8/23

News for this weekend:

I bought a new welding helmet, since my old one stopped darkening. It was unpleasant.

Motor is mounted, at least to some extent. I would like to get the vehicle up on a lift to finish up welds on the underside, but this will have to do for now. I have also got the electronics panel (containing the ESC, the reversing contactor, and the main contactor) located in the rear of the vehicle, though I didn't have long enough screws to tighten it down. And, of course, the plate will need to be cut to actually fit within the final vehicle.

 Two issues with the chain. First, I neglected to order the proper connecting link, so the chain isn't so much a closed loop as it is a loose collection of links that will fall apart at the slightest vibration. Oops.

There is also a clearance issue with one of the bolts. We'll see if this is still an issue when the vehicle is properly loaded down, but it should just be a matter of adding a countersink or counterbore to the mount. No big deal regardless.

Also, WIRES! All of the heavy gauge wiring is complete, so the next steps are the lower gauge control wires. I still need to order a new throttle to play nicely with the controller, but my bank account is advising me to push that purchase back just a hair.

Motor Mounting

Work continues slowly and steadily.

The motor is positioned and the mounting subframe is welded - I needed an extra assembly to do two things:

1. Provide support for the motor mount itself.
B. Elevate the motor ~2", to line the center of the motor up with the center of the rear swingarm. If this hadn't been done, the chain would have been riding the chain guide pretty hard.

That said, the subframe needs to be mounted to the frame, and the bracketing that holds the motor needs  to be mounted to the subframe. Though at least now we can kind of see how things are going to line up:

A productive weekend!

So perhaps in direct response to the negativity of last week, fate has bestowed upon me a weekend that was quite productive.

First, after looking around a little bit, I decided it would be worthwhile to just order a more compatible accelerator instead of replacing the ESC. Probably about $400 in savings.

Next - the CNC mill.

Just by stroke of luck, woot was having a sale last week on scratch and dent computers. Since the computer that ran everything previously was ~10 years old, and all I needed was a PCI slot for a parallel port. After swapping hard drives with my main computer (because I wasn't going to pass up a "free" windows 7 installation), ordering and installing a pci-parallel port card, installing a new OS, and changing a few parameters, things were good to go.

Cutting:

 The cut out motor mounts, still in need of some grinder love (not grindr love, which is a completely different thing):

I know more or less how the assembly is going to go together, based on experience in my senior design project (of all things). Will be ordering things from mcmaster, and busting out the welder next weekend.

Next, I pulled the sprocket off the rear wheel. Which sounds like it would be easy, but it's wasn't. But you know what they say: when life gives you lemons, get a bigger breaker bar (and shittons of WD40).

 Success!

 There was, however, one casualty.

RIP Harbor Freight Special ratchet. 2011-2015. You will be missed. (I think I popped out the ratcheting mechanism somehow, but I used my terrible wrench for a reason)

And finally, WIRING.

Not too much to report here - handled the heavy gauge stuff this weekend, and all of the loose ends are meant to be connected to either power or the motor.

SUPER BLURRY WIRING PIC!

Gee, I sure am glad I paid extra for the insulated connectors: