electric friction drive

[Will Snow]

I have kicking around different ideas for electric drive.

Was set on chain drive with gear selection but the more I look at the Terra trike I am not so sure.

Hub motor, probably not. The wheels on this trike are 20" and to get a 20-25 mph top speed the voltage will have to be pretty high

Friction Drive: I know the short comings of friction drive, but it is the most simple system that I can think of. The other plus for me is I can mount the motor low with a little creativity plus battery location. If I can use the right size roller I should be able to reach the speeds I desire.

Not sure of this either. Looking for someone who has done this with electric friction drive to get their advise.

 

[Esteban]

I will have to " electric start " my brain to remember the details, but not too many years ago, there were several electric kits marketed that used a friction drive on a bike. I will try to come up with the names. Several used an automobile electric fan motor, or 2, mounted on the rear side of the wheel. I believe " Zap " was one, but many were homemade, too. I will post more, later.

 

[professor]

One of the guys on Endless Sphere used a spindle adapter (I think that is what you call it) from McMaster Carr. It has a 3/8 hole to fit in the motor shaft and a threaded 1/2 inch shaft. He put a wheel on it and a bearing on the outboard end.
Only thing is it doesnt' have a clutch.

 

[Will Snow]

Esteban

I remember the ZAP kit now that you mention it. I had a couple friction drives many years ago ( Bike machine, Mx-5 ) which did pretty well except on wet streets. The wet streets is the main reason I got away from friction drive. Tire wear did not seem to be a problem as I remember. I would always peddle first to about 3-4 mph before I would use motor power. I think that helped tire wear a lot.

Professor

I don't think I know who McMaster Carr is. A spindle adapter might be an interesting item to start with, could you tell me how to get intouch with McMaster?


Thank you for the help.

 

[professor]

Punch in McMaster Carr on a search. They are an industrial materials source and are one of the suppliers the company I work at deals with, but if you do credit card purchase ( my buddy tells me) they will sell to you. Huge amount of stuff.

 

[Will Snow]

Professor

Thank's, I found it.

Another person on Endless Sphere has just posted his home built electric friction drive. He did a neat job and the cost was under $200.00 for everthing including batteries. He took some good shots of it and I believe he posted it under electric bicycles. Take a look, I think you might like it.

 

[professor]

I went over there and saw one where the batterys and controller were in a case on the back.
It's bad to put the controler in a place where it gets no cooling. Guess I'll go back and tell him. Great workmanship on the conversion. Post was titled solar something.

 

[Will Snow]

That's right, I had forgot about the controller. I will be putting a system together soon and will have to remember that.