Collaboration
ART
BEAUTY & WELLNESS
CRAFT
CULTURE & HISTORY
ENTERTAINMENT
ENVIRONMENT
FOOD & DRINKS
REVERSE ENGINEERING
SCIENCES
SPORTS
TECHNOLOGY
WEARABLES
Inexpensive Bobsled: Barrel-Stave Runners, Block Knees and a Bolted Front Bob (Boy Mechanic, 1915)
H. J. Blacklidge's bobsled from The Boy Mechanic, Book 2 (1915): "any boy who can drive a nail and bore a hole can have a bobsled on short notice." Four barrel staves make the runners of two short bobs under a 4 ft board; the front bob turns on a centre bolt and is steered by a rope.
Beginner
About 3 hours
Instructions
1
1
His list in centimetres
His list in centimetres
Loading Jupyter Notebook...
2
2
Read The Boy Mechanic, Book 2
Read The Boy Mechanic, Book 2
The materials: four good, solid barrel staves; four blocks 4 in long, 4 in wide and 2 in thick; two pieces 12 in long, 4 in wide and 1 in thick; one piece 12 in long, 2 in wide and 1-3/4 in thick; and a good board 4 ft long, 12 in wide and 1 in thick.
3
3
Make the two bobs
Make the two bobs
Make each crosspiece-and-knee unit from one 12 x 4 x 1 in piece and two of the blocks, as in his figure, and nail a barrel stave to each side for runners.
Materials for this step:
Barrel Stave4 pieces
Pine Board1 piece
Hardwood Board1 piece
Nails1 pieceTools needed:
Hand Saw
Hammer
Pencil
Tape Measure4
4
Fit the bobs to the board
Fit the bobs to the board
Fasten one bob to one end of the board. Attach the other at the centre of its crosspiece with a bolt, so it can turn. Fasten the 1-3/4 by 2 in piece, 12 in long, across the top of the board at the front end.
Materials for this step:
Pine Board1 pieceHardwood Board1 piece
Carriage Bolt1 piece
Flat Washer2 piecesNails1 pieceTools needed:
Brace and BitHand SawHammer5
5
Fit the steering rope
Fit the steering rope
Fasten a rope to the knees of the front runners; it steers the sled.
Materials for this step:
Cotton Rope1 pieceTools needed:
Brace and Bit6
6
Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Bobsled troubleshooting.
Flow
Loading...
7
7
History and honest limits
History and honest limits
From "An Inexpensive Bobsled" by H. J. Blacklidge, in **The Boy Mechanic, Book 2**, Popular Mechanics, 1915 (Project Gutenberg 44585; checked on the archive.org scan boymechanicbook200chic2, p. 49). Which end of the board gets the bolted bob, the bolt size and the stave length come only from his figure or are not given. The tools and metric figures are ours.
Materials
7- 4 piecesPlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 2 piecesPlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
- 2 piecesPlaceholder
- 1 piecePlaceholder
This blueprint makes
Related Blueprints
These blueprints share knowledge with this one — techniques, materials, or principles that connect them in the learning graph.
CC0 Public Domain
This blueprint is released under CC0. You are free to copy, modify, distribute, and use this work for any purpose, without asking permission.
Support the Maker by purchasing products through their Blueprint where they earn a Maker Commission set by Vendors, or create a new iteration of this Blueprint and include it as a connection in your own Blueprint to share revenue.