Turnigy HXT Powered Custom Cruiser Worklog

[AussieJester]

Turnigy HXT Powered Custom Cruiser Worklog

* this worklog is now upped on several bicyle related forums as such some names mentioned in this log now and in the near future maynot pertain to members specific to this forum, any confusion this causes i apologises for in advance...

Time has come to build myself another e-bike! a TWO WHEEL* e-bike even!!

Some may or may not have already seen the design i have entered into the Free single stage drive "Contest"

This will be the worklog for that build!

I see some members here idea of a "custom build" is to start with a pile of battery cells then
2-3 pages of assembling the packs and fitting the BMS etc etc etc then bolt on a hub motor:-S...
bout as interesting and exciting to me as watching paintdry...no offence intended SO...
You wont see that here i can guarantee you that! ill be using 5000mah 22v Lipo packs when
the bikes done...that it for battery info until i purchase batteries in a month or twos time..<--YES Deecanio I WILLZ finally be "GangSta"

The e-bike i have in mind is a low slung stretched cruiser design with linear actuators raising
and lowering a set of stabiliser wheels too keep the bike upright whilst transferring to
and from the bike from my wheelchair. The bike will have operational pedals
as such my feet will need to be strapped to the pedals and the stabiliser wheels used
when starting and stopping...

I will be fabricating the frame from scratch & if all goes well it will vaguely resemble this--->

The motor (i have) is the Turnigy HXT 130-->

(additional glue will be applied to magnets and bearings replaced)

I picked this up Friday from a fella (Joe) that spotted my trike video on YouTube and got interested in building an e-bike...he has since decided
a motorcycle (bobber) is the direction he is going to take, the HXT was bought for $AU150 NEVER USED..

So i have the motor...i still require to purchase ESC, servo driver and a BEC...I am leaning towards
the Sentilons ESC i'm not as insane as Liveforphysics (any more anywayz) so i'm hoping i wont have the 8in flames shooting out the unit as
in Luke's case haha... BEC...no idea haven't seen one capable of running on 44v yet worse comes to worse
i guess a battery hooked directly to the ESC will suffice, no biggy will work that out when the time comes.

i think the servo tester i'll go with what Mr Recumpence SIR sells...waiting to hear back from Matt on this and
a single stage drive...If you have a suitable BEC also Matt i would be interested in price/avaiability/freight charges ...

Today I picked up the tubing and mild steel plate I will use for constructing the custom frame-->

Larger OD tube is 35mm the smaller is 21mm

Large OD tube has 2mm wall thickness...Smaller OD tube is 3mm<--smaller to be used for the rear half of frame.
Total cost for tubing $AU45

I also went out to Bills Machinery AWESOME place
officially now my fav establishment I could spend days there browsing, if they ever need a
place for an Aussie version of Junkyard Wars (Scrapheap Challenge for the English members)
Bills is the place!! I picked up a 10in 'V' pulley that will require machining to suit 5mm pitch flat belt,
I have spoken to a good mate of mine and he said he will take it too his work and turn it
down on the lathe for me--->

I shall then add teeth to it in the same manner Matt (1000watt) has done on his pulley for the cruiser. Using spare belt, release
agent and epoxy. Matt also picked up a 21tooth pulley for me online (see pic of motor)
when he ordered a spare for himself...I'm hoping to swap this for the sprocket Matt (Recumpence) puts
on the reduction drive unit...

I plan to start the fabrication of the frame tomorrow. First things first a frame jig will be knocked up
to 'hold' the head tube, the two bottom brackets and rear axle drop-outs.
This will likely take best part of the day, i shall return with the pics of the days activities...

As always i hope all that view this thread get something from it, if anyone
has any questions OR ideas please feel free to chip in.

KiM

* indicates 2 wheels PLUS 2 additional retracting stabilising wheels

 

[AussieJester]

UPDATE

Well it took FOUR bloody hours to make ONE extra wide botttom bracket today ****! im out of
practise haha Turns out OCC and WestCoast Chopper bicycles have 120mm wide bottom brackets...the
mission is to make two of these for the frame, thankfully Matt (1000watt) has offered me his
extra wide bottom bracket shaft and threaded ends so only one shaft is needed to be made thankfully

Last pic you can see i have smeared some JB Weld around to fitt a few imperfections from the welding will
sand the majority of it off when its set...

YouTube

( did this vid specially for Other Doc to show how accurate/true/straight the extended
shaft ended up, no beavers chewing metal in this workshop Other Doc hehehe...:: looks about ::: where is Other Doc :-| )

Not very exciting stuff but obviously essential for the build, i will have two bottom brackets, one up
front for the cranks and one midway on the frame, I plan to have the crank sprocket on the front left side going
to mid bottom bracket where another sprocket will be mounted, on the right side ANOTHER freewheel
going to the back wheel...So we have the motor driving the left hand side of the rear wheel,
pedal power the right...Going to be rather cramped with frreewheels, pulley and rotor ALL
good though I have angle grinder WILL make it fit hahaaa

More tomorrow chaps...

KiM

 

[AussieJester]

UPdate

I Started bending the tube for the cruisers frame today, i have changed the design slightly
to the sketch, for the better i think hehe...as always heres a few pics-->

The bottom pic is a 2 minute photochop excuse the "dodginess" haha thought might give a good indication what i am seeing n my head anywayz

The notching of the tubes went well each one i did was hassle free ... I have welded the bottom tube the rest is still sitting
loosely sitting in place, I will finish the remain cuts and have the front half of the frame tacked up tomorrow
and the majority of the back also completed..back with more then fellas...

KiM

EDIT: *Note..Forks, bars, stem pictured WILL NOT be used in

 

[spad4me]

I like your jig for holding everything straight for welding.
I just use two steel bedframe rails clamped to the wheels and a level with some cinderblocks.
Your method of toothing up a smooth pully is very clever..
Any tips to make it easier.
The reason I always use chains is that I can get them alot easier than I can get toothed pulleys.
Either from staton, thats dax or
http://www.surpluscenter.com/sort.a...atname=powerTrans&byKeyword=yes&search=WELD40

The hardest part when I build is the patience to clean all of the old paint off the donor bike pieces.

I hope you win .

 

[AussieJester]

Cheers spad4me...The toothing f the pulley method is ingenious unfortunately i can't take credit for it it was suggested to my mate Matt when the belt on his electric crusier was slipping, it turned out so well i was in disbelief it looked like it was bought like it, it is still running well with no signs of wear to!

The frame jig (of some sorts...your method of clamping two straight edges is actually quite popular and again my mate Matt used this method on his ride with great success)
Its a must, the frame needs to be straight and true at the speeds we intend travelling on this bike.

Toothed pulleys are actually very cheap and easy to come by its the same old saying though, you just have to know where to look LoL Simple one is Robotmarket place they have a extensive range but there are dozens of sites on the net, the hassle i forsee is belt size, your unable to remove links with a belt so you need to get it your build done, measure the belt size required then order. The trouble though IMHO is well worth it, i was sold when Matt bought his cruiser you and we went for a ride, ZERO SOUND i mean NONE from the drive train. The loudest thing was the freewheel clicking of the 3 speed hub i s h i t you not. Amazed i was, there and then i decided thats what im doing next build no matter how much hassle or cost involved, i also plan to convert my trike to belts when i finish this build. The belts also have a long life span no stretch and are as efficient as a chain in transferring power with the quiet factor to boot

KiM

p.s RE: the comp...things are looking good at them moment i am leading the vote count... fingers crossed

 

[AussieJester]

Front Frame Fabrication Complete!

Update

Sorry fellas but i didn't get quite as much accomplished today as i thought i would yesterday, i have
spent ~4 hours in the workshop but started feeling sickly in the stomach around lunch time
due to having a couple of Jacks and Cola last night and nothing too eat i think, when i blew
a small hole (first one in as long as i can remember) when welding up the last of the frame
i new it was time to call it a day.

I did get the front half of the frame fab completed though, I reshaped the front down tube more to match the
drawing and less like my trike frame, i like it ALOT better than the 'pointy' front it had yesterday, i will also
now be able to mount the front bottom bracket almost directly on the front down tube, i stuck one
in position with masking tape before i came in and the pedal clearance is excellent! Thankyou again to
Al.Fisherman on MotoredBikes.com for taking the time to answer my question on bottom bracket
height in prompt time appreciate your time buddy With the bottom bracket Mounted on the inner front tube now
the bikes pedals will be 4inches from the ground making the bracket ~10in from lowest
point to the ground, AMPLE clearance i think...

As always pics of the mornings activities-->

The frame is completely welded now she came up beautiful im very happy with the look now i am also
considering adding another horizontal tube about 1/4 of the way up the frame, this will be the level
the front bottom bracket it at, below this tube the mechanism for the stabilisers could be mounted
and then enclosed with aluminium sheet.

All opinions and suggestions welcome fellas, i shall get myself a good feed and a sleep (was up most of the night couldn't sleep)
and be bright and enthusiastic tomorrow to finish the frame off...

KiM

 

[AussieJester]

Rear Dropouts Completed

UPdate

I failed to reach my objective of completing the rear end for the frame, unfortunately
the drop-outs used my last grinding disk AND cuttoff disk i thought i had extras
but alas i found out i didnt..Lack of $$$ till pay day tomorrow for replacement
forced me to call it a day as i need gthe disks to notch the tubing :: sigh :: always
something sent to test my patience LoL Anywayz...i DID finish the rear drop-outs
heres how i went about it-->

The drop-outs were cut from 5mm thick mild steel, prolly thicker than some of
you would use for your custom rides but seeing this rear end will have ALOT
of stress put on it i tend to go overkill Last thing i need is the frame to fail when im hooting down the
road at 60km/hr LoL

Shall get to Bunnings (local Hardware chain in Australia) tomorrow morning
and get stuck into the tubing for the frame in the afternoon..

Back same time same channel with update tomorrow HOPEFULLY with a frame that looks complete LoL

KiM

 

[safe]

Your work is (as always) very good. I can appreciate the time it takes to get these things together. My feeling is that things always take twice as long as you hope they will take and that's when you are lucky.

It's looking good...

 

[AussieJester]

For those that haven't kept up with the reduction drive competition thread on Endless Sphere Greenhill was the winner(congrats again buddy), HUGE thankyou to all that supported both of our designs i encourage all of your who have even a fleeting interest in RC motors on ebikes to follow Greenhills build, I believe it will be extremely helpful to the 'newbies' with minimal tools and skills wanting to learn how to fit out an rc motor equipped e-bike (note- im in NO WAY referring that Greenhill has minimal skills here quite the contrary he is very skilled individual...i look forward to following his project also...)

Matt Recumpence has received full payment(pending transfer) for the reduction drive i will be using on this build and has so generously donated the linear actuators AND the HV110 ESC free of charge for this build the man never stops giving to this community does he!! I have also organised a throttle interface with built in current limiting feature from Head Honcho on Endless Sphere one Mr Fechter , these are custom design unit buy Fechter allowing full "plug and play" of throttle and esc also includes BEC to power ESC. All that remains component wise is BATTERIES...these will be purchased as later date. initially 4x 22v 5000mah Turnigy packs will be run in parallel and series for 44v 10ah pack....this will be upgraded again in near future (soon as funds allow) to 44v 20ah ie. another 4 packs. The total weight of the 4 packs equals ONE 12v 20ah SLA!

****************************************************************WARNING**********************************************************************
PLEASE if your considering powering an e-bike with Lithium-ion polymer (Lipo) battery tech READ UP ON THE DANGERS and make sure you understand the hazzards! they are the best energy density battery on the market but the can be EXTREMELY DANGEROUS if not treated properly during both discharge and charging HOUSE's HAVE been BURNT TO THE GROUND FROM LIPO FIRES...I have experience with this technology being a former RC helicopter flyer and am aware of the dangers and how lipos must be treated, if your not willing to learn what is involved in treating Lipos and want a safer battery solution that can't blow up on you i STRONGLY suggest looking to another technology...perhaps the safer Lifep04 batteries.
************************************************************************************************************************************************


Well i have many people wishing to see this build progress so im getting my *** out to the workshop thankyou all for your support and extreme generosity's...back lil later with an update on the afternoons proceedings.

KiM

 

[POPS]

Hey Kim

Can't wait for your next post!!!!

It's a pleasure to watch a master builder in A go around (walk around ?).

Your work and inovation is outstanding!!!

One question off topic and on my build if you will please?

How far do you think I could go with with a NuVinci hub, Cyclone 500 watt, and 2 12 volt SLA's at 28 AH. Rough guess on any given bike???

I'm sorry if your choked with my question in the middle of your thread!

Thanks for your shareing your insite and keep up the Good Work Mate

Why did you go hard tail insted of sus???

I have a bad back and I have to build with sus.

Another springer front ??

CHEERS....POPS...(Rick)