There weren’t very many dovetails, but the long flat stretches between them proved difficult to cut using a band saw.

I used a plexiglass circle template with a router bit and bearing to make the initial circle. But the depth was too shallow and I didn’t want to use an extension. I purchased some little sphere rotary burrs, rough and smooth for the drill and finished the rest by hand. I cut the exterior wood with a band saw and did a ton of sanding. I finished them with the natural finish Tried and True.

The finished pedicab.

The original Miami Sun tricycle I purchased on Craigslist. No idea how old it was, but it was definitely not new. That big saddle seat was the most comfortable bike seat I ever experienced.

The frame was bolted together just before the axle so it could be disassembled.

I extended the frame from behind the back seat to the back axle using some angle iron. Initially I tried to use bolts. But due to the extension and the original angle, the pedals were too low and would hit the ground. So I had to angle it up a bit and weld it together.

I found some metal on the side of the road in a trash pile that appeared to be a part of a porch swing. It seemed to make a nice shape and might function well to offer stability and serve as a platform / deck.

I supported those curved pieces with some ribs connected to the other parts of the frame.

I found this on the side of a road, someone was giving it away. I liked the lines of the arm rests and it was in ok shape.

I started on the platform for the seating. The tubes are from the metal lounge chair and the square tube I purchased from a big box store.

Building out the back of the seat and foot steps using a mixture of metal from the found porch swing, lounge chair and purchased pieces.

Added the arm rests from the lounge chair and welded on some nuts to receive the bolts that will hold on the wood pieces.

Close up of the nuts welded to the frame. The curved piece was not flat on top, was hollow and with thin walls so I did not want to drill holes through it. This was extremely tedious and unpleasant : /

The wood is from a dilapidated play set we had to take down because it was rotten. I saved some of the wood, milled it down and used it for all the wood pieces for the project.

I disassembled the rear axle, pedal mechanism, front axle and front fork. I cleaned, greased and then rebuild them which helped a lot with speed.

Using a grinder, hand sander, steel wool and wire brush; I tried to remove debris and rust to prepare for painting.

Primed the pieces with a Rust-Oleum rust reformer spray paint.

I really liked the look of the matte black of the primer. I was a bit surprised at how well it came out. I thought about leaving it, but my daughter really wanted green; and I like loud colors. So green it is.

We went with Spring Green Rust – Oleum 2x Ultra cover and it is not subtle; people will see it coming for sure 😉

I bought some yellow and pink from Spray.bike, but I went through it very quickly. So we could only do the fenders and the back rims. My dad helped me with the painting ( thanks dad! )

I joined two bike chains together, but the frame was now welded together, so I could not tighten it properly by sliding the frame. Probably why the frame was bolted together in the first place. I bought a half link which got it closer, but it was still too loose. I found a chain tensioner on Amazon and it does the job.

I painted the kids’ helmets to match the frame. The seats are foldable boat seats I purchased from the internet. Added wood arm rests with cup holders. The left is a kid safety harness for the little one and the right is a golf cart seat belt.

Storage space underneath the seats.

Releasing this experiment as an OSX screen saver. Download, unzip and then double click to install.
By no means will this save your screen; it is rather GPU intense depending on number of monitors and resolution. I created a screen saver as a passive method to view digital artwork.

You may have to change your preferences to install the screen saver. System Preferences > Securty & Privacy > Allow Applications Downloaded from > Anywhere OSX >= 10.10

Select Screen Saver Options… located in the Screen Saver pane of System Preferences to change the options. Select 1 of 5 color modes or random to choose a different one each time the screen saver starts. There is also the ability to type in a message, limited to 140 chars total and 10 letters per word. Or the message can be disabled.