Louis's Alpine Workbench

[PixelatedPolyurethan]

Chapter 1

Gokart Thingybob That Probably Won’t Work

Well this isn’t a Esk8, nor an Escooter, or EUC. So i made a workshop to debut my journeys and other projects!

So this is Grandads Mobility chair. He passed in 2015.
We put this chair through so much abuse lol. We towed 2.50m x 2m loaded trailer with it (probably 500kg) and it chugged away haha.
Had a 4 wheel pull-cart that i attached to it so we could pull bags of dirt/sand/rocks/tools/groceries etc…

The motor eventually died, or so i think.

So now i have this frame that needs to be put to good use!

I’ve already started working on the frame so I’ll do multiple posts in one go.

I wanted to use the original transaxle differential. So first step was to find out what type of reduction it had, after some major help from @Abusfullofnuns, it turned out to be a whopping ~ 20.1 ratio (59t/3t). Some of you will be like ‘‘what? 3 teeth!?’’

It’s called a worm drive, not to be confused with bevel drive.

Bevel:

Finding how to remove the motor pinion (worm screw) was quite the adventure too, but i finally managed.

Here is what the whole drive looks like

Wheels & Motors

Next thing to tackle was Motor and wheels.
For the motor i have chosen the SSS 56114 500kv

finding rear wheel hubs was an absolute nightmare.
it has 17mm rear keywayed axle that has only 60mm of axle!!!

i eventually found a seller on aliexpress

Rear wheels will have 10’’ and front wheels will have 200x80 tires on mbs Fivestars.
I will have the back far higher as i will weld some steel brakets to make up for the smaller front wheels. Reason being is that the wheel base is quite narrow, only 470mm axle to axle, so i need wiiiide tires to counter for stability. Big rear tires allows for a higher top speed and more traction.

To get the motor to fit on the worm shaft ended up making a nice ‘‘coupler’’ in CAD.
The original motor was 180kv so the mobility chair never exceeded 6km/h, therefore the motor adapter was pretty mediocre and couldn’t be used for what I’m planning.

So here is my motor mount i made for the 56114 motor

And the ‘‘coupler’’. It’s basically the plastic thing and motor shaft adapter in one piece made from 6082 aluminium. I have added holes for grubscrews and will probably add 648 loctite too.
This will all be machined by Sabre Dynamics @Creavenger hopefully.

Of course there are still questions on the durability of these gears going at 60km/h

Battery

i don’t want much range, but i assume I’ll pull at least 30wh/km. And i needed a lot of AMPS!!!
So I’m going with A123 cells in a 16s5p configuration that’s going to be made by @tinp123.

ESC

I’m leaning towards a ZESC Raiden 7. Like the dude, like the design, and isn’t some flipsky shit but isn’t an overpriced Trampa product.

Controlls

Thanks @Scepterr for helping me on this.
I’m aiming to use 2 twist throttle controls (one for braking and one for accelerating)
Using mechanical brakes just seems too complicated for now

Accessories

Who knows! might have some extra cash to throw in a robogotchi and Freesk8 light module
As for the seat, i will use this Amazon one

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So that’s it for now, first working on the frame and then I’ll buy parts as the project moves on.
Most likely i will sell this when I’m done simply due to the fact money doesn’t grow on trees ahahahahaha
But this way i continue to enjoy building and creating new things!
I’ve never welded before so this is a great opportunity to learn.

[Andy87]

Latest footage of the finished product…

Insane 80hp Electric mobility scooter from HELL!

[PixelatedPolyurethan]

Got to grind away today. Tried using some paint stripper to get rid of the paint but no luck, it’s not strong enough. I’ll have to sand by hand/ with a vibrating sander.

Still not sure if i try and locate a professional for the paint job or do it myself. It’ll be at least 50 euros in spray bombs and I’ve very bad at painting. Even degreasing and using primer, the paint often flakes after a few months so i must be doing something wrong. And i always get drips. I think my issue is i make my coats too thick.

Does anyone have paint recommendations? Brands? Types? Maybe truck bedliner for the frame?

[PixelatedPolyurethan]

@Andy87

Latest footage of the finished product…

hahah i wish!!!
i went through the comments on that video and they used an electric motobike motor that’s worth a lot and is unfindable.

Practically impossible to build something like that with just a vesc and a motor but we’ll see what it turns into!
The transaxle is going to be sweet for turns

[Andy87]

4WD 70120 inrunner with 4x vesc100/250
could bring you very close I think.

[PixelatedPolyurethan]

You are right. I didn’t let my mind run free on that!

But I’m trying to make this for under 1000euro! Your suggestion is close to triple that haha.

I did think maybe using pneumatic hub motors for the front, but I’d need another 2 escs.

Just a question but, Is it possible to run 3 vescs together? What is better, 1 dual + 1 single or 3 singles?

[Andy87]

@PixelatedPolyurethan

it possible to run 3 vescs together?

Shouldn’t be an issue.
I personally wouldn’t mix different hw like vesc 4 with 6 or unity/stormcore with vesc 4/6.

[Savage1]

@PixelatedPolyurethan This project looks fun! May I give a couple recommendations as far as the coupler goes…….
If you are gonna use a solid couple like that you MUST ensure that the two shafts are in perfect alignment or you will damage the motor bearings. Also, use grub screws ONLY if you have a flat on the shaft for it to tighten to, but still wouldn’t even recommend that.

Here are 3 different couplers I happen to have on hand. The one on the left is a ridged style that I made in a pinch, don’t recommend. The middle one is a 3 piece high torque misalignment coupling
The one on the right is a “bellows” style that provides for a lot of misalignment… Notice how they all clamp onto the shafts, this is what you want. Another option would be using a keyway with a grub screw, but clamp is better. If you want more info let me know. Good luck, and I look forward to seeing the progress!!!

[Creavenger]

Very good point, I think it’d indeed be better to use or modidy an excisting coupler

[PixelatedPolyurethan]

Damn awesome info! So much to learn

The bellows style looks amazing, never would have thought of that.
I’m not sure how I can implement that because of the weird shaft on the worm gear.

@Savage1

The middle one is a 3 piece high torque misalignment coupling

This looks far more feasible, tho I’m seriously going to struggle with my beginner CAD skills

I feel alignment is going to be good, at least good enough for the middle coupler you presented because this is how the original motor functioned, albeit not at the same rpm.

Thank you!

[Nomad]

Louis, most metal paint jobs by professionals are likely powder coating. That needs to
be baked on afterwords. That will be more expensive then doing it yourself, but will be more scratch and chip resistant than diy.

If you want to do it yourself use a metal specific primer either oil based, enamel, or lacquer based. From the sounds of what you were saying about drips and such. You’re putting to much on at once. Most paint work is about layers and letting them properly dry between each coat. Find a hidden place that you can hook a piece or two of wire to hang your frame from so you’re not handling it while you work.

I’ve never used the truck liner before, but it seems durable.

There is a ton of info about painting metal on line look at some diy sites and see what works.

Metal paint work isn’t technically my thing, but I’ve done a bit of it in the past.

[PixelatedPolyurethan]

Cheers!

@Nomad

metal specific primer either oil based, enamel, or lacquer based.

Especially this, I didn’t know.
I do plan on hooking it up, a must with all the different angles and sides this frame has.

The sanding is almost finished btw, already put a good 6h into it

[PixelatedPolyurethan]

Well I’ve alllll moooost finished the sanding/stripping.
The frame is done and steering is done, working on the small bits like the clamp that keeps the rear into place and other such parts.

I’m still waiting to get a welder, make the frame a bit wider, make a battery box to place all the electronics, and touch up the potential stress points that might break.

Also got to remove all the bearings and they are now bathing in acetone to remove the grit and grime.
I’m really trying to salvage as much as possible so I don’t have to buy anything. Only the essential will be bought

[PixelatedPolyurethan]

For the sanding, as the paint stripper did minimal stripping, I used a vibrating sander with 80grit on all the flat surfaces, and to finish the job and all the round/irregular pieces, I used a metal circular brush. I didn’t have a screwdriver with a high RPM, so I was creative and used my impact driver that had a 2900 RPM which was pretty good. The disadvantage was that I only had a 2ah and 4ah battery so there was a fair bit of dead time for charging as you can imagine, since the batteries didn’t last long spinning at full speed!

[glyphiks]

Daaammmmnnn. That’s dedication. Sanding shit like that looks extremely unfun

[PixelatedPolyurethan]

It’s certainly a pain in the ass! Very hard to remove powder coated steel. I’m happy how well it turned out though!

On another note, is there a way to determine what type of steel it is?

[glyphiks]

I believe you can use some kind of scanner thing for that, i think @Taz was talking about it a while ago.

[PixelatedPolyurethan]

Got these steering bearings cleaned and lubed up

Two seals have lost if innermost rubber ring but that’s okay because they stack on top of each other, so I’ll pack it with grease and make sure it’s facing inwards

[Creavenger]

Fenominal sanding job!

[PixelatedPolyurethan]

Been super busy these last week. Due to bad weather such as snow i have not been able to continue working on the structure. I have sneaked in some to work on the coupler and apart from the length that still needs to be sorted (waiting on measurements from the aliexpress seller), it’s finished!
@Savage1 love if you could sneak peak at this! Tell me what you think. I still need to 3d print all this to verify it fits haha but i assume it’s more or less good
I based all my measurements on this file, just rescaled mostly tbh.

https://grabcad.com/library/coupling-92/details?folder_id=9578537

and here are my files
Gokart Motor-Mount for 56114 to Transaxle v2.f3d (137.8 KB)

High Torque Coupler for Wheel Pinion v9.f3d (65.6 KB)

High Torque Coupler Motor v10.f3d (60.0 KB)

High Torque Coupler Spacer v4.f3d (52.4 KB)

Only thing is that I’m annoyed is the Motor Mount plate center hole messes with the countersunk holes for the motor mount bolts

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Thanks to all those on telegram helping me out with fusion!
Also big shout out to @BillGordon improving this forum. I asked for stl. and f3d. files to be supported and he did so in a jiffy