I was thinking of ways to use a high-RPM RC motor on an ebike, and I had an idea to attach the motor to the fork, similar to the way you would attach a dynamo.
Instead of engaging with the tire like a dynamo or a friction-drive motor would, instead I would attach a steel pinion to the head of the motor shaft, and affix a notched "rack" around the brake track of the entire rim, made out of either Nylon or UHMWPE (both lightweight, abrasion resistant plastics).
I did some searching and found something here, a friction drive using the rim:
But, doing it my way seems like it would reduce friction losses, noise and slippage much more than that design, and allow an even bigger reduction in gearing because the pinion could be a smaller diameter.
Is there any reason no one does it the way I'm describing? Here's a metal pinion with a UHMWPE rack to help visualize what would be the motor pinion and the rim-rack, respectively:
Anything fundamentally flawed with the idea? All I can think of is maybe the thing could still overheat and melt the track.
Instead of engaging with the tire like a dynamo or a friction-drive motor would, instead I would attach a steel pinion to the head of the motor shaft, and affix a notched "rack" around the brake track of the entire rim, made out of either Nylon or UHMWPE (both lightweight, abrasion resistant plastics).
I did some searching and found something here, a friction drive using the rim:
But, doing it my way seems like it would reduce friction losses, noise and slippage much more than that design, and allow an even bigger reduction in gearing because the pinion could be a smaller diameter.
Is there any reason no one does it the way I'm describing? Here's a metal pinion with a UHMWPE rack to help visualize what would be the motor pinion and the rim-rack, respectively:
Anything fundamentally flawed with the idea? All I can think of is maybe the thing could still overheat and melt the track.