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Cake or bread pans to the rescue?

S

Sturdly

10 W
Joined
Mar 18, 2007
Messages
84
Location
Seattle
I have been looking for a way to protect my LIFEPO4 battery pack from impacts and such.

Would a 14 gauge aluminum enclosure be heavy enough to handle a short fall? Given of course that it is made non-conductive inside and has some foam material to fill in the gaps.


http://cooksdream.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=FDPOB8122&Category_Code=sheet_cake_2_fat_daddios&Product_Count=1

I'm thinking that a couple of these in the right size put together into a box configuration silicone around the flange, then bolted together via drilled holes in that flange. It would sure save a bunch of fabrication which I am not really set up for.

Thoughts?
 
When I flipped my bike and broke both collarbones my battery bag took a hit in the corner that would have trashed a cell or two. But it didn't, since I had folded a big aluminum cookie sheet into a box to protect the Ping. Took a licking and kept on ticking. The cookie sheet was a lot cheaper than a sheet of aluminum from the hardware store. Never did find the perfect sise bread pan, so I just made one out of the cookie sheet.
 
Sounds like the concept has passed the crash test anyway. Glad you lived to tell the story.

My pack is a 48v 10A 16 cell job that measures 7"x10"x4". Plus there is a 17 pin circular connector about 1" in diameter that is looking for a place to be secured to, BMS is built in the charger. So I figure one 8x12x2 and one 8x12x3 with a little drill and hole saw action would do the trick. I'll feel a lot more protected $$$ wise putting this in a saddle bag than the way it is.

After watching Link's adventures with ABS sheets plastic is out.

I'll have to stop by the local cake supply store tomorrow and see if I can get these locally. Thanks for the input.
 
Sturdly said:
After watching Link's adventures with ABS sheets plastic is out.
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Heh. I actually had a pretty good time with that stuff. Especially considering that I had nothing to cut it with, a ghetto bender, and they weren't big enough to begin with. :lol: Oh well. That's what the table saw is for. 8)

Now if that plastics place would fix their damn checkout system so I could get a proper 24" x 48" sheet of the stuff...:?
 
Not really. How cheap is it? I could make a complete box with like $10 of 1/4" ABS and minimal effort. Well, minimal AFTER I have hours of effort into the tools needed to form the stuff, simple though they may be. :lol:

Plus at some point or other I know I'm going to end up making a vacuform. :wink:
 
Hmm, tempting. I may try that for Packcycle's finished box, since it'll have odd/large dimensions and would be difficult to make out of plastic.
 
Link said:
Not really. How cheap is it? I could make a complete box with like $10 of 1/4" ABS and minimal effort. Well, minimal AFTER I have hours of effort into the tools needed to form the stuff, simple though they may be. :lol:

Plus at some point or other I know I'm going to end up making a vacuform. :wink:
Click to expand...

That's what I mean by adventures. A couple of hundred dollars in materials and equipment later I might be able to make something that will work. I have a drill, bits and a hole saw already.

Vacuforming is fun, you can probably get away with using the house vacuum cleaner, but don't let Mom catch you using her oven to warm the plastic sheets or for wrinkle paint. Speaking from experience here.
 
Sturdly said:
Vacuforming is fun, you can probably get away with using the house vacuum cleaner, but don't let Mom catch you using her oven to warm the plastic sheets or for wrinkle paint. Speaking from experience here.
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Figure I'll end up integrating the oven into the former itself. Plus, that thing's thermostat is unreliable. :p

Sturdly said:
That's what I mean by adventures. A couple of hundred dollars in materials and equipment later I might be able to make something that will work. I have a drill, bits and a hole saw already.
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Touche! Though I'm something of a perfectionist when it comes to this stuff and I figure I'll be doing a lot more of it, so I might as well make it easy on myself in the future. The heat gun thing worked quite well, but I was hoping for unrealistically tight tolerances with that method. If you have a proper sized sheet and make the box a bit bigger than it needs to be, you don't need any more than what I used initially. Other than a table saw, anyway. :wink:
 
dirtdad said:
Ypedal,

Ghetto bender? Sounds interesting. Pls post more info.
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:?: Link ≠ Ypedal

It was just a sheet of 1/8" ABS sandwiched between some planks. I used a heat gun to get it hot enough to bend. The aluminum foil is just to keep the plastic clean.

DSCN0222.jpg


DSCN0223.jpg


As you can see, you can make some good bends, but it's kind of a PITA to use (clamping the wood while keeping the plastic in place, mostly). I'm trying to work out an equally ghetto (but superior) one made out of tile, a light dimmer (or router speed controller), and some toaster heating element. It should work about as well as a commercial strip heater, but not cost $100. Most of the adjustable strip heaters of good length I've seen are actually into the multiple hundreds. It may be a fairly specialized tool, but I'm not paying that much for what I can make out of crap I find in a thrift store.
 
Link said:
As you can see, you can make some good bends, but it's kind of a PITA to use (clamping the wood while keeping the plastic in place, mostly). I'm trying to work out an equally ghetto (but superior) one made out of tile, a light dimmer (or router speed controller), and some toaster heating element. It should work about as well as a commercial strip heater, but not cost $100. Most of the adjustable strip heaters of good length I've seen are actually into the multiple hundreds. It may be a fairly specialized tool, but I'm not paying that much for what I can make out of crap I find in a thrift store.
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What about Angle iron instead of the wood? and as for the heater, what about a water heater element? Those are long and straight, especially the ones meant for the wide 50gallon tanks.
 
Drunkskunk and Link, surely Sturdy's idea is simpler and more elegant! :roll:
Or perhaps I missed the point (not difficult enough!) :lol:
 
Drunkskunk said:
What about Angle iron instead of the wood? and as for the heater, what about a water heater element? Those are long and straight, especially the ones meant for the wide 50gallon tanks.
Click to expand...

That was actually my first choice, since it would be easier to clamp. But, I didn't have any. :? Besides, you don't need to clamp anything down with a strip heater. Just lay it flat where you want to bend it.

I've never seen a water heater element, so maybe, but those are a lot harder to get a hold of than the one out of a toaster or a hairdryer.

paultrafalgar said:
Drunkskunk and Link, surely Sturdy's idea is simpler and more elegant! :roll:
Or perhaps I missed the point (not difficult enough!) :lol:
Click to expand...

Little of this, little of that. You can only fit so much in a bread pan, and I wouldn't necessarily wanna get caught riding around with one of those on the back of my bike. :lol: Plus, custom stuff is always good. :wink:
 
Fiberglass is easy ... just incredibly messy.

Mock up a battery box exterior with a big block of closed cell foam, using a powered nichrome wire in a wood frame to carve it up. Get a large glass patch kit from an autoparts store, and coat the foam.

Cut the sucker in half and hollow it out. Sand the exterior till it looks good, and paint. Add hinges and a closure.

Stick a fork in it, and call it done.
 
kbarrett said:
Fiberglass is easy ... just incredibly messy.
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... and all these chemicals are carcinogenic! I'm not saying don't use them, just a) use gloves and a mask in a well ventilated area and b) why bother when you can use a bread tin :)
 
With a good set of molds, a guy could make a buck of two selling the perfect fiberglass ping box.
 
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