New build - Razor E300 "Blue Carbon"

Joined
May 13, 2014
Messages
85
Location
Montreal, Canada
Hi everyone! :)

I've been asking questions on this forum for a while, and I thought I should contribute to the community that has been giving me so much assistance.I'm already posting this on another forum, but maybe some of the techniques that I'm using might help someone else, (and maybe someone will give me advice on how to do a better build! ;) ).

I'm planning a build for later this year and I wanted to test some new fabrication techniques, mainly making fiberglass molds and panels. I picked up a Razor E300 for $10.00 a couple of months ago that I'm going to use for my testing. So, New Year, new build!

Here's the victim:

e_300.jpg


Dead batteries, crappy 180w motor, garbage controller and a on/off throttle. I could just throw on a new motor and controller and be done with it, but where's the fun in that? Besides, I've already done a few builds like that. I need to set the bar just a little higher this time.

I'm calling this build "Blue Carbon" because I'm going to use some blue and black fiberglass to make the deck:

blue_carbon.jpg


I ordered the cloth from China. The seller claimed that it's a combination of carbon fiber and fiberglass. However, since I paid $8.00 for 12" x 30" piece, I'm thinking that it's just straight fiberglass. No matter, it looks nice and should make an excellent looking deck.

I'm planning to use a Unite 36v 500w motor @ 48v, CK43B controller, hall effect throttle and a 48v Li-Ion battery pack. Since it has 8" wheels, I'm going to gear it 11/80. With the small wheels, better to have it torquey than fast. A 500w Unite motor is fairly large for this size of scooter frame, so I'm going to build a rear swing arm that I can mount the motor on. I'll use a mono shock to soften the ride. I also might try a springer shock on the front end to get some practice at building those.

I might build a dash panel/head light mount, depending on how much of the fiberglass I have left after building the deck. I also might change the short handle bars for something wider.

Let the build begin!
 
I was at the scrap yard the other day looking for metal when I found these triangles of 1/16" steel:

two_triangles.jpg


Normally I prefer 1/8" or larger for a mount, but since I'm trying to keep the weight down, I decided to pay $2.00 and use them. I really love my local scrap yard. They have a literal hill of scrapped lawn mowers, pressure washers, riding mowers and gas scooters. I'll take a picture the next time I'm over.

At first I was going to do some thing like this:

motor_mount_3a.jpg


But I decided that I would have too much flex in the metal. I decided to make my "standard" motor mount for a Unite. I have a template that I made up before for marking my holes. I glued it to the steel and used my drill press on the template:

motor_mount_2a1.jpg


Then I cut out the pieces and welded them:

motor_mount_2b1.jpg


motor_mount_2c1.jpg


I might redo the welds. I was using .023 wire that came with my machine. I switched to .030 today and I'm getting much better welds.

Then I went to work on the swing arm. I cut off the mounts for the rear wheel from the frame and welded some 1/2" square steel tube to them. I used the wheel to make sure everything was lined up properly, (I usually would just use a long bolt for something like this, but I was lazy! ;)).

swing_arm_1.jpg


I then added the mount for the motor mount and the frame for mounting the shock(s), (not sure if I'm going with a mono shock or dual shocks yet):

swing_arm_2.jpg


(Sorry about not having more pictures. I just dropped my Nikon and broke the lens, so I'm using my cell phone. I seem to have lost some pics :().

Right now the swing arm is feeling a little more chunky than I had envisioned. I might make some adjustments to it later.

I also managed to weld the connecting plate to the scooter frame and do the initial lining up of the parts so that I can visualize what I want and how I will make it all connect:

swing_arm_3.jpg


I'm hoping to have it all connected tomorrow, but I have some appointments, so I'll see how much I can get done.
 
I added the support for the pivot to the swing arm:

swing_arm_5.jpg


Then I cut and welded the parts to mount the pivot tube to the swing arm:

swing_arm_6.jpg


swing_arm_7.jpg


swing_arm_8.jpg


swing_arm_9.jpg


swing_arm_10.jpg


I needed the pivot to stick out so that the two frames won't hit each other when the scooter hit's a bump. I probably over-welded everything, but since this is a critical part and having the pivot mount snap at any speed could be "bad":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyKQe_i9yyo

I'm sure that there is a better way to make my pivot. I'll have to think of something better for my V 2.0 swing arm! :)

I'm also having a problem with the wind, I think that it's blowing my gas away from the tip. I tried setting up a shield, but I think that I'll switch to flux core tomorrow.

---------- Post added at 07:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 PM ----------

I also did some more work on my motor mount. I used some 1/'16" sheet metal for the mount and it has some flex to it that I don't like. I decided to make a rear support out of some even thinner sheet metal. I printed up another template and drilled it out:

motor_mount_b1.jpg


To make sure the everthing was lined up correctly, I bolted it to the rear of the moter and then marked where to cut:

motor_mount_b2.jpg


The rear mount sits on top of the front mount, using the same bolts:

motor_mount_b3.jpg


This should prevent any flexing and give me a place to mount a cooling fan later if I feel the need. Running a 36v motor at 48v can generate motor killing heat if you go heavy on the throttle. Down here in Florida everything is nice and flat, so it's not so really a problem. But Montreal has some fairly steep hills and that can put a lot of strain on the motor.
 
So I finished the pieces for the pivot today. I used a piece of foam board to get the shape I needed for the pivot connector. I rounded the corner and drilled a hole the size of the pivot bolt. Then I mounted it onto the pivot tube:

pivot_1.jpg


pivot_2.jpg


I marked the foam board against the mount on the frame:

pivot_3.jpg


And then I cut out my pattern and traced it onto some 1/8" steel plate:

pivot_4.jpg


pivot_5.jpg


These two pieces need to be exactly the same, otherwise the rear end of the scooter will be to the side, which is "bad". ;) I cut out the shapes that I wanted and then I clamped the two pieces together and worked them with an angle grinder until they were both exactly the same.

pivot_6.jpg


Then, keeping them clamped together, I drilled the holes for the pivot bolt:

pivot_7.jpg


I'm using a 4 1/2" bolt here and it's just a little to small:

pivot_8.jpg


Well, actually it's perfect, which is the problem, I need it slightly loose so that the pivot will swing properly. A 5" bolt is to long, so I'm going to trim the pivot tube about 1 mm on each side. I have the space on the pivot tube for this and I think everything will be fine after that.

pivot_9.jpg


Tomorrow is the big day! I need to line up everything perfectly! A millimeter off in either direction and the scooter will ride slightly to the side.

Crossing my fingers!
 
OK, I got the swing arm pivot welded in today.

pivot_10.jpg


The regulator on my welder is bad and I'm waiting on a replacement, so I'm using flux core wire and it sucks! I can't believe how fast I got used to gas! Big difference in the amount of splatter with the welds. I might ask around and see if anyone I know has a spare regulator that I could borrow until Eastwood ships me the replacement.

At any rate, the pivot arms a lined up nicely and I started work on the mono shock. I used foam board again to make the patterns for the shock mounts:

shock_1.jpg


Once I had everything cut and lined up, I welded the shock mounts in:

shock_2.jpg


shock_3.jpg
 
armandd said:
Awesome build! Any updates?

Hi armandd,

I've been busy for the last few weeks, so no updates.

But I haven't abandoned the project, I'm hoping to get some work done this month.
 
Back
Top