Fred Flinstone battery enclosure

[dannyboyohyeah]

Hi to All~
As promised, I'm submitting my sequential photos and abit've narration of the latest enclosure build. My hope is that someone can use the process in creating their very own. It is simple, if not abit tedius, but then it always is, tedious. The difference perhaps, most simply said...it that I created a form and then encapsulated it with resin/fabric, rather than using foam core and having to remove all that from the inside. This thing is nearly indestructable, and yet, weighs only 3lbs, 7oz. I just ran out've space for photos...this will have to do.
Started with 1/4" luan for body of carcass....all cornered radiused for safety....sharp edges at 30mph become more deadly somehow. 1 1/2" pvc plumbing pipe around perimeter for radiuses.
Note...difficult to glue pvc and wood together. I did a series of test joints with epoxy, pvc cement, and gorrilla glue...let them cure for 24hrs and subjected to a 5# hanging weight test. Epoxy failed, pvc failed quickly, gorrilla glue...solid as a rock. That is what I used.
Cutting the 1/4rounds of pvc. Do not cut the pipe into quarters...the edges will NOT be 90degrees to each other. Instead, first jamb a section of pipe into a mold of 90degree wood sections screwed together to make it flat and straight. Then, cut into two pieces, leaving 1/16" beyond centerline, because you are going to cut it in half again and that extra 1/16" leaves enough stock for the kerf of the final cut. Now you have a perfect quarter with 90 edges.
Cut many more pieces than you imagine you are going to need (it's cheap stuff). Your workbench has a perimeter set of cleats representing the exact shape of your triangle. Before pulling these angles from my bike, I taped two battens of 3/16" wood to seatpost tube and lower diagonal tube, to represent the firmly compressed 3/8" closed-cell foam that was beneath and behind my enclosure (glued to it). This worked out very nicely.
Work your way around the carcass splitting the angles and mitreing the pvc....index the test pieces to the carcass so that you can accurately measure the final cut pieces....after discovering exact angles. Write the angles down...you will not remember them...lol. (I know). Since your carcass also has radiused corners...the mitres of the pipe edges will overhang the radiused corners significantly. I made a mash of gorilla glue and chopped fiberglass strand...and smeared it into the INSIDE corners of the box....to reinforce the miters and provide a backing, when sanding out the final contours required sanding right through the pipewalls and into thin air, otherwise. I used the backside of a plastic spoon for smearing the pablum.
Plastic packaging tape is the clamping mechanism. tightly fit and stretch the tape over the OUTSIDE of the joints and dbl or triple it for strength. Then you can fold open the joint, lay in the gorrilla glue, squish it closed and tape a few "closers" over the joint...all the way around the carcass...and the glue will all squish out on the inside. Work your way round the carcass, glueing everything and please resist the urge to take it out've the tapeclamps for at least 3 hours. 4or 5 is better.
The ply is actually just barely over 3/16" and the pipe has 1/8" wall thickness...so this creates a nice little cove inside where you can overlap the mesh skin and really reinforce to box, without losing space inside.
Fit and cut side panels after everything is well cured (just lay the box over a piece of ply, mark with pen....then cut outside the line with razorknife, and sand down TO the line, leaving the line...it will fit perfectly. While glueing up...stuff the whole thing into your benchjig of cleats, so it won't deform and cheat you out've a perfect fit to your bike. Same is true of applying the skins of resin/fabric.
Ok...how you create an access cover is your buisness....I used low-profile tee-nuts, drilled through the side panel and shaped cover together (cover firmly taped onto sidepanel)...and then of course had to drill larger holes in the side panel for the tee-nuts. Protect the threads from goop at all times and check to make sure that your cover bolts go is very smoothly and lightly with fingers...if they are sticky or questionable....toss it and use another, because these will be taken off everyday and crossthreading is not what you want. I bedded the tee-nuts with epoxy, to the inside of the box.
I used "security bolts" (allen heads with small pin in center)....make it at least difficult for the thieves to get your batts.
I didn't use any bondo for fairing....just slathered on a second layer of resin and sanded again....nearly sanding it off to cut weight...till all is very smooth and flat. Then, two primer coats, three paint coats, two clearcoats...sanded to 400 between each. Access side cover is 1/8" ABS sheet, and without gasket...no water got inside my box with hosetest of waterfall.
I was lucky...my diamondback had two waterbottle mounts...so there were my two lower connecting points....the top tube will have abs clips also to tee-nuts in the enclosure.
NOTE....screwing a horizontal stop to the vertical fence of your chopsaw or compound saw is vital to cutting your 1/4-round trim pieces accurately and predicably. I'd say it's impossible to HOLD the sections firmly and accurately enough, without it. With the stop...you can really mash it in there and grip it firmly....keep the rpms up and the pressure light, when cutting. You can shave off a 64th" with that stop as your assistant.
I would be lost without EP...all the generous teaching and endless assistance. This is just what I can give back...and I truely hope it gets someone their enclosure with enjoyment. I'll be offerring these for sale as well. The need is obvious. Best wishes to all and thanks again. Dan

 

[jimw1960]

Looks great. I don't know about Fred Flintstone. It's more like George Jetson.

You should link this to the "Show us your homemade battery housing" thread.
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12847

 

[dannyboyohyeah]

And oh yeah~
forgot to mention...this enclosure is built to house a 14s 4p Lipo setup. The eight bricks you see in Photo #1 are mock, 6s Lipo. (that makes a 12s4p setup)...there is easily room for four more 2s batts. My regret on this one is that I was too stuck on the sleek picture..and next time I'll make it fat enough for two 6s bricks, side by side in there. That way...the controller goes there too (now...it goes under rear rack, above fender) plus room for greed in speed. 1/4" closed-cell foam below and sidewall of batts.
Do you think I should power this (12s for now)....with 9C 9x7...or the BMC V2-T???? Have both already. Hills here are making me grouchy. Thanks.

 

[deVries]

Looks great. I don't know about Fred Flintstone. It's more like George Jetson.

+1

Do you think I should power this (12s for now)....with 9C 9x7...or the BMC V2-T???? Have both already. Hills here are making me grouchy. Thanks.

With LiPo you should not be getting much voltage sag till the very end, right? So, higher volts won't do much for torque & hills... higher amps will... so program/mod controller to do more amps or get a bigger amp controller... that will juice the motors for hill climbing. Of course, higher voltage will get higher top speeds if you need.

BMC at 12s should do fine... 9C "wakes-up" as they say the high the volts you go! I guess depends on top speed "need" & 9C weighs more.

 

[El_Steak]

And oh yeah~
forgot to mention...this enclosure is built to house a 14s 4p Lipo setup.

Very nice enclosure. 14s4p is a nice setup, lots of range and decent speeds with "standard" motors/controllers.

I guess you are planning on using a Hyperion 1420i to charge it ? Would be a perfect match.

 

[dannyboyohyeah]

DeVries~ thank you. I recently got the BMC from HPC with the upgraded (thicker)wires thru axle...and the 48v 30amp controller. Do you know if this controller can be modded? Or should I go with a Lyen 12fet? I am disabled somewhat. My R knee is buggered and I have to walk up anything over 4% w/o electric (hense the great enthusiasm for all this). Still...I slog my way to town, 20 miles away over steep hills. I can wrangle about 20mph on the flats with no wind...so you get an idea what I contribute. I just don't wanna do the crawl of shame on the 18% around here, pushing the beast. Will surely add all that I can, pedal-wise though. I have no desire to exceed 30mph under any conditions...and don't care how SLOW the hillclimbs are, as long as I don't have to push. What would you recommend please? Ahui-ho. Dan
ps for those who wonder...why Fred F? It's because nothing here is sophisticated or complex and it was made out've whatever I literally had, laying around. So what if you have to make 100 practise cuts on pvc??...you can still get it done nicely.

 

[dannyboyohyeah]

El_Steak~ thanks~~! Yep...precisely my thought on the Hyperion too. Have you used this charging system? If so....I'd love to pick yer brains later if I may????

 

[nicobie]

Nice job!

Very professional.

 

[kevo]

Danny,
Nice writeup, appreciate the details and your excellent end product - congrats!

 

[El_Steak]

El_Steak~ thanks~~! Yep...precisely my thought on the Hyperion too. Have you used this charging system? If so....I'd love to pick yer brains later if I may????

Yes, I use 2 of them to charge my 24s3p pack. I made custom connectors (DB25) so that I only have one connection (per charger) to make. Fast, easy and safe charging, I love it.

Here's my charging station:

A lot of info in the hyperion 1420i thread (http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=23362)

 

[richmpdx]

Wow outstanding concept and execution. If I understand correctly, the pvc/wood is assembled with butt joints using gorilla glue before covering with glass cloth/resin. I wouldn't have thought the butt joints would work even just to assemble the battery case shape. The finaI product looks great. I think a lot of people may not notice it here in the non-hub motor section.

Although you may not care how slow you go up a hill as long as you keep going, the electric hub motor will. As you go slower, the efficiency of the motor will fall off and more of the electrical power will be converted to heat. Depending on how low the speed/efficiency gets and how long the low speed is maintained the temperature may easily rise sufficient to cook the motor. Inconvenient and expensive.

Rich

 

[deVries]

DeVries~ thank you. I recently got the BMC from HPC with the upgraded (thicker)wires thru axle...and the 48v 30amp controller. Do you know if this controller can be modded? Or should I go with a Lyen 12fet?

I'd try the BMC w/30amp & see what it does. Do the touch test on the motor after climbing your worst hill you normally encounter... too hot to keep your fingers/hand on it? Too slow to climb for what you want? Is the motor too hot at the end of your normal run?

Ask HPC if the controller is a Infineon X-chang type... if yes, then you can study ES to mod it for higher amps or even volts. The torqued BMC at 48v & 50amps is the limit for long term use... you might get away w/60v too if you don't climb w/too much heat buildup on the motor. :wink:

Too much heat "hot motor" ouch or too slow/weak to climb then consider either modding the controller you have, or go with a more powerful controller to avoid the mods.

Let us know how it performs...

 

[dannyboyohyeah]

thanks to all for anwers to questions (some, I hadn't even quite asked yet, but have)..and for validation.
If anyone thinks I've stuck this thread in the wrong place...please feel free to move it where it might be of more use. I have no idea how to do that...."to our chiefs", especially so.

 

[Grinhill]

Wow, that's some beautiful workmanship there.

Looks great.

 

[neptronix]

That's pretty badass. I wish i had the means to fab like that.

 

[spinningmagnets]

Excellent pics, sir! As its been said by others, "one picture is worth a kilo-word"

The rounded (radiused?) edges really add a professional look to the finished product. Theres an old saying about: "if you're trained to use a hammer, everything looks like a nail". Since I have had a router for years, I had planned to use small square-section wood for the edges and 1/4-inch ply for the sides, with the router rounding off the edges using my favorite 3/8-inch radius bit.

I will now recommend your method as the preferred choice, since PVC is easily and cheaply available, plus it can be cut with a hacksaw. My plan involves something similar in shape and finish, but with the bike leaning to the left on its kickstand, I plan to have a fold down right side cover with stops that hold it level like a shelf. It wouldn't support any serious weight, perhaps just a digital volt-meter (for obvious reasons)

Go to the "show us your DIY battery box" thread, and say...heres my example, add a link to this thread so that others who want more details can just click on it, and then finish with a couple pics that is the best example of your work. Perhaps one pic of the box when the PVC and wood show, and one pic of the finished product on the bike. That would be enough eye-candy to draw others to this thread for more specific details. I'll do it for you if you'd like?...

 

[dannyboyohyeah]

Neptronix and others~
Don't give up on the idea just yet. Chopsaws used to be the cat's meow...now they are nearly obsolete with the predominance of sliding compound saws (understandibly, for a craftman)...you can pick up a heavy and indestructable Makita chopsaw in a pawn shop now for $25.~! Someone you know surely has a tablesaw rusting away in their garage. Only other thing needed is a little jigsaw to cut out the access hole in the side panel (you COULD do that with just a hacksaw blade handheld with abit've tape on it too). But....if you could send me a template...I could precut all the pieces for you and you could assemble it yourself and be the one to have to scrape epoxy and resin off yer fingers, etc. The rattlecan paint is about $4 a can. I can sell you fabric for $2/sq ft. Buy the resin at home depot. and tons of foam brushes. 59cents-89cents each. I went to Tap Plastics and told them I was making a prototype and wanted to experiement with heat bending before buying a huge sheet. They brought out a piece of 1/8" from the back, big enough for this, plus three chainring gaurds I made for all the bikes...said "have at it" and let us know.
so you see....I was a chicken too...for long enough...then I said..."screw it...I'm GOING".
I am available to coach in exhaustive detail, anything you need to know. I am a boatbuilder. (wooden/sail). This is doable...you jes have to get started. I will help anyone to whatever degree they need.....as I said...I can precut,,,,you can assemble and call it, all yours...because it IS.
so stick out yer chest and say yes...you can have one too...that is the whole idea. Dan

 

[dannyboyohyeah]

Spinning Magnets~
I would so appreciate your help with moving any part of the thread you deem worthy. I am hopeless clutse at this....it took me TWO days to figure out how to post this. Not much hair left now. I created this particular system, expressly for the purpose of giving it to all who want it here. I have other methods as well....much crazier. Thank you for the kind offer. Dan

 

[dannyboyohyeah]

richmpdx~
yes, you have it right....the wood-to-pvc connection is a simple, square, butt. The trueness of the squarishness of the pvc is vital to strong connection. Plus, when you think about it...the miter-joints, just lightly re-inforced from behind at first (with the mash paste) really holds the form. But then later, two overlapping layers of fabric/resin also lap those mitres and this is what makes the box MONDO strong. The outside curvature of the mitres is very difficult to cover flawlessly with fabric (because of compound curvature)...but because of the strength of the inner reinforcements, I did not worry about this and just dabbed some resin where I sanded through and faired it nicely to the eye for appeal. So you see??....even I can cheat. I am confident that I will never see those joint-lines start to stand out.
I considered the same idea as you with the squared wooden cleats, rounded with router, but ended up realizing that it really buggered up the battery storage capacity....just that little detail. And this frame is medium/generous triangle too. (20")
I just went and measured the clearance between the inside face of the pedal arms and the outside face of the enclosure. It's 9/16". This means that I COULD add and inch of depth to the box and get away with it. JUST barely...but clearance is clearance. Present inside depth of box is 3 3/8" Outside is exactly 4". She's a skinny, little girl.
This fabric is also called Dynel. It's made to sheath the outter surface of some build-method of boat hulls. (cold molded). It's abrasion resistance is phenomenal. If you built this enclosure using epoxy instead of polyester resin, you could jump up n down on it. Maybe.
I cheer you on in your builds.

 

[jimw1960]

how did you cut such a long run of pvc pipe straight down the middle with a sliding mitre saw? My sliding mitre saw will only cut a 12" length.

 

[dannyboyohyeah]

Hi jimw~
read build description again please. As mentioned....I first, simply screwed two, straight and stiff pieces of wood together at right angle (if your pvc is TOO crooked from sitting somewhere sloppily...it will deform even your wood clamp).....firmly press the 1 1/2" pvc into the corner of these wood pieces...and have four, pre-drilled holes ready to screw the pvc through (don't use longer than 1" SR screws)....now it is firmly stable as a straight and you can push it through your tablesaw and it won't twist or bind. I hacked the pvc roughly into 36" sections to make it easier) That blade is going to be up pretty high for this and the wood clamp goes next to the ripfence...keep yer fingers outta there please. If you get a little wobble towards end of cut that "imperfects" your pvc....just mark that little endpiece with marker so you'll remember to hack it off and toss it...use the best pieces for your surround trim. Do not attempt to cut this stuff in half on radialsaw or compound saw etc. Vastly dangerous. Tablesaws are the only thing, made for ripping (cutting along length) Safety first, at every momemt.
Typically, the distance between ripfence of TS and blade is going to be somewhere around 1-11/16". (3/4 for woodjig+13/16" (half of pvc ID+additional 1/16") + 1/8wall thickness of pipe) Must measure everything accurately, however. Maybe your woodpiece is not 3/4".
If you mess up a couple pvc sections, practising, so what? It's really cheap. You can use the throwaways for dollhouse gutters or something.

 

[spinningmagnets]

Done! you are now the latest entry in the 14-page battery-box building thread index:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12847&p=441409#p441409

 

[dannyboyohyeah]

Most excellent, Spinning magnets....thank you. ~D~

 

[Gordo]

El_Steak~ thanks~~! Yep...precisely my thought on the Hyperion too. Have you used this charging system? If so....I'd love to pick yer brains later if I may????

Yes, I use 2 of them to charge my 24s3p pack. I made custom connectors (DB25) so that I only have one connection (per charger) to make. Fast, easy and safe charging, I love it.

Here's my charging station:

A lot of info in the hyperion 1420i thread (http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=23362)

Dan;
Great enclosure from readily available inexpensive stock.
I like the fire extinguisher. I have them all over the house and shop. BUT, mine are at the door, with the pins pulled, far away from any potential fire source. When you have a fire, if you are close to it, most peoples first reaction is to run. When the extinguisher is by the door, you will pick it up and return to the fire.

 

[dannyboyohyeah]

Gordon~
You should share some've your stories here....you are a natural writer and have "thick" life experiences. We could all use a dose.
Good idea about the "retreat and return" idea with the fire extinguishers..... ~D~