Hi. I come here looking for help please.

[Grump]

Hi Guys.
I can't see anywhere to introduce myself so If there is somewhere I hope the mods will move the post.
I used to play with EV's many years ago, technology has moved on so much since my day and being so much older now have forgotten most of what I knew then.
I have an old E-bike which I love and use only when the sun shines, too old to be an all weather biker these days one of these things (do they still make them?)

What I want to ask your help with is an old golf trolley I had many years ago which was very costly and new technology in its day, with hub motors being the latest thing.
Very shortly after purchase the controller burned out and the company went broke so it never got repaired and spent its life in the shed.
Recently I have been working on another project making things like this.

My intention is to make a grinder / honer from one of the motors, it is the right size, high torque and lends itself ideally to the function.
With some control over the speed it would be a brilliant project for me.
I have looked around and tried to brush up on current products and ended up here to ask if I am right or would you steer me in the right direction?
This is the motor with hub cap off.


And these are the wires at the other end sorry about the shadows looking like more wires.

I have fat yellow, green, blue and thin yellow, green, blue pus thin red and black.
It has been some years since I tried to fix the original controller so have forgotten where the wires went but something tells me they all went to controller with the thin y,g,b, going on to potentiometer and r&b to led battery indicator.
I could be totally wrong as from what I read they are Hall cables but I don't see any Hall sensors in there, should I?
I assume the thicker wires are the 3 phase motor wires with the green being the neutral phase, please correct me if I am wrong.

Originally this was one of two motors controlled by the same controller which has long since been destroyed, lost, binned, or whatever, it can't be found so I can't find the diagrams I did at the time.
I am wondering if I could use a 3 phase cycle controller to get this running again?
Would I need a Hall controller or not?
I don't require brakes or lights nor any gauges just speed control I have power via batteries or transformer, also my cnc machine is 24volt which these motors were run on two 12 volt batteries when in trolley.

Cor blimey a dunnalf rabbit init?
Can you give me any advise on this please.

 

[dogman dan]

For a low load application like you are planning, I would think a generic "1000 watt" controller for a bike or scooter would work, and have plenty of power. You'll need a throttle too, btw.

Brushless controller, not brushed of course. The 5 skinny wires go to the halls. The fat ones power it. Look on ebay for a generic controller with self study or self learn function. If you get one without, it will be a bit more difficult to figure out which color wire goes where to make it run with the new controller.

 

[Grump]

Many thanks for your reply Dan and it looks as though I was thinking along the right lines as I had bookmarked this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/160902827140?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

And this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111480226508?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&var=410497421305&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I have a throttle but they are cheap enough to purchase with controller or a trip to Maplin to source the correct value potentiometer.
Any idea what the correct value pot would be??

 

[Gregory]

Most ebike controllers are set up for a hall sensor throttle these days. A 5K ohm pot can work, but may need some resistors to reduce the dead spot at start and end of the pots travel.

 

[dnmun]

why would you destroy a functional BLDC motor to make a grinder that you can purchase that runs on AC already and would cost essentially nothing since you can find them on CL for $25.

if you live in an area where the power is DC then it would make more sense to actually use a DC motor to drive the grinder.

this is like a backward application of a forward technology imo. plus it would be endlessly expensive and the grinder under powered from a small DC battery source.

 

[jmac]

I'll always be the first one to say that you use the right tool for the right job, especially when the right tool is cheap...

But there are other times when you simply want to make something completely wacky for the enjoyment of it, or to scratch some oddly specific itch that you see in your own life. Heck, sometimes I've done things like that simply as a conversation piece. "I personally grind all of my hand made knives using solar power and a converted electric bike motor!" could even be a selling point (and things like that really do work, even if they are something you know either doesn't make a better product or even makes a lesser product if it's trendy, the hipster market is big).

Anyway, I look forward to seeing the end product (the grinder).

 

[Grump]

why would you destroy a functional BLDC motor to make a grinder that you can purchase that runs on AC already and would cost essentially nothing since you can find them on CL for $25.

if you live in an area where the power is DC then it would make more sense to actually use a DC motor to drive the grinder.

this is like a backward application of a forward technology imo. plus it would be endlessly expensive and the grinder under powered from a small DC battery source.

I understand your way of thinking and agree, to a large extent it seems like lunacy but in my defense, I feel it would be a good and worthwhile project for me to rekindle my interest and knowledge catching up and refreshing with modern techniques and products.

I have had this golf trolley kicking around useless for years and whilst clearing the shed out ready to move house in a downsize I stripped it to bare bolts and now have two perfectly usable hub motors, I also came across many old bits and pieces which may or may not be of use to someone.

3 X brushed 12 volt DC high torque motors for use in mobility carts, brand new old stock.
Another as above but used and working.
Various controllers including a Curtis PMC1204-020 which came from a working golf buggy, battery connectors, fuses, pedal resistors, throttles and many more items of such interest, fluid and air valves etc.

I used to be quite knowledgeable and adept playing with EV's in the distant past (lead acid days). Converted my car to run with a 72volt DC motor which I upped to 144 and got some terrific performance from it.

Interest faded after suffering 5 heart attacks and having to slow down and ending my golf days. I now sit a sad lonely old man in my well equipped shed at the end of the garden and struggle around it making things for my amusement, I usually gave away what I have made to bring others some pleasure in their lives.

Life gets to a stage where it ain't all about money or belongings but making every moment count for your own pleasure.

So yes I want to make a speed controllable jig for honing knives that I make from used saw blades, this one will be an experiment to show that a larger disc used on the flat with a leather top will produce a surgicaly sharp instrument without all the effort of hand honing that I do now.

I have bench grinders and all sorts of wet and dry oil and diamond stones, strops etc a lot of which must go as I cannot maintain the large house me and my lovely old wife still have to manage.

It's a hobby for me, let me indulge.

Having found this forum I looked through many of the posts to find you are a community of interesting folk and have been both saddened and laughed at many of the posts, I thank you for your stories some bring back memories of my younger days.

If anyone has a particular interest in any of the gear I need to get rid of I would like to hear from you with interest in your project plans.
Unfortunately my health and finances will not allow me to post worldwide but I can box it up and take it to my local "My Hermes" collection point.
Let me know if you would like some pictures of my junk?

 

[dnmun]

why not use the BLDC motor in the bike it came out of? then you could ride the ebike itself and if you wanna learn new stuff then buy a new battery instead of using lead. then you can learn all the new technology that is now current.

 

[Grump]

why not use the BLDC motor in the bike it came out of? then you could ride the ebike itself and if you wanna learn new stuff then buy a new battery instead of using lead. then you can learn all the new technology that is now current.

Because there is nothing wrong with my bike or the battery which I think is lithium, it is a perfectly functional bike which I enjoy very much.
This is a project with a motor from a useless golf trolley with a burned out controller using one of the two motors originally on it, the tyre was also damaged from sitting on top of a battery and had gone mushy so I stripped it off.
It has no use as being anything other than scrap for me so I am re purposing it.

 

[dnmun]

no idea what a golf trolley is. no idea of golf in any way actually.

if you can figure out the windings then you might be able to estimate the rotation speed from the voltage of your battery using comparisons to other hub motors with similar windings.

i was wondering why there was no axle sticking out of the bearing in your picture.

 

[Grump]

It was an early version of this ugly monstrosity, not the same company but similar looking horror.

https://www.golfonline.co.uk/stewart-golf-x9-follow-lithium-electric-trolley

Very poorly designed in as much as both wheels turned at the same speed constantly so you literally had to fight to steer it.
Coupled with the controller mounted in the folding handle fractured the wiring and under a cover with holes in it to assist cooling allowed the moisture to access the PCB, not good at all.
Extremely expensive in it's day for something that never took off as a viable commercial business hence not being able to replace the controller.
I did try to claim one under the product warranty from the company and was told they had some in a container at the docks but could not afford to obtain them, very shortly after that the company were unobtainable.
That must have been 12 to 15 years ago by my reckoning of the birthday present to myself it was.

 

[dnmun]

cute. an electric caddie that stalks you. never seen them before. but then never seen anything golf either.

those would be neat to monitor the neighborhood and follow the guy around who is scoping out houses to break into. follow him with video running.

we can show you how to repair the controller too if you wanna. i find the challenge to learn electronics at my age to be more worthwhile. so fixing a controller would be more interesting.

 

[Grump]

Similar only in appearance mine wouldn't follow but I had to run with it to keep up even on the slowest speed setting.
Then pull it either way I wanted it to go, to be honest I was glad when it packed up and I went back to carrying.
That thing knackered me and slung me all over the course, come golf day I would rather have entered the ring with Tyson or gone lion taming.

 

[Grump]

Thanks for your help and opinions this has and will be interesting for me to follow as it unfolds to be a project.
I have been in touch with Ollie at http://www.pandabikes-shop.co.uk/ who has been extremely helpful with exceptional service and I have the required parts on their way to me in the mail.
Brilliant work for a bank holiday on his part, I can't praise him enough.

All excited now to start assembly but I am away on a course of treatment this week full time so it will have to wait till next weekend before I can update with any pictures.
Assuming and hoping I live through it LOL.

 

[amberwolf]

I don't have any direct help, but the project sounds fun; like the "plan" I have to make my old southbend lathe into a variable speed by using a treadmill motor and controller to run it instead of the fixed-speed AC motor it has right now.

 

[dogman dan]

Actually, I thought a speed controllable grinder sounded like a great idea! Regular AC grinder pretty much has one speed, and anyway building it sounds fun.

 

[Grump]

The build begins.
I had a little play at the weekend and started to put it together, I won't bore you all with the details here but have started a write diary of it at the link below.
Thanks for your help and advise so far.

http://www.shabby-delights.co.uk/

 

[amberwolf]

Actually posting all the details here would be really nice--it would not be "boring" as that's what many of us want to see.

 

[Grump]

Actually posting all the details here would be really nice--it would not be "boring" as that's what many of us want to see.

I will happily do that, but didn't want to clog your forum with the rantings of an old man.
Pleased to see someone is interested.

 

[amberwolf]

If you are worried about clogging the forum...just look at the threads linked in my signature. :lol: