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  • Several Regions have held meetups already, but others are being planned or are evaluating the interest. The Ontario GTA West area meetup is planned for Saturday April 26th at Greasemonkeys shop in Aylmer Ontario. If you are interested and haven’t signed up yet, click here! Arbutus has also explored interest in a Fraser Valley meetup but it seems members either missed his thread or had other plans. Let him know if you are interested in a meetup later in the year by posting here! Slowpoke is trying to pull together an Ottawa area meetup later this summer. No date has been selected yet, so let him know if you are interested here! We are not aware of any other meetups being planned this year. If you are interested in doing something in your area, let everyone know and make it happen! Meetups are a great way to make new machining friends and get hands on help in your area. Don’t be shy, sign up and come, or plan your own meetup!

Hi, I'm Matt from Calgary

Matt_b_m

Matt_b_m

Member
First off... Josh, thanks for fixing the login issue...

Hi everyone,

Hobbyist here, been doing it on and off for quite a while as time permits. I enjoy hunting, camping and being outdoors and I'm always building or fixing something. As for gear, I get by with my tried and true Millermatic 135 and my older Thunderbolt AC/DC, cutting is left to the Miller 375 plasma. Down the road I'd like to find an older manual lathe and teach myself something new.
Projects have been a trailer, some decorative stuff for landscaping, repairs of course, a camp stove, and I'm now building a trailer to tow behind my ATV for hunting, etc.

Not sure if I can answer any questions, but I might end up asking one or two here and there.
 
Welcome, Matt! I'm hoping to build a trailer in the next few years for moving equipment and motorcycles. How'd your build go?

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Hi Eric, Thanks for the reply.

I'm glad to see someone else has the desire to build their own trailer as well, I'd almost call it a lost art.My trailer build, over all went awesome! I built it back in 2003, when I rented a small bit of shed space from a friend. The hardest part was trying to square the frame on jack stands working on a small grassy hill as the shed was too small to lay the frame out in properly. I actually managed to get it level and square!I remember the only problem I had was when i cut one side of the frame on the wrong side of the soap stone mark, and I ended up being out the width of the chop saw kerf! The trailer has hauled a lot over the years, dirt bikes, quads, some materials to build my current garage, and the list goes on and on. I started with an old Canadian made camper trailer that, if I remember right had a date stamp on the frame of sometime in the 60's. When I picked it up, it was flimsy old plywood on a frame that was less rigid and had less metal than a cheap bed frame. This became the platform for me to haul the new metal to build over top of the axle. Out of necessity, I needed a trailer to haul the materials to actually build a better trailer! At that time, it worked out well, I only paid $150 for the rolling frame, and the rest as they say is history. I decided to build it out of 2x2x1/4 angle iron with a 2x2x1/4 square tube tongue that ran the whole length. The idea was that someday down the road I might want to make it bigger, or increase its capacity and I wanted a solid foundation to start with. the deck is 6x8, and at the time was perfect for my dirt bike. Time passed and this size worked perfect for a single ATV. Add a bit more time, and I've actually hauled two lighter ATVs as well. The deck surface was done with 11/2 expanded grate. I have to say its worked awesome for washing down a bike or quad without unloading. It makes a really good tie point, and its never bent. Presently, this trailer is going to actually now get resized. I've moved into a bigger ATV and I need a bit more width and length to haul the ATV with its trailer next to it. This will of course require that I swap the axle to something with a bit more capacity. I decided at that time that I'd put the axle just rear of the center point so I could move it around by hand. This has played out well over the years, as its nothing to move it by hand on level ground with 700lbs of ATV tied on it. I don't recommend it for everyone, but honestly when you just have to do something on your own and need to move it, its been a really blessing. As for towing, it tows really well. It's a bit short, and with the axle close to center, it can be a bit to get used to backing it up, but like everything we adapt and the disadvantages of this has always been outweighed with the ability to move it by hand if needed, loaded or not. Its only ever swayed bad on me once, but I expected it to. Out of necessity, I had to haul 20' lengths of rebar to build my current garage. So with a 2x6 attached to the deck and some red flagging, i strapped 45 lengths on one side and took the back roads! At 70, it finally started to sway. Never again had it carried anything like that, but I was really impressed at what it would handle!
Right now I'm taking a break as I've just made some fresh cuts for the axle assembly on the trailer I'm building to tow behind the ATV!
Any questions you have Eric, just let me know, I'd love to help.
Have a great one.
 
Cool, Matt! I actually used to sell dirtbikes, ATVs, sleds, trailers, etc. With your welding capabilities I'd make a trailer dolly with good sized pneumatic tires then moving it loaded will be even less issue (if you start to get lazy like me)

I will probably ask more questions than you can imagine when the time comes, but it'll be a while.

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Yes Eric you mention a good point. I remember pondering this once, and it still comes to mind. The only hesitation is trying to justify the using the metal while I can still lift it on my own. Haha. With metal being so hard to find without paying a fortune I guess I've always had the hang up! One of these days, its coming, I can feel it! I think just a simply lever over an axle between two tires with a hitch ball is all I'd need.... Sounds like a good reason for another project!
 
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