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Making a snowmobile with your own hands. Winter Games. DIY snow scooter Homemade snow scooter for kids

Making a snowmobile with your own hands is much easier than it seems. This will require a desire, a few details from equipment idle in a barn or garage, amateur metalworking skills and a little time. Purchased components will most likely also be required, but the cost of a snowmobile or a snow scooter with a motor assembled in a few evenings will be much cheaper than a purchased one.

General rules of construction

Homemade products for driving on snow are diverse in appearance, size, layout, power, and even the principle of movement. But in each variety there are nodes that provide the properties necessary for snowmobiles, namely:

Don't fall into the snow.
Move on the surface with minimal friction and in the right direction.

Obviously, the probability of sinking into the snow and the friction force depend on the weight of the unit, the contact area, and the shape of the surface of contact with the snow. Of course, the condition of the snow has its influence, but which must be taken into account.

To fulfill the main purpose, the following nodes are always present in the design of the snowmobile:

Making homemade products simplifies the availability of parts from specialized equipment. Spare parts are often taken from Buran snowmobiles or any tools and vehicles with a motor - scooters, motorcycles, walk-behind tractors. The scope for creativity in the creation of each node is huge. There are many varied and proven solutions for every detail.

Simple children's snowmobiles

The easiest way to make a support is to install wide skis under the frame. The option of creating a snowmobile is especially attractive in that a children's snow scooter and a tool with a low-power motor are used to assemble them - for example, a screwdriver, a manual lawn mower-trimmer or a 2-horsepower chainsaw.

A children's chainsaw snowmobile is assembled without reinforcing its frame, but for transporting adults in winter clothes, it is worth adding strength to the structure.

Ice snowmobiles

Walking along the river in winter is a slippery activity. However, if you replace the snow scooter with a sled and attach a motor from the Druzhba chainsaw with a power of 4-5 hp to them, you get safe remedy ice movement:

The efficiency and speed of the sled on ice is much higher than that of other designs. But on loose snow, such a design will go with great difficulty.

Inflatable wheels

In terms of time spent, the second most attractive design after snow scooters and sleighs is homemade snowmobile from a chainsaw on wide inflatable chambers from the wheels of a truck or tractor. For strength, a uniform layer of liquid rubber is applied to their surface or another flexible and waterproof material is glued. Along the circumference, at an equal distance from each other, chains are put on across the chamber or crossbars are firmly attached to increase traction. Rims for wheels can be taken bicycle, motorcycle or do it yourself.

If there are no skids in the inflatable structure, then it will be able to ride even without snow on the soil. Frames can be installed on such all-terrain vehicles along with engines from Izh, Ural or Dnepr motorcycles. Design flaws - dimensions, weight and high degree the vulnerability of the wheels, but on the popularity of the expressway homemade pneumatics it is not reflected.

On caterpillar

Caterpillar supports are used more often than others, while simultaneously performing the function of movers. The reason is high efficiency and reliability. This design allows you to develop high speeds, while maintaining stability and maneuverability. There are several options for how to make caterpillars for a snowmobile with your own hands:

from a conveyor belt;
from truck tires;
from drive V-belts.

Across the conveyor belt, bolted along the axis of plastic or PVC tubes no more than an inch in diameter must be bolted.

Even a child can handle such a light device.

Old truck tires with winter tread can also be used as tracks if the sidewalls are cut off from them. They don’t need crossbars, but they will have to overcast the edges of the fishing line in centimeter increments, otherwise the tire will quickly become tattered.

Drive belts, like the conveyor belt, must be equipped with lugs. Several parallel belts, from 2 or more, are interconnected by transverse strong lugs, attaching them to the belts with rivets or screws. The distance between adjacent hooks should be equal to the pitch of the drive sprocket.

Caterpillars made of conveyor belt or belts are often reinforced with a chain, which increases the reliability and durability of the mover.

In such snowmobiles, lightness is combined with a reliable drive.

One of the varieties of caterpillar snowmobiles is a motorized dog, which was named after its resemblance to a sled dog. At the expense of maneuverability, the design was lightened, and tractive effort also increased. But it is the most efficient mechanism for towing in the snow.

To change direction, you need to apply significant efforts with a shift in the center of gravity of the motorized dog.

The main dimensions for assembling a two-seater snowmobile, indicated in the drawing, will help make the ride comfortable. Other dimensions will depend on the availability of spare parts, assembly scheme.

When driving, the discomfort from the headwind is eased by installing a motorcycle glass and mudguards for the legs. But it is impossible to completely close on such transport from the cold wind. For comfort, a fully enclosed cabin is needed, which means that weight will increase and a more powerful engine will be required.

A car-powered snowmobile is designed for long trips over long distances. With the heat-insulating material of the body, the trip is comparable to the comfort of a car.

And the easiest way to achieve comfort is to simply put the rear-wheel drive car on wide supports like skis, tracks or pneumatic wheel chambers, and also put the stock wheels to drive the snowmobile propulsion and attach the front ski to the steering arm.

It would be useful during the manufacture to provide for an interchangeable scheme for replacing wheels with skis and vice versa, if spare parts are used for rework.

Upgrade homemade snowmobiles

Having taken a ride on a simple snowmobile assembled with your own hands, it is impossible to refrain from thinking about improving transport. First of all, you can reduce the influence of frosty wind. To do this, they usually use ready-made fairings, windshields - for example, like the popular Buran:

On short winter days, the light from a motorcycle or car headlight comes in handy more than once. To make the lamp shine, you need a generator. For mini-designs, it is enough to install a bicycle generator driven by a motor gearbox. High-speed vehicles will require more powerful lighting.

There is no limit to perfection. Once assembled, a snowmobile can be endlessly upgraded with new features for performance, comfort and reliability. Many forums on this topic exist on the net, allowing you to share your own and taking into account someone else's experience in designing winter vehicles.

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For high-speed descent from the mountain, instead of the usual sled, it is better to use a snow scooter. Unlike sleds, they can be steered. In addition, on such a technique you can move down really steep hills.

On sale you can find several interesting Chinese options. However, their quality usually leaves much to be desired: very thin tubes, weak welds and an uncomfortable seat. This applies not only to?adults? snow scooters, but also simple mini-designs designed for children. The latter are not designed for real loads at all. Therefore, if you want to have a high-quality and comfortable snow scooter, you will have to pump the finished one or make a new one yourself.

A homemade snow scooter is not only convenient, but also has other advantages. You can make a model for two or even three people. In addition to strength, if you make a snow scooter correctly, you can achieve greater control and maneuverability. The following instructions may be helpful to you.

Materials used

With your own hands, a snow scooter can be made of wood, welded from metal tubes, or use other kinds of materials. As the basis of a simple mini-snow scooter, you can use an ordinary sled or some other strong and lightweight metal frame.

You can also try to upgrade or remake a purchased model or a mini snowmobile for children. Right choice materials will affect the integrity, quality and even speed of your snowmobile. If you make it out of wood, then most likely it will be a fragile and rather heavy structure.

How to make a homemade snow scooter

Consider how you can make a strong and compact snow scooter for one person with your own hands. Its weight does not exceed 5 kg. As a base, we need a U-shaped metal tube, for example, from the top platform of a broken step-ladder or a tube from an old folding bed. The rest of the construction is made even simpler from straight tubes. It is necessary to drill holes in the metal base tube and other parts through which the structure can then be bolted together. Therefore, the tubes must be taken sufficiently wide with a diameter of 18 × 20 mm, but no more.

When the main part of the snow scooter is ready, you need to make a steering wheel. In order not to make a steering wheel with your own hands, you can take it ready from a bicycle. To attach it, use the same principle as in a bicycle. Therefore, you will need a slightly wider pipe, inside which a smaller tube will rotate on bearings.

It is unlikely that you will be able to make skis with your own hands, so instead of them you can use ordinary ones made of wood, or parts from a snowmobile or a purchased snow scooter. The seat can be made more comfortable or simpler, according to your desire. When the snow scooter is ready, the entire structure can be painted for aesthetics. appearance. This is especially true for wood details. However, remember that paint should not be applied to the underside of the skids.

Those who are dissatisfied with purchased snowscooters, but do not want to do anything with their own hands, often decide to simply upgrade the finished branded model. You can improve the seat, strengthen the steel structure with additional struts, or put more? nimble? skis. For more comfort, some decide? snow scooter by adding additional shock absorbers.

I made this snowmobile in just a couple of weekends in the garage in the country. Although its design at first glance looks very simple, nevertheless, in terms of flotation in deep loose or wet snow, it is not inferior to most industrial snowmobiles.

A few years ago, I made a snowmobile for my nine-year-old daughter with homemade caterpillar from a conveyor belt and plastic water pipes as lugs. At first, I had doubts about the reliability of such a caterpillar and how plastic parts would behave in the cold. But during the two-year winter operation, there were no breakdowns and strong wear of the pipes. This inspired me to create a light snowmobile for myself with the same homemade track.

Knowing full well that the smaller the mass of the snowmobile and the larger the bearing area of the tracks, the better its patency in loose and deep snow, I tried to make the design as light as possible.
The principle of operation of a snowmobile is very simple (Fig. 1). Four wheels are installed inside the caterpillar, which, when moving, roll along the conveyor belt, on which the lugs are fixed. And the caterpillar drive from the motor is carried out by a chain through the driven shaft with special drive sprockets. I took them from the snowmobile Buran.

With an engine from a conventional walk-behind tractor with an automatic clutch with a power of only 6 hp. don't accelerate quickly. I was going to ride a snowmobile not on rolled paths, but on loose snow, so I abandoned the soft suspension of the caterpillar and skis to reduce the weight of the snowmobile and simplify the entire structure.

First I made a caterpillar. plastic water pipe 40 mm in diameter cut into blanks for lugs 470 mm long. Then he sawed each blank with a circular saw lengthwise into two equal parts.
Using the device shown in Fig. 2, with a circular saw on wood, cut along plastic pipes for grouser.

I attached the lugs to the conveyor belt with two furniture bolts with a diameter of 6 mm with a large semicircular hat. In the manufacture of the caterpillar, it is very important to maintain the same distance between the lugs, otherwise they will run into the teeth of the drive sprockets and the caterpillar will begin to slip and slide off the rollers.

For drilling holes in the conveyor belt for fixing bolts with a diameter of 6 mm, I made a jig. The holes in the tape were drilled with a wood drill with a special sharpening.

Using such a conductor, 6 holes can be drilled in the conveyor belt at once for attaching three caterpillar lugs.

In the store, I bought four inflatable rubber wheels from a garden cart, two drive sprockets from a Buran snowmobile, and two closed bearings No. 205 for the caterpillar drive shaft.

I asked a turner to make a caterpillar drive shaft and bearing supports. I made the frame of the snowmobile myself from square pipes 25x25 mm.

Since the axes of the hinges of the skis and the steering wheel are on the same line and in the same plane, you can use a continuous tie rod without ball ends.

Ski turn bushings are easy to make. To the front cross beam of the frame, I welded water couplings with internal thread 3/4 in. Screwed pipes into them with external thread, to which he attached the bipods of the steering rack of skis by welding.

I recommend using skis from the Argomak children's snow scooter. They are lighter and more flexible, but they need to be equipped with corners for attaching to the snowmobile's turntable and a metal undercut from the bottom - for better control of the snowmobile when driving on crust or packed snow.

The chain tension is adjusted by shifting the motor.

Driving a snowmobile is very easy. When the engine speed is increased by the handlebar throttle, the automatic centrifugal clutch is engaged and the snowmobile starts moving. Since the estimated speed of the snowmobile is low (only about 10-15 km / h) and depends on the density of the snow, the snowmobile is not equipped with brakes. It is enough to reduce the engine speed and the snowmobile stops.

I will share a few tips that may be useful when repeating this design.

1. I cut the pipe for tracks lengthwise with a manual circular saw on wood, first on one side, then on the other. So it turns out smoother than cutting both walls at once. It is more convenient to process small workpieces. If you immediately cut along a long pipe, then in this case the plastic will melt and the saw blade will clamp.

2. Caterpillars can be made in any width. And each designer has the right to choose what is more convenient for him: to make a wide but short caterpillar or a narrow and long one. Just remember that with a large track, the snowmobile will be poorly controlled and the engine will be loaded more, and with a small one in loose deep snow, it may fall through.

3. In some of my photos you can see that plastic “barrels” are installed inside the caterpillar. These are guide stops for slip, which should prevent the caterpillar from sliding off the rollers. But during the operation of the snowmobile, the caterpillar did not slip off the rollers even without slip, so the “barrels” can not be installed, which will reduce the weight of the snowmobile.

4. At the end of winter, I completely dismantled the snowmobile to determine its weight. The weight of its individual nodes turned out to be as follows: caterpillar - 9 kg;
drive shaft assembly - 7 kg; two pairs of wheels with axles - 9 kg; engine and steering wheel - 25 kg;
a pair of skis - 5 kg;
frame -15 kg;
double seat with uprights - 6 kg.
Total all together weighs 76 kg.
The weight of some parts can be further reduced. Still, the weight for a snowmobile with a track of this size is quite satisfactory.

The geometric dimensions of my snowmobile are as follows: the length of the snowmobile frame is 2 m; distance between the axes of the support wheels (rollers) - 107 cm; track width - 47 cm. The step of the caterpillar lugs depends on the thickness of the conveyor belt and it must be selected empirically (I got 93 mm).
I don’t give the exact dimensions and drawings of the parts of the snowmobile, since everyone who is going to repeat the design will be guided by those parts and components that they can purchase or make on their own.

On sale you can find several interesting Chinese options. However, their quality usually leaves much to be desired: very thin tubes, weak welds and an uncomfortable seat. This applies not only to "adult" snow scooters, but also to simple mini-designs intended for children. The latter are not designed for real loads at all. Therefore, if you want to have a high-quality and comfortable snow scooter, you will have to pump the finished one or make a new one yourself.

Materials used

You can also try to upgrade or remake a purchased model or a mini snowmobile for children. Choosing the right materials will affect the integrity, quality and even speed of your snowmobile. If you make it out of wood, then most likely it will be a fragile and rather heavy structure.

How to make a homemade snow scooter

It is unlikely that you will be able to make skis with your own hands, so instead of them you can use ordinary ones made of wood, or parts from a snowmobile or a purchased snow scooter. The seat can be made more comfortable or simpler, according to your desire. When the snow scooter is ready, the entire structure can be painted for aesthetics. This is especially true for wood details. However, remember that paint should not be applied to the underside of the skids.

Those who are dissatisfied with purchased snowscooters, but do not want to do anything with their own hands, often decide to simply upgrade the finished branded model. You can improve the seat, strengthen the steel structure with additional struts, or put more “nimble” skis. For more comfort, some decide to “pump” the snow scooter by adding additional shock absorbers.