Cafe Gus

[Hillhater]

Boy, you do realise you are pushing the limits of gravity casting with this thin section stuff !
I am no expert ,but i do know that those vent holes alone wont be enough. You will need one , possibly more, large risers on that mould if you want to get a complete fill and minimise shrinkage issues.
Also , i believe its risky having multiple fill gates on thin sections, as you may get trapped gas voids , inclusions or "cold joints" where two flows meet .
..but i bow to your & Li ghtcycle's more up to date experience.

[Thud]

Here are my recomondations for casting lost foam in greensand. & i got a lot of this from FranKG btw.

#1- since your molding sand will hold shape, you have the abbility to use standard gating, traps & blind risers to controll solidification....

dont wast a bunch of time with intricate gates & risers in foam. (a mistake i made early on in my learning) they just steal heat from the pour & slow down the fill. Just lightly ram your part in the cope & cut normal runners & gates in the drag.

This works really well with simple patterns with a clean parting line like your pulley. more intricate shapes & really odd stuff you'll have to use some imagination.

I have never understood the foam vents i see guys putting on patterns. a foam rod (or drinking straw) is effectivly a "plug" & has to burn out before metal (or the intended gasses) can flow into it...& once metal is there it is not functioning as a vent

Simply running a wire into the sand to make the vents is far more effective & will actually vent gas traveling through the sand....Use a pc of .5mm wire & poke 100 holes into the top side of the cope to the pattern. Too large a wire will make a porcupine surface on the cast part.

whip up a bunch of simple rings & do a few test pours to develop your style & build confidence.

For 99% of my casting I use propane & a modified reil burner with a blower assist. I have an oil burning set up, but its a hassle & a mess to set up & tear down. the propane is easy,clean & fast. (worth the extra expense for me)

now, less foundry & more bike please

[Danny Mayes]

OK Thanks for the input Hillhater.

dont wast a bunch of time with intricate gates & risers in foam. (a mistake i made early on in my learning) they just steal heat from the pour & slow down the fill.

Got it.

I have never understood the foam vents i see guys putting on patterns. a foam rod (or drinking straw) is effectivly a "plug" & has to burn out before metal (or the intended gasses) can flow into it...& once metal is there it is not functioning as a vent

Self evident now that you mention it.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Alot of gold there, cheers.

now, less foundry & more bike please

Roger that. Leave it with me.

D

[Danny Mayes]

One motor arrived yesterday. The other should be around the corner.

The clip-ons arrived a few days before that.

Here is a picture with the motor sitting on the back of Gus for size reference -

I am using a mini bike clamp and 1.2mm chromo tubing for the forks. I want them rigid.

I am thinking of moving the front wheel up a little as per the below drawing. This will decrease my rake a little and i will loose a bit of pedal clearance, but i think it should be OK. I will probably leave the tubes a bit longer so i can play with it a bit.

Also thinking i might make a drop out with a few holes for the front axle, to adjust my trail. With the wheel position where it currently is there is not much but i can gain quite a bit as the axle moves back more, under the tubing...

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I was hesitant to steepen the rake angle but reading Motorcycle Handling and Chassis Design, Tony Foale concludes - "Except for the case of minimum offset in 5 (above) , it seems that a non-zero rake angle has no particular advantages. If this is so, why do conventional motorcycles handle and steer as well as they do? The answer lies in the very small steering angles involved in normal riding."

Flattening the bike out more would be nice.

This is completely unfamiliar territory for me. I have no experience with this. Any thought, comments, input?

The mini bike clamps were cheap. They seam OK. They are much wider than i would have liked. I may modify them to be less wide. My brother is boring the bolt that goes through the head tube out to lighten it. They are a little on the heavy side as is... They will be rigid though. Now the weakest link, by far is the head tube.

D

[AussieJester]

Leave it as it is, mount the Recumpence reduction drive I gave you using the motor pictured, so you have a bike to ride while you work on casting all these wonderful things you have drawn up in Auto CAD :-S otherwise this thread will be 100 pages long and be 2013 before your first ebike is going, I thought That was the plan agreed upon when you picked up the frame? Why has it changed? I for one don't won't to be wasting anymore time on this frame modding it for the two speed, I wouldnt like or suggest using this frame for the power and speed you intend it for, its not suitable IMHO...your bike do what you like obviously but I am keen to build the full chromo Ducati inspired frames we spoke about fitted with the V-Twin turnigy 2 speed setup... Jm2cw

KiM

[Danny Mayes]

Don't worry AJ, it will be done before 2013.

There is a lot i want to learn before i build the next bike, and this bike is perfect for that. I think 9kw is not too much for this frame. The controllers will only be outputting around 4.5kw each. The set up will be significantly detuned,

[Danny Mayes]

Btw, i am not proposing changing the frame anymore. Just changing the rake by adjusting the length of the forks...

[AussieJester]

If you say so ....good luck getting everything done.

KiM

[Danny Mayes]

Here is a little video from just before christmass of where the bike is at...

http://vimeo.com/36128708

D

[Chambers]

Hey man your bike is looking awesome

LOVE that MONSTER pulley set up, reminds me of the old board trackers

Keep the pics coming




Simon

[Hyena]

nice.
With that haircut and sitting in the wheelchair AJ reminds of Sam Worthington's character from Avatar. haha

[Chambers]

Hey Danny,

Any updates? I'm really anxious to see this thing running

Close up pics of that belt drive would be sweet


Simon

[Danny Mayes]

Thanks for the feedback Hyena. He does don't he...

Chambers, I believe i owe you some pictures-

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[Byte]

Hah! So here's the update! Looks very nice Danny! Love those big fat tires

That switch on the pictures, did you get it from Robotmarketplace.com? Is it the Hella power switch? http://www.robotmarketplace.com/products/0-SWHELLA1.html

[Danny Mayes]

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I got her running the other day and cooked the speed controller. I didn't tune in the optical sensor properly. It was late and i was sick of her not running so i slapped things together and got what i got. 10 min of throttle and then a dead controller.

Belt set up is smooth and works well. She is real hard to peddle and I swear I could not peddle her 200 meters, so good thing she aint made for peddling...

Can't wait till i get her going a whole lot faster. She handles real smooth. As per the pics, i am building up 2 controllers and now getting both motors running. With 2 motors dialled in i might just catch AJ.

D

[Danny Mayes]

Hah! So here's the update! Looks very nice Danny! Love those big fat tires

That switch on the pictures, did you get it from Robotmarketplace.com? Is it the Hella power switch? http://www.robotmarketplace.com/products/0-SWHELLA1.html

Heya Byte,

That switch is from Jaycar here in Aus. Followed AJ's lead on that one.... Works a treat. I aint got no spark suppression resister in circut so it works well to keep that initial spark away from my fingers...

D

[bzhwindtalker]

This is RAD, this thing could do wonders on track racing!

[Miles]

I like the pulleys Danny. You just turn a shoulder to fit, and bond them to the rim?

[Chambers]

Thanks man Thats more than I was expecting

Looks like a lot of fun!
I wanna do something similar in the near future... But I'm not sure I'm game enough to cast my own pulley

Good luck with the twin motor setup.

Simon

[AussieJester]

Good to see the controller heat sink bolted in ok on the mounting plates Danny another step closer buddy

KiM

[Danny Mayes]

Thanks for the encouragement guys

Miles, exactly that, using Loctite retaining compound. I love the stuff. Super strong and put it in the oven for a bit and it releases no fuss.

Simon, if you notice in the pictures above, I cast 3 pulleys and there is only one on my bike . Casting them is the easy part, machining them is not so easy. I don't work where i used to so i don't have access to lathes anymore but if you are keen for one u can have it. I can have it machined at a shop locally and pass on the bill, or just send it over and you do the rest...

D

[Chambers]

Awesome Danny!
I'll let you know when I'm a bit closer... I have a lathe etc at work so that part should be OK with a little help


Simon

[Danny Mayes]

I am having some issues with a controller i built up, i.e it is not f#@king working.

I am getting full battery voltage where i should have 5v for the halls.

Could someone that actually knows what they are doing (unlike me) cast an eye over the 2 attached drawing as see if you can spot anything i am doing wrong?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,

D

[Danny Mayes]

Got the issue with the controller worked out -

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=40463&p=602118#p602118

Came down to some silly mistakes as per usual…

I lost an optical board in the process so I got to order another one

So things are slowly progressing. I will build up another 12 fet now that I know I can.

Still a few things to do, I am not really looking forward to rewinding the motors and I have been putting it off but it has to be done so, 2 motor rewinds, build an enclosure for the motors that covers the opticals, keeps crap away from the motors and integrate some cooling into it. I need to cover my lipo better, to protect them from puncture. Wire up the Magura, I have been using a crappy thumb throttle and generally tidy things up a whole lot.

I am off to Europe for 3 weeks in a week so not much will be happening for a bit.

Relieved to be making some progress again and a ways to go yet

[Danny Mayes]

Making some progress

Got the CA mounted

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And modified the controller brackets for mounting...

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Swapped the seat..

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Small things but it is nice to be making some progress again. Swapped jobs twice since i started this project and finally got some time back. You were right AJ, its gonna be 2013 before it is done.

I am looking at having the motors rewound at a local shop, save me doing it and move things along a little quicker.

I am thinking doing them LRK following Thuds lead from here http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=20618&start=270

Thuds is a 16 turn LRK for 170kV so i think i need to do about 9.5 turns for 100kV

This is the winding diagram i am going to go with -

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I have no idea what wire thickness to use. If anyone has done this i'd appreciate the input, failing that i hope the winding shop can work it out.

Just thought i would post my plans to get any feedback on whether my logic is correct regarding the winding and the diagram, this is all new territory for me... Any input appreciated.

D