Feb 17, 2014 08:22 AM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Using salvaged materials and molecular 3D printed components, Mark Richardson, Industrial Design lecturer at the Art Design & Architecture Monash University Melbourne, has created a velomobile prototype as part of an open source project.

"The project challenge was to design a DIY build system for a velomobile from easy-to-source materials with easy-to-access tools," Richardson told Gizmag.

The FAB Velo was developed to facilitate users, who do not have access to cars, to construct their own velomobile based on economic and sustainability principles. They can use the DIY Velo as their personal transport to shop for groceries and to complete other household chores.

Richardson created the prototype with the help of reusable components and waste products from hard waste collections and skips found on the roads including discarded 2D printers, walking aids, glass shower screens and production wastes among others. For example, the compression masts was fashioned out of second-hand whipper snippers, walking frames, deck chairs and disability aids; two discarded bicycles were used to make running gear and rear wheel while the front wheels was built using a wheelchair.

"The rearmost compression mast was made from bicycle rear stays with an aluminum pole fixed into the seat tube to extend the frame above the head of the rider," adds Richardson. "The steering knuckles were adapted from children's scooter handlebars with 3D-printed bushings and off-the-shelf bearings inserted into them."

For the exterior cover of the velomobile, Richardson used tent canvas and lucid semi-rigid PVC from an unused advertising lightbox. Similar to other velomobiles and sedans, FAB Velo has the same level of on-road visibility. It gives the users the same height as other drivers.

"This was intended to give the feeling of being part of the traffic, rather than under it," explains Richardson. "When riding a typical velomobile, the rider's eye line is at, or below, the beltline of the other vehicles on the road. Despite many contrary opinions in the VM community, I have personally never felt comfortable with this."

Richardson said that if a person has the capability to reconstruct a bicycle, they should be also able to easily fabricate a FAB Velo without difficulty.

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