the warp threads with a 50mm wide knife, on the right side of which there was an L-shaped cutting depth gauge. The knife is inserted into the puncher with a soft fight, otherwise the tool does not endure for a long time - it crumbles. The place of the cut on the tire is poured with water for lubrication.

The left side of the knife goes over the rubber, and the right side is cut to the stop by 4 - 6 mm. And so several passes in a circle, from the side to the tread - and the sidewall is bald. The knife should be sharpened roughly, with notches: this is how it cuts (or saws) better. On a treadmill, you should determine the height of the tread above the threads. With a flat chisel knife with a blade width of 80 - 120 mm from the side to the middle across the tire, cut off excess rubber on each side, placing the stop template under the knife into the existing tread grooves.

The template was made from aluminum wire of the required variable thickness, bending along the groove pattern. Since the knife is flat, and the stop-template is wide, you need to add 3-4 mm in height, since the tire is toroidal and will definitely cut off more than you expect. I cut all 98 lugs on the tire in two hours. Since I had a puncher with a hard blow (electric hammer) and crumbled knives, I made a device like a planer to cut lugs in the shape of a Christmas tree.

The “planer” consists of a rod made of a reinforcing rod-wire rod with a diameter of 20 mm and a length of about 400 mm with a steel square pipe 20x20 mm welded to it at one end and a length of about 200 mm, to which another knife in the form of a bracket with a width is welded to it from below about 10 mm. Knife height - according to the depth of the newly cut tread. Before starting to cut grooves on the tire treadmill, we mark two or three “Christmas trees” with chalk, pour water over this place. This operation is best performed together with an assistant - one holds and directs the planer, the second hits the end of the rod with a sledgehammer.

In one blow, 10 - 30 mm is broken through (depending on the strength of the blow and the skill of the workers). 98 grooves were punched in five hours and one hour was spent cutting tails with an L-shaped knife. My planer endured seven wheels and remained alive, however, the knife burst, five times along the weld, and I had to weld it again. Here, it seems, is all. It took eighteen hours to peel one tire, not counting tool making. The work is hard and I was missing for more than three hours a day.

The camera is selected a little less than the tire for ease of installation. When pumped up to a pressure of 0.15 - 0.2 atmospheres, it sticks to the tire. At a lower pressure during movement, the chamber can slip in the tire, and the tire on the wheel rim width, and on the side of the tire - the corresponding recesses (gear connection), nothing turns.

About wheels. Since it is impractical to use the “Krazovsky” wheel (disk with a rim) due to its large mass in an all-terrain vehicle, it had to be made from the “Zhiguli” one. Two conical surfaces made of metal 2.5 - 3 mm are welded to the rim of the "Zhiguli" wheel on both sides. Halves of motorcycle rims (landing shelves with side flanges) are welded to the cones. And such wheels perfectly hold lightweight tires and loads on them. To some, the pattern of cones will seem an impossible task. But here you can open the textbook.

Draw a cross section of your future wheel on the sheet (the cone on it will look like a straight line segment between the motorcycle shelf and the rim of the Zhiguli wheel). Continue the segment until it intersects with the wheel axle. The intersection point will be the center of the truncated cone pattern sector radii. Then you should measure the circumference of the motorcycle rim seat with a tape measure (or calculate it from the diameter of the rim), measure the same length along the outer arc of the cone. The same must be done with the rim of the "Zhiguli" wheel and measure the resulting value along the inner arc.

To save a sheet of iron, it is better to break the cone pattern into two parts. It is necessary to cut (cut with an electric jigsaw) with a 5 mm allowance in length, butt-weld the halves, bend over the knee to connect the ends. The motorcycle rim must be cut with a grinder directly along the holes of the spokes, leaving a vertical shelf (rim) for rigidity. Put the cut off part of the rim on a sheet of chipboard ("chipboard") and stuff nails around its outer circumference.

Next, put a cone on it with the corresponding side and cover it with another “chipboard” sheet and tighten it in the center with a bolt. Having achieved parallelism of the plates with a hammer and tape measure (beats up to 10 mm can be considered the norm), weld the shelf to the cone with 40 mm stitches from different sides so that it does not lead. A few tips for choosing tires and wheels, based on local road (or rather off-road) conditions for the upcoming operation.

Our conditions: forest, hummocks, moss, thawed permafrost up to half a meter deep, mountain rivers, loose snow in winter, ruts from winter roads, which, as a rule, pass exactly in the only place where you can drive. I recommend choosing such an outer diameter (rolling diameter) of the wheel tire to provide a clearance under the car of 350 - 400 mm: approximately the same as that of a Ural truck. Higher obstacles can be bypassed. It is also desirable to make the wheel track “Ural”, otherwise you can collect everything that these all-terrain vehicles did not break.

Tire pressure for movement on moss - 0.15 - 0.25 atmospheres, on the road - 0.35 - 0.55. Do not chase the width of the tires of the wheels: on snow, with a lack of power, they are worse than narrow ones, besides, they reduce the useful area of \u200b\u200bthe machine itself and are more difficult to control. It is advisable to design the car so that the cab is in the front (this greatly improves visibility), and the wheels of the front axle protrude beyond the front clearance - then they will lay the bushes under the car.

When crossing mountain rivers, it is preferable that the car sink and cling to the bottom with its wheels than float. In the tundra - the land of swamps and lakes - other requirements are possible. I drove on lightweight tires for five years, including through the forest, and the tires never punctured. If we compare these home-made tires with branded imported or domestic industrial "trekol" tires, then in Yakutia they are often pierced even on public roads.

HOW TO MAKE A HOMEMADE SNOWMOBILE COUPE TRAILER

The coupe trailer is a four-ski sled with a glazed passenger cabin, equipped with an autonomous heater and lighting shades. The cab has a single side door that swings up. Seats based on office chairs, can swivel: in the transport position, passengers sit in tandem, and in the parking lot they can sit facing each other.

If necessary, between the chairs can be installed folding tabletop. The passenger cabin is predominantly wooden. Its basis is the lower (power) panel of the cabin, which is a kind of sandwich. Inside the power panel there is a frame consisting of crossbars and sidewalls.

Top and bottom panel covered with 4 mm plywood; voids between the frame bars are filled with construction foam. Such a panel, with a relatively small thickness and low weight, has significant rigidity in both torsion and bending. For crossbars, straight-layer boards with a thickness of 40 mm should be selected, from which blanks of the required dimensions are made - the width of the largest (middle) crossbar is 110 mm.

For the sidewalls, boards with a thickness of 20 mm are required. The power panel frame is assembled with epoxy glue. Using the same binder, building foam blocks are glued into the frame, and 5 mm plywood sheathing is also fixed. The cabin is assembled on a finished base. The most appropriate is the following scheme for its installation. To begin with, a roof panel frame and an average belt are assembled on the lower (power) body panel.

Next, the bottom panel is installed on the tragus in its original (working) position, and then all three frame elements (the bottom and roof panels, as well as the middle belt) are connected using two inclined frames cut from 12 mm plywood. As a result, a fairly rigid structure is obtained, which can be completed "in place" - to mount longitudinal stringers, install cross members and additional lightweight frames.

On the frame prepared in this way, the frames of the windshield, rear and side windows are fixed, and the frame of the doorway is also formed. By the way, there is only one door in the coupe trailer - on the left. It is quite difficult to pick up ready-made glasses for the cabin, so it is easier to cut them out of plexiglass.

Next, the frame is sheathed on the outside with 3 mm plywood. It should be noted that it is more convenient to sheathe the frame together with the door, and after the epoxy glue has cured, remove it from the frame by cutting through the plywood sheathing with an electric jigsaw. The space between the frames is filled with foam blocks. After leveling the foam flush with the frames, the cabin is pasted over with artificial leather from the inside.

On the outside, the cab is shaped by single curvature surfaces that tend to give vehicles a sort of "homegrown" look. However, there are many techniques that allow you to give plywood shells a double curvature. One such technique is shown on the example of a roof panel formed from three plywood strips.

After sanding and gluing with fiberglass, such a surface is no different from a double-curvature panel. In principle, the same technique can be used when forming the lower part of the cabin - starting from its belt. Outside, the cabin is pasted over with a layer of fiberglass on an epoxy binder, after which it is leveled with a two-component auto-filler and painted - first with a primer layer, and then with two layers of car enamel.

The skis are glued on an epoxy binder of 3 mm plywood strips and a 0.8 mm thick stainless steel strip - the total thickness of the package is 20 mm. Before gluing, it is necessary to make the simplest slipway, fixing it on wooden beam several crossbars; in front of the slipway, their height should gradually decrease in accordance with the curvature of the ski toe. When gluing, the plywood strips are pressed against the crossbeams of the slipway with the help of brackets bent from a steel bar in the form of the letter “P”, on the “legs” of which threads are cut.

You will also need wooden traverses with holes drilled in them, into which the "legs" of the brackets are inserted; clamping is carried out using nuts. In the middle part of each of the skis, guide undercuts made of 3 mm thick stainless steel sheet are installed.

The suspension pendulum is hinged on the ski - an arc bent from a steel pipe with a diameter of 22 mm. In its front part, the arc rests on a spring-hydraulic shock absorber from the sidecar of the IZH motorcycle, in the rear part - on a support from a piece of steel channel. Structurally, the front and rear skis are the same.

Both of them are pivotally mounted on tubular cross members, which, in turn, are fixed on the power panel of the cabin. The front skis are swivel, with steering rods articulated with a drawbar, with which the compartment cabin is connected to the towing snowmobile. The ski toes are pulled up with a rubber cord shock absorber with a diameter of 8-10 mm.

Towing hitch - standard, automobile, ball, with a ball with a diameter of 50 mm. In the rear part of the cab there is a compartment in which the car battery is fixed - for cab lighting, the operation of two rear marker lights and the auxiliary heater drive (from the Zaporozhets car).

The latter is located in the front compartment of the cabin. The air intake for the heater is carried out through the shutters in the front of the cab. It is advisable to do the wiring in such a way that when driving, the trailer battery is connected to the towing snowmobile circuit. And the last.

Passenger trailer in without fail must be equipped with a parking stop - in the simplest case, it can be a pair of pins buried in the snow through holes in the rear skis.

Polymer pipes are a versatile material that is perfect for arranging plumbing, sewerage and heating systems in a house or apartment. However, in the hands home master, who has a remarkable imagination and an irrepressible desire to make something on his own, PVC parts can turn into rather intricate, but no less useful products. For example, in a snowmobile sled made of plastic pipes, the manufacturing process of which will be discussed below.

Varieties of sled trailers

It should be noted that universal model you won't find.

Which sled to use depends on many factors:

the specifics of the route to be overcome;
height and density of snow cover;
terrain features, and so on.

Let's look at some of the most common types.

Freight

The design of these sleds is quite complex. For sliding, skis are used, which can be connected to the frame with the help of shock absorbers. There are varieties designed to transport heavy and oversized cargo.

Sometimes a special box is placed on the cargo sled, with which you can go on long tourist trips.

The main advantage of cargo sleds is their high carrying capacity and excellent maneuverability. These parameters depend on the size of the frame (the wider, the more stable the sled will be) and the area of the sliding surface (the type of skids used).

It is also desirable that the platform is high from the snow crust. So the cargo was protected from getting wet. But do not make the sled too high, otherwise it will often tip over on turns.

Volokushi

A very common type of sled. Their design is extremely simple. They are sold in all specialized tourist shops and are relatively inexpensive.

Volokushi have one big drawback - because of their features, they very often damage the leading edge and the coupling device.

But there are also advantages:

little weight;
low center of gravity;
fast loading and unloading of luggage;
no freezing of the body;
the ability to transport a small load by water.

Volokushi are absolutely not intended for transporting people. The entire surface of the body is in contact with snow, and therefore it is not possible to install shock absorbers. In addition, unlike models with skis, these sleds perceive the impact of stones, snowdrifts and bumps with the whole body, which undoubtedly affects comfort.

Passenger

They are not very common in our country due to the lack of appropriate infrastructure (equipped snow trails and parking lots). Often such sleds are made independently by winter fishing enthusiasts.

They are a plastic or plywood case mounted on skids. The cabin can be equipped with a heater and lighting fixtures.

The disadvantage is a lot of weight, therefore, for transportation, you need to use powerful snowmobiles equipped with a four-stroke power unit.

Design features of the sled

Before starting construction work, it is necessary to figure out what basic elements the sled consists of. The fact is that the manufacturing process includes several stages, at each of which some key part is made.

It is necessary that you fully understand the purpose of each of them:

The main part of any sled is the frame, which is the base supporting element for the entire structure.
It should be as strong as possible, since it depends on:

operational safety homemade sleigh;
duration of trouble-free operation;
the reliability of the device as a whole.

Considering that the snowmobile sled will be used in difficult conditions, the frame must be able to withstand freezing ambient temperatures, as well as the shocks that the sled is constantly exposed to when driving through a forest or bush.

Otherwise, you will be unpleasantly surprised when a loaded sleigh falls apart while riding and dumps all your belongings on the snow in the middle of a forest clearing.

The second important element is the skids. Strength is also very important here, however, another important detail is ease of control. It depends on this whether the sled will tip over when cornering or not.

The last point is the dimensions of the structure. This parameter is selected individually based on the tasks that are supposed to be solved with its help.

Sledges can be small, but maneuverable and light. Either it will be solid robust design designed to move large loads. You decide.

Sleigh making

Tools and materials

Once you have decided on the dimensions, you can get to work.

In order to make a sled for a snowmobile from PVC pipes, you will need the following tools and materials:

(they are purchased at the store, but you can also use the old ones left after the repair or dismantling of the old plumbing system);
hacksaw or special scissors for cutting plastic pipes;
apparatus for welding pipes and fittings;
industrial hair dryer, with which they will warm up, and;
sharp metalwork knife;
sanding paper, file;
marker for marking parts;
bolts and nuts for fixing parts;
metal corners that will strengthen the assembly points.

Operating procedure

It is not difficult to make a sled from plastic pipes with your own hands. The price of the material is low, which will save a significant amount Money, which you would have spent by purchasing ready-made models sold in specialized stores.

The manufacturing instruction consists of several successive steps:

The first step is to put on the pipes the lines along which they will be cut.. Particular attention must be paid to the careful observance of dimensions, otherwise the sled will come out asymmetrical, and the work will have to be redone.
The ends of the pipes should be fused or connected with fittings. If you are not going to do this, you can cut the ends of the parts at a 45 degree angle and fasten the frame with metal corners.

Given that the sled is usually rectangular in shape, you will need two long and two short parts for the frame. After marking and sawing, the ends must be carefully cleaned with sandpaper or a file.
After that, the frame is placed on a workbench or floor and checked again for compliance with the design dimensions.. Then it is welded. If you do not have a special soldering iron, the connection can be made using bolts and nuts. To give strength in this case, metal corners are used.

Advice!
Usage welding machine preferred.
With it, stronger connections are obtained, and it will take less time to work.
If you do not want to buy a specialized tool, you can rent it from a specialized hardware store.

To give strength to the frame (especially when you are making cargo sleds), it needs to be strengthened with additional crossbars.
To this end, it is necessary to cut off several pieces of pipes of suitable length and process their ends with a file, giving an oval shape corresponding to the diameter of the pipe.
Further, they are inserted into the frame in the form of spacers and melted or fixed metal corners. Remember, the strength of the sleigh will depend on the quality and care of the assembly of the frame.
The next stage is the manufacture of racks. The height of the sleigh above the level of the snow crust will depend on their length.
In this case, it is advisable to take into account the following nuances:

sleds that are too high will often roll over on turns due to the high center of gravity;
a platform on low racks will not pass well in deep snow, and the load located on it will get wet.

Advice!
The optimal height of the sled is from 20 to 30 cm.
It is this length that the racks connecting the frame to the skids should be.

The number of supports depends on the length of the sled, but for strength and reliability, they need to be made more. It is desirable that 6-8 pieces are mounted on each side. They should also be processed with a file (round section) for a tighter fit to the frame. In the process of work, constantly try on the part to the place of its welding.
The lower part of the racks can be different:

flat - if you plan to use flat wide skids (for example, from cut large polymer pipes);
semicircular - if the sledge runners are round (made of ordinary plastic parts of small diameter).

At the end of the adjustment of the dimensions, the racks of the skids are attached to the frame using a soldering iron or corners.. Make sure that they are all installed evenly, without distortions.
Now it's the turn of the runners. To do this, you need to decide on their form. The easiest way is to make round skis from ordinary pipes. However, this option is less comfortable to use, as the sled will often fall through the snow crust and turn poorly.

Homemade sleds made of plastic pipes with flat skis are more stable and maneuverable. When turning the snowmobile at high speed, it will not tip sideways.

To make flat skis from round pipes, they must be cut lengthwise and straightened. For this, a building hair dryer is used. V last resort, you can also warm up the part over an open fire, but you need to do this carefully, as the plastic can melt.
After heating the pipe with a hair dryer, you need to put a board with a load on top of it and leave it to cool completely. In the same way, the bend in front is done.
In order for the sled to pass through deep snow, the bend of the skis must be made large and the upper end fixed to the frame, forming a semicircle.
On top of the frame, a seat, a box for carrying things and other accessories of your choice can be installed.

Don't forget to attach a drawbar to secure the sled to the snowmobile hitch.

Advice!
It is recommended to assemble and install a simple electrical circuit with a light bulb that is mounted on the dashboard.
When the sled is separated from the hitch, the chain will open, which will be signaled by the light coming on.
So, you will not lose the sled while driving through the forest.

Conclusion

In addition to a snowmobile trailer, children's sleds can be made in the same way. You just need to choose the right size. See the video in this article for more details.

As they say - prepare a sleigh in the summer, a cart in the winter!)

I skated the first winter, the snow was run-in, and by the next season it was decided to get a sled. I looked in stores and on websites, but I wanted something that was reliable and functional! Having not picked up anything ready, it was decided to make it on our own. I looked at the forums, various photographs, read the advice of experienced people, listened, and thoughts boiled in my head ....

I started looking for materials in the spring, the main task was to find a HDPE pipe, iron is available, there is plenty to choose from for cutting and sewing. When communicating at the spring hunt, the conversation turned to snowmobiles and sleds ..... and I said my thoughts aloud ...

As they say the world is not without good people, therefore, after a few weeks, 7 meters 230 pipes with a wall thickness of 25 mm lay in the yard, happiness knew no bounds))) There is a beginning! And summer has come, it's time to prepare the sleigh!

The piece on the skids was loosened with an electric jigsaw along the length, into three equal parts, 3 meters long From short pipes, I sawed out the crossbars, the width of the snowmobile skis. First I cut out a template from cardboard.

and then it was not difficult to mark and cut the crossbars, it turned out clearly and evenly

The following picture was drawn

Time passed and summer flew away ..... the sled had to be harped, and there was sorely lacking time .... then a business trip, then porcini mushrooms went ... then milk mushrooms, an opening for ducks on the way, berries were born in the warm .. and it's already September .... also life, but everyone knows how it happens, like summer, and already autumn, and winter is right there! No wonder that proverb says, prepare a sleigh in the summer! I was a little distracted, but in fact it was so and I write as if in spirit!

The blanks were prepared, the iron was cut, the bolts were bought, and of course the tools ... electrodes, grinding wheels, etc. Crail day and night. I even thought about participating in the homemade competition, but I didn’t fit in on time))), it didn’t upset me so much and I went forward as much as I could, Dad supported me where with advice, where with real help, together it’s more fun!

A lot was prepared, the base was assembled, the ends of the skis were bent ... a little about the bends, bent with a hair dryer, this is the most sensible thing, a blowtorch is not suitable in this case, warmed it, arched it, fixed it with bolts.

Well, the snow has flown, but the sleeve is not yet on the fur coat ...

Dad, while I was dangling from one business trip to another, I bent a loop out of the rod, assembled the damper ... it remained to assemble the drawbar in a pile, which we did

upon my arrival home. As a result, the base and drawbar looked like this:

Along the way, I welded the plates and tightened them with bolts, strengthening weak spots, because I’m a fig welder, but I want reliability

The result was a sleigh, even though I didn’t have time to prepare them in the summer, but I wasn’t late for the season either!

The tests were successful, and he took the snow out of the yard, and went hunting, fishing, and even brought a New Year's tree. Satisfied.

P / S The crossbars were still trimmed during assembly, the rings were a little narrower and the jumper. The rings at the junctions with the skid are rounded "along the stream", tightened with bolts. Furniture bolts with rounded heads are seated into the skid from below by heating. The frame is welded from a corner, the width of the shelf is 25-30 mm, the bottom of the trough is made of aluminum, the sides are from an inch. The drawbar is fastened with a solid rod with a diameter of 18 mm fixed in bushings, a spacer tube is put on top of the shaft (if necessary, the drawbar can be easily removed).

Weight about 75-80 kg, quite lifting. I won’t say the exact length, but I cut off the skids 3000 mm, the drawbar was about 1100 mm.

I tried to unbend one of the three runners to make the runner wider, using blowtorches and jacks ..... I specially welded it, I’ll say right away - I wasted my time! As a result, he threw out the snake. He simply planed the other two, leveled the sharp edges with a planer, heated the ends in place with a hairdryer and bent them.

Wrote this blog with detailed photos, because when he did it himself, there was nowhere to look, and so maybe someone will benefit from his constructor.

Himself in the course of use will introduce modernization improvements.

Thank you for your attention!

Homemade snowmobile sled

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you purchased winter equipment: snowmobile, all-terrain vehicle or motorized dog? For its effective use in winter, as a rule, they are equipped with sleds or drags. Indeed, what kind of fishing or hunting without equipment? At the moment, based on the existing range, two types of sleds can be distinguished:

sani - drag or just drag;
classic sled with runners;

Note

On our website you can view and purchase snowmobile sleds that are produced in Russia at the moment.

Snowmobile sled

Volokushi got their name from a primitive wagon. Volokusha is not an expensive, utilitarian vehicle. The main frame material is frost-resistant plastic. Most often, frost-resistant polypropylene of the following grades is used:

MPP 15-06V
MPP 21015-E10
MPP 23007-E10

The advantage of shovels is, first of all, that they have small overall dimensions and are easy to transport (as a rule, classic shovels can easily fit in any car). The advantages of drags include high stability during movement, as well as the ability to use them not only when transporting goods on snow, but also on swampy area(in this case, the drag is used in conjunction with the new motorized towing vehicle of the 2015-1016 season). As a rule, if a drag is used to transport goods in conjunction with machinery, then it comes with a towing device with a shock-absorbing mechanism. At the same time, the main advantage - high stability, is also their disadvantage, namely, a large bottom area - can be a braking factor when moving along uneven surface. At the moment, the industry produces the following main types of drags:

Note

Volokusha - a primitive wagon without wheels and skids, consisting of two poles dragging along the ground, fastened with a cross-link (usually used in swampy, forested areas for hay, firewood, etc.)

Classic sled with skids

The second type of snowmobile sled is the classic skid sled. Unlike the sled, this type of sled is used to transport massive cargo and passengers. Sledges of this type are massive and, as a rule, are made of sheet metal or, to lighten the overall weight, in combination with frost-resistant plastic. The industry produces the following types of sleds for snowmobiles and motorized towing vehicles:

Like drags, classic snowmobile sleds come with a tow hitch with a shock-absorbing mechanism.

DIY

This article presents original design homemade snowmobile sled. Structurally designed sled consists of the following main parts:

frame and body;
metal hitch (drawbar);
skis;

Note

The design of a home-made sled for a snowmobile described in the article was made and tested in practice. All drawings shown are original.

We do it ourselves frame and body of the sled

The body of the sleigh is sheathed from the inside with plywood, 10 mm thick. Above the front protective sheet, plywood can be omitted to facilitate construction. The body frame has a classic rectangular shape and is made of a profile square pipe with a section of 20 * 20mm, wall thickness of 2mm. Dimensions of the main part (frame) are 1900*900*300mm. Below, in the drawing, you can see the overall dimensions. For sliding on loose or deep snow, the frame is rounded. To increase the strength and stability of the structure, an iron sheet is welded at the rounding point. Sheet thickness - not less than 2 mm. General form a structure that includes a frame and a lower part - skis are presented at the end of the article.

We make a metal hitch (drawbar)

The drawbar is equipped with a shock absorber (spring) to soften shocks when braking and moving the sled from a place. The pipe section is 20x20mm, the total length of the drawbar is 1700mm. The damping spring can be used from a used car cylinder head. It came to the body of the sleigh fastened with a sleeve, the diameter of which is 25mm. To enhance rigidity, the drawbar is connected with two crossbars, the cross section of which is similar to the cross section of the main pipe (dimensions 20x20mm). The hitch is attached to the front of the body. To do this, the attachment point is reinforced with an additional rack, and a sheet of metal is welded between adjacent racks. A bushing cuts into the sheet, with an inner diameter (in our case 25mm).

Note

As a ski material, it is used sheet metal. However, with the same success, frost-resistant plastic of the above brands, or ordinary wood, can be used.

Below you can leave