my first build, now with a shady m1 pack

[gestalt]

curses!!!

I just got methy's controller in the mail and damnit, it does not fit in the enclosure that I made. Though now I am really glad that I didn't go through the process of fiberglassing the the thing, sorry Kim. So plan B, when I first started this project I thought it would look badass to have the enclosure made of metal to go with the more road warrior style of the overall bike. I was going to rely on a slick paint job to toughen up the look of the fiberglass but now the rustic steel will get the job done. Now I'm going to be on the lookout for some good thin sheet steel to fab this out of, ahh the riddle of steel. Finding materials was so much simpler when all I had to do was get into the scrap piles at the ship yard. Does anybody here have experience welding thin sheet steel? most of the stuff I've ever worked on has been at least 1/8 steel plate, what do you think the minimum thickness that I can get away with would be?

 

[AussieJester]

curses!!!

Though now I am really glad that I didn't go through the process of fiberglassing the the thing, sorry Kim.

Mate, its prolly a blessing in disguise TBH haha fibreglass gets fantastic results but booooy is it ALOT of work...sticky, stinking, tiring, dusty work...That said...a metal tank will be no picnic either LoL..best of luck anywayz buddy

KiM

p.s minimum sheet metal thickness will depend on your welder/s and skillz

 

[amberwolf]

It's a lot easier to braze thin stuff than it is to weld it, for me.

BTW, I had posted about this spoke thread in here, but it got eaten I guess.
http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15075&start=0

 

[gestalt]

here is what I envision this build turning out

 

[AussieJester]

That is freakin niiiiice mate...what software are you using to do the designing?
Looks simple (prolly far from it) Im after a simple 2d drawing app, i have
all the advanced crap Rhino, GMax, SolidWorks, AutoCad etc etc etc...just want something
i can use to 'doodle' with...

Nice design anywayz mate ill be watching you :: points own fingers at eyez then at gesalt :: watching mate... watching

KiM

 

[gestalt]

Sorry bro, not exactly simple. I use Photoshop drawing mostly with the pen too using my tablet pc. I just toook a photo of the bike as a layer to use to get all the geometry right. Wanted a better idea of what that rear end would like with a motor mount fitted in there. I'm not liking the angle on that seat spring though, grrr.

 

[AussieJester]

Ahhhh fair nuff, i been wanting to buy a drawing tablet for yeeeears i really should get me one would make things sooooo much simpler i thinkz.

I did notice the absence of both footrests and pedals on the bike?

KiM

 

[gestalt]

Yeah, and check those magic levitating hubs. That's a real custom dr. Morpheus edition. But there really is nothing like swiveling the screen around and just drawing away on it, it's like the ultimate sketchbook.

 

[gestalt]

The foot pegs were left out accidentaly, the peddals however were not.

 

[gestalt]

okay, I'm probably going to start cutting the pieces tommorow, so if any of you cats have a better idea speak now or hold your peace untill I fvck it up and do it over again

here with just the frame and controller

now with the enclosure overlayed

and all together now

 

[AussieJester]

I REALLY like the look of the drawings for this build gestalt

i am extremely keen to see this one progress, i wish you well and hope the fabrication gods are favourable to you mate Don't hesitate to drop me a P.M if you think i may be able to assist in any way with this build to gestalt...

KiM

p.s I have the pic of the foam tank you did (i realise its not going to be used now) on the pc i will be making pretty much exact copy of that
if/when i do a tank for my crusier i freakin love the lines of that top effort i thought!

 

[gestalt]

in order to save a little weight, and time I have decided to change the design a bit. Now there is going to be a gap between the enclosure and the head tube. I think it will still look pretty cool, maybe even cooler.

I spent most of the night tonight painstakingly measuring all the pieces out and mapping out the two curved pieces for the sides. most of them are square angles so fairly easy to punch out but me thinks the curved ones are going to be pain in my assholes. I have access to a waterjet cutter but I have to have pattern saved as a CMX file and after installing corel designer I cant figure out how not only to create the rectangles at the right measurements, but I also have to figure out a way to take the pic i made of the curved side peice I cut out of heavy duty cardboard and convert it to lines and correct measurement. the little experience I have with this kind of thing is with sketchup and my free trial has run out

any savvy sphere types out there willing to convert these measurements and photo to a cmx file for me? or at least guide me through the process.

 

[gestalt]

anyone know what the effects of regen braking would be on the belt cog that is threaded onto the freewheel mount. My concern is that the regen forces would make the cog spin backwards and off the threads. Choppersus.com has an extra wide hub that is wide enough for my large marge wheel, but they don't have a dual disk version. So I'm going to have to go with the freewheel and disk rear model that goes for $30. I thought that maybe I could just weld the cog onto the hub but that would make it a pain to change the cog if I wanted a different gear ratio. I have also been tossing around the idea of using a pit bike rear hub since I am planning on using the disk brakes from a pit bike on the rear because not only are they hydraulic brakes with super beefy pads compared to mountain bike brakes they are really frikin cheap. the brake calipers, disk, and levers can be found on ebay for $65 shipped. I've heard from some other ebikers that you can run through bicycle brake pads pretty quick.

 

[AussieJester]

Dont use regen buddy next to useless on a bicycle you will better off to be able to freewheel IMO...

I just got one of the extra wide ChoppersUS hubs for the rear of my bike too, go the chrome job its looks
the bizzness

KiM

 

[gestalt]

I gave up on trying to figure out a program to aid me in using a waterjet to cut out the steel pieces so I went to work with a carbide scribe and a ruler. then used tape to guide me when using my angle grinder to turn a two by two foot sheet of steel into this

Tomorrow I'll clean the pieces up and start using the tig to weld them all together on saturday. wish me luck though as I just learned how to tig the day before yesterday.

The other big development Is that I have tracked down a nice piece of thick ass steel tube to use as a motor mount.

the idea will be to cut out a great deal of the tube to not only save on weight, but to allow plenty of air to get to the heat sync of the motor. then welding in a plate to one end and thats what will have the four holes for the bolts into the motor.

 

[enoob]

angle grinder should be an ebikers right hand. :wink: 8)

tig is nice . just takes some getting used to involving the foot action and then its almost like art

 

[gestalt]

the grinder is actually how I got into working with steel. When I started working in the ship yard I spent 8 hours a day with a grinder in my hands. Doing overhead all day with a big 8" wildcat will make your arms into big wet noodles...at first, then they become a fortress of limbs

 

[AussieJester]

Angle grinder, welder, rule and a bevel square and you can make aloooooot of good stuff...

KiM

 

[gestalt]

Ok, spent some time in a real shop today and accomplished this

controller fits quite nicely in there, and I'm gonna top the thing with some some nice wood veneer. throw some chrome toggle switches in there and it should be pretty damn rockin. I still don't know quite what rout to go on a cycle anylist, still trying to figure out a way to get my old ipod touch to do the job, throw it into a bulletproof brass casing and a reinforced waterproof screen protector. hard wire the thing into the bike, it's a sacrifice worthy of the trusty ol' touch. but that road my lead to a dead end and I'll have to get a bonefied CA and modify it to go with the style of the bike, I dunno. <scratches head>

 

[gestalt]

 

[gestalt]

I just saw this cool video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbxMezAi9hU and I must say that this guy's work is quite inspiring. It's that low tech appeal I would like to meld with the simplicity of the electric vehicle. I guess the guy is in new york and teaches workshops on frame building and designing, It's a $75 round trip on the fun wah bus from here and I think if I can start getting a bit more scratch from a second job I'm looking at I can go get some more learnin going on.

 

[gestalt]

My choppersus extra wide hub came in yesterday,

made all the measurements and since then have been trying to score 266mm spokes of the 12 gauge variety. It seems like spokes of that thickness mostly come only in shorter lengths intended for 20 inch rims. I checked out some recomendation in the rims and spokes thread but 14 ga is all he could offer in 266. Sometimes it really amazes me that there is not a safe and cheap alternative for threading your own spokes out there. Seems to me this problem would be a really common one in the ebike realm trying to get all kinds of hubs and rims and braking systems to work with each other.

/adds spoke turner to holy grail shop equipment list

//oh, you know

 

[Thud]

These guys can hook you up with custom spokes:
http://www.buchananspokes.net/products/individual_stainless_steel_spokes.asp
they start with 10 gage....more gooder for that "custom" look IMO.
hope that helps. I like the progress so far.

 

[gestalt]

thanks for the link Thud,

If I was doing it all over again I would go with a different rim, I would hate to drill out the eyelets on the rim. those swaged spokes do look hot, but at $165 a spoke and $.63 for nipples I think I'm going to have to go with the high quality 14 ga spokes. I'm also still holding out that my local guy has got a good connection.

 

[gestalt]

I think I might actually be able to start throwing this bike together, I've been buying parts like crazy and spending more time at the shop trying to score more material. My quest for thick ass spokes ended with johnrobholmes and his custom 12ga spokes thread http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=16218&start=. he had the length I needed at the price that made it worth drilling the eyelets out the large marge, they came out to just over a buck with shipping and the service was fast as frock. johnrobholmes , you mah nigga. I laced that bad boy up four cross style and this wheel is tough

I also bought a dual disk front hub from choppersus.com to match the rear

I have a decent black double wall rim on order from the local bike shop. I would have loved it if recumpence was making 26" rims cause they look great, but this gives me a rare opportunity to buy parts for my project from these guys who have helped me a lot with my commuter bikes. If you live in boston and need work done or parts go to bicycle bill's in allston. Those guys are the most honest dudes I've ever met in that business, real stand up guys. As soon as that rim comes in and I can measure for the spoke length I will be putting in another order for 12ga spokes.

next up is the pit bike rear disk caliper/rotor/foot brake I ordered off of ebay for $45 bucks shipped.

Look at that burly ass rotor!!!

Look at those beef steak brake pads!!!

what value!!! and whats that you say, it has the caliper mounts built in so that it basically is its own disk brake adapter for my frame???

fabbing up an adapter so that the rotor fits onto the standard six hole mount should be no problem at all, but it is looking like the tough part is going to be adding a longer hose as the hose is irreversably crimped onto the fittings. so it looks like I'm going to need to find replacement fittings and a longer hose.

Now the only thing holding me back from putting the frame together in its final form is to figure out my belt drive system as I cant place the motor mount until I know how much space there needs to be between the axle and the motor shaft for the belt to fit. If anyone has any advice for getting my hands on a pulley system that can give me a 5:1 ratio and handle a shit ton of torque please let me know