Is it possible to biuld a vehichle out of wood

[Soundguy]

If you are afraid of wood .

never said I was.. I'm just a fan of using materials for ideal applications. My idea of a motor vehicle out of wood is.. well.. lets say if it was an awesome material to make a car out of.. the big 3 would (wood? ) be using it.. not steel....

structurally, I hope you don't live in a wood framed-house,

I don't

, there is no engineering reason it can't be done.

never said it couldn't be... said I wouldn't be a fan of it.

soundguy

 

[Travelover]

On what

Depends on how heavy the vehicle is, how fast you want it to accelerate (go cart) or how much work you want it to do in a given amount of time (tractor).

6.5 HP is generally plenty for a go cart, but a little light for a tractor.

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. even a bf avery.. has more. My allis g and a ih cub are around 9-11.. they get a good amount of work done. 6.5 might do it.. albiet slow. I think I would at least go with 10-12hp on a gas lawnmower engine though.. that's just me though. heck.. a chainsaw and power steering pump and some patience would likely do something too..

in any event. i want to see pics..


soundguy

 

[Fialkowski]

It's a start

 

[skspurling]

never said I was.. I'm just a fan of using materials for ideal applications. My idea of a motor vehicle out of wood is.. well.. lets say if it was an awesome material to make a car out of.. the big 3 would (wood? ) be using it.. not steel....
...
soundguy

Actually, wood is quite a good frame material. A good hardwood, not the crap you get at a big box store, will have nice tight rings and quite a bit of strength. The aforementioned British luxury cars are known for their ride because the wooden frame has excellent properties for absorbing impact and returning energy after flexing. Think about a closet rod. Take a piece of plastic that size and try to flex it. Then take a metal shaft and flex that. you will see that wood is lighter than the steel, and can be very strong. The bonus is that it WILL FLEX AND RETURN to it's original shape. The plastic will flex and maybe return. Lots of times it will take some stress and then break. Depends on the plastic. If it doesn't break it will bend, it most likely won't return to ts original shape.

The big three don't use wood for one specific reason. Consistency. The inconsistency between timbers means that it costs more to make a wooden frame. Almost all of the original car manufacturers used a wooden frame when they made the cars by hand. They all went to steel because it was easier to mass produce, not because of strength.

 

[Soundguy]

thus as I said. it doesn't fit the application needs any longer... ie.. not ideal...

i'd like to point out that it burns.. has less scratch and abrasion resistance.. and once damaged.. well.. it's easy to weld a pieceof metal.. can't weld wood.. if Ihave a wooden tractor and the front dead axle breaks.. wood glue and some dowells sure ain't gonna make it strong enough to re-use.. however a proper weld could...on a metal piece.. i'm not dowing wood. it's has it's place and good applications.. i don't thank a motor vehicle is currently one of them.

soundguy

 

[Egon]

As many have already heard the semi-structural body panels of our Kestrel car are made from bio-composite panels which at this time is derived from industrial hemp. When we officially unveiled the design of this vehicle and its construction techniques, we received a lot of inquiries from media and press officials who were particularly interested in the use of industrial hemp as a body material. Of course with that came the obvious hemp related jokes. The truth is there are many benefits achieved through the use of this material and unlike marijuana it cannot get you high.
One of the benefits of using bio-composites is that it is a less energy intensive manufacturing process. Hemp is a high yielding plant that can be grown with little water and pesticide. Much of the energy required to make the raw material for bio composite mats is done by nature from the sun, whereas the process for making fibreglass into the raw material to make the same mats is a very energy intensive process. The process to make the hemp plant into a form usable in car body panels is similar to that of making paper. The hemp is chopped up, decertified, clean and combed and then pressed into a mat. The mats are then used as part of the body panel as opposed to a synthetic fibre like fibreglass.
Another benefit of utilising hemp is its relative light weight. It is tougher and more durable than steel and lighter than some other composite alternatives. Light weight is key in today痴 auto industry as it helps increase fuel economy. This is also a key factor for electric vehicles, looking to increase their range. The heavier the vehicle the less distance it can travel on one charge, as the batteries themselves add considerable weight it is therefore extremely important for electric vehicles to find other areas in which to decrease weight.
The idea of using hemp in vehicles is not a new one and not one unique to Motive. Henry Ford made a plastic vehicle in 1941 utilising hemp and wheat straw fibres, below is a short clip of the vehicle driving around and Henry demonstrating some of the benefits by hitting it with a sledge hammer. Many automakers today are also exploring the use of bio materials in other vehicle applications, like seat foam.


Maybe it'll be back to the future??:thumbsup:

 

[skspurling]

If your experiance is limited to wood glue and dowels, then you really don't have much to say about the real possiblities of using alternative materials. Using wood glue and dowels on a wooden frame member would be like trying to solder your axel back together. You can't simply weld all types of metal back together again either. Welding of cast metal parts isn't recommended, so usualy you recycle the old part and buy a new one. In addition, common welding as we know it now has serious effects on the temper of the parts being joined. Repared metal isn't an ideal material either. If it were, you wouldn't need car fax.

Wood can be bonded very strongly. I don't know about any one else, but I don't plan on driving my car, truck, or tractor nto a furnace, or intentionally scraping the frame with abrasives. Incredable things can be acomplished using the apropriate wood in places you wouldn't normally think of. There are woods that are extremely abrasion resistant. Old timers made equipment much stronger than most things you can get your hands on now using wood. Of course they weren't dumb enough to not use other materials where apropriate. They also were able to understand and use wood for the purposes you are saying are not ideal, and got better results than using metal alone. Just read about the planes earlier in this thread. Why are some of the best luxury cars built with wood frame members? Did you ever think that some composite materials use wood as a base material?

 

[toy]

About 7 or 8 years ago a friend of mine built a wooden body for a jeep wrangler. He did a real good job at it, it looked like the original body except polyurethane coated wood. The grain was showing and it looked real nice. The bad thing about it though he couldn't get it licensed for the road. A man that lived in the neighborhood where I grew up had an old what looked like a delivery van or maybe a school bus that had wood panels[not talking about a woody] for the body. It never ran that I knew of it just sat there but at one time it was used. It must have been an early 1920 or older.

 

[Army grunt]

Elvis was alive when I built this. Its built on a Dotson Pickup frame & running gear.The body was made of oak frame an covered with 1/4"plywood. then the wood got a coat of fiberglass cloth & mat sanded an painted like you would treat a boat.Trully one of a kind.
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k299/falcon6667/planes/OLDCAR.jpg
Army grunt