mudguard mounting

[pie]

I'm just trying to come up with ideas for mounting my guards or rather how to fix the struts/stays to the axle.
I've been sitting staring at the axle for a while today and my brain seems to have blanked out any decent ideas, so what I'm really after is any pics or ideas that you might have.
Thanks.

[Manky Monkey]

I've welded two tabs to the axle tube & made a clamp to bolt to them in the same way as the axle clamps work. The mudguard struts are then welded to the clamp. That means they're removable so can be powder-coated.

[Manky Monkey]

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[pie]

Cheers Manky, should've taken time to look through your build thread again. That is a very tidy solution and pretty much how I'd like mine to look.
I see that you are using quite hefty tube there and I would like to go a bit thinner, something like 1" OD, do you think that that would be strong enough?
Thanks for kickstarting my brain back into gear!

[Manky Monkey]

Mine's 1 Inch ID, same as the rest of the frame, (1 3/8" O.D). That's why I used it, cos I had the tube to hand. Lighter would mean less stress on the bottom joint.
Looking at my photos, I may have created another problem for myself though. Not sure the calipers are going to clear the struts!

[Manky Monkey]

Checked the clearance today -loads of room between the struts & calipers -phew!

[brock]

    "Lighter would mean less stress on the bottom joint."

just as a note of caution, I reduced the size of the mudguard stays to 3/4" on one of mine and broke the tube above the weld shedding a mudguard at speed on the A4 one day, the car following stopped and gave me a full and concise opinion of home built vehicles before moving on, could have been much worse, try to picture how much mass you are carrying outboard of the strut and how long a lever you are creating, I went with stays back to the diff in the end but a heavier and more rigid tube may have been a better option in the beginning

[Manky Monkey]

There speaks a time served engineer -take heed. Never had that problem but I've always used the 1 3/8" tube so that it matches the frame. Floppy mudguards are a common problem on trikes -as you say Brock, it's a balance between lightness & strength. Do you go for enough bracing to build a second Forth Bridge, (would that be the Eighth bridge?), or keep it light? Mounted directly to the axle they're always going to be subject to the rigours of vibration too. Almost every fibreglass mudguarded trike I've seen has stress cracks in the 'glass where it's mounted.
Another problem, more common than you'd think, is people perching or leaning on the guards while they look round the trike at shows. The solution to that one's to carry a very big stick with you.

[pie]

Thanks for your input both of you, some good points to think over.
I think I shall be leaving it alone for a little while though a bit fed up with it, time to do something else for a bit.