Finally Assembled!

Left side

Motor, batteries, & controller

Right side

Motor & drive assembly

It runs!.... kinda

Still Alive

Know the project is still alive.  It has just been delayed by this insanely busy time called summer.  Know I am actively working on finding a free night to finish it up!!

Sprockets

Yet another shopping trip at mcmaster.com/ yielded the (hopefully) last components for my project.

Not quite sure what to call this piece of metal.  But know it's important.

Two bushings to fit over the freewheel hub on my bike wheels.

They fit!!!

It's looking good!

Kebabs and Plasma Cutters

Today - well, yesterday now - I worked on my project again.  I was hoping to finish everything today and roll home under my own power, but alas, it was not to be.  We spent nearly a solid 3 hours just working on the wheel assembly - one of them.  Finally, as 9 o'clock rolled around, we called it quits and will have to finish making it work next time.  The good thing is that we're nearly done with that part, and it'll just be a matter of copying it for the other wheel.

Teriyaki Chicken Kebabs.  They'are just as awesome as a Mystery Project!

Plasma cutter!!!  And a sprocket.

The drive assembly, almost in it's proper place.

The drive assembly, plus the motor, batteries, and controller assembly

Yep, this is what we made tonight.  Isn't it beautiful?

Final edition of the frame (hopefully).  Now it doesn't bow in half when I sit down on it!!!

The pile of stuff grows larger, and yet condenses...

Drive Assembly, in Progress

Now the frame is finished, I can go on to the assembly that'll actually make it move by itself.  I have all the parts I need: motor, drive belt, gears and chain, bushings, bearings, drive shaft, and brakes.  They all fit together, which is a feat in itself.  Now my task is to take them all to the shop, and put them together in a way where the motor will spin and make the wheels spin simultaneously.  I must admit I'm not looking forward to this task, even though it marks the last phase of the Project.  This is by far the most complicated part, and everything I've done to date has been many times harder than I've anticipated.  Hopefully an evening sometime early next week I'll be able to plow through this and get it running by my May day goal!

Yes, the first thing I noticed too was the banana bread in the upper-left corner.

Close-up of motor assembly.

Close-up of wheel assembly.

That is more like it!

Finally, the frame is (mostly) completed!  It holds my weight, although it is rather saggy.  I want to weld one more support beam in, but that won't take much longer than an hour.  The welding job is ugly, and so is the current paint job, but it's together!  A grinder and can of spray paint should remedy both conditions once construction is completely finished.  But for now, here it is!

In other news, my welding burn is healing quite nicely, though it will leave a healthy scar.  It's not very big and doesn't hurt, but there is a nice brown mark where it melted a hole in my arm.  For not feeling anything, it sure left a deep burn!  But I suppose that's what third-degree burns from molten metal will do...

Coming Together

Last night, I spent the evening down at the shop, welding the second half of my project together.  It took soooooo much longer than I expected, but finally, after several hours, I finally finished the handfull of welds and cuts and everything (sorta) fit together, and didn't fall apart when I sat on it!  That's what I'd call a successful night!

Before the cutting.  That's what I have to work with:  Two bike frames with random wheels, two 6' 1" angled steel, one part of a bicycle frame, and a fork.

And a cardboard box.  Ooooooh!

I love sparks!!!

After all the cutting, before all the welding.

Stay tuned for the rest of the frame welding pictures!

Crazy (Bad) Welding Skills

Welding & Welding Slag

Yesterday I started welding the frame together.  Kirk and I spent a lot of time just trying to get the two bike frames to fit together squarely, thus I only spent about 30 minutes welding two rods on and 3 hours fitting them together.  But, that's the hardest part of the frame; the rest is just building off that and shouldn't be as hard.  I still need to work out the drive assembly though, so that will take some time once the frame is finished.

Top-side view.  Note assorted metal parts leaning on frame.

Close-up.  Note again the random collection of metal that's not actually part of the frame, but still on the frame.

First welding slag burn!  May no more follow!

NOW Do I Have Enough

They're the ring terminals from the dark side... the number you need multiplies exponentially directly with as many you use.  But somehow now, I hope I have enough...

Because. I can.

I'm not vain.  I just can.

Making Progress

Assembly Finished!

The other afternoon, I finally finished the controller assembly!  It took a little more work than I was anticipating, as after I hooked everything up and turned the throttle, the motor wouldn't spin.  After a couple hours of troubleshooting, many sparks, and finding and reading schematics, I was finally able to make all the right connections in the right order, and presto!  My motor now runs when I turn the throttle!  A major milestone has been achieved and a third of my project is completed!  The power source is assembled and operational, now I just need to finish building the frame, and assemble the drive assembly.  Here goes for being up and rolling by May day!

The controller assembly schematic.  Ohhhhhhhhh... so THAT's why it wasn't working before!

The finished assembly!

Today's Dumpster Diving Treasures

An old discarded shop light, to the untrained eye.  But to me, it is a reflector and housing for my Project's headlight.

And then there were three.  With matching tires, to boot!  How about that!

Turning Chairs into Seats

This evening I spent an hour performing surgery on my two chairs.  Armed with my trusty soldering iron, I melted a ring around the rivets holding the seat to the legs, trimmed the holes up a bit, and was left with two very fine Mystery Project seats!  I even washed them and discovered they were canary yellow, not golden mustard!

If those poor chairs only knew my purposes, they wouldn't have been nearly as willing to volunteer...

Left: remains of two chairs.  Right: two brand new seats!

Not So Musical Chairs

When I came home today after work, I was greeted by two old yellow chairs pulled out of storage for me.  These lucky two chairs are about to have new life breathed into them as I resurrect them for my project!

Megan Saves the Day!

As mentioned in my last post, I ran out of ring terminals for my controller assembly.  Then last night I was IMing with one of my coworkers who was down the hill in civilization and she asked if I needed anything from down the hill.  "Well," I said, "Since you asked..."
Then today, she delivered the last missing puzzle piece safe and sound!  Thank you Megan!

Controller Assembly

This morning I worked on making the controller assembly.  I finally found 4-gauge ring terminals after looking everywhere, and was able to stuff my 2-gauge wire into them.  Unfortunately, I only bought one pack, and then halfway through the morning realized I needed another pack... so I'm two wires away from finishing the assembly, but there's nothing more I can do on it for the time being.

Work in progress

(nearly) Finished!

Finally

I ordered these bearings nearly three weeks ago, and then forgot all about them shipping until I got home on Easter vacation, so they've been sitting in the post office for the past week-and-a-half waiting for me.  But at last, they are in my possession ready to be used!

Home Depot, Placerville

I finally found something that'll work!  4-gauge ring terminals!  True, I'm using 2-gauge wire, but I've looked absolutely everywhere for those and the 4 gauge is the closest I've come.  So when I get back home from Easter vacation, I'll be able to get started on the wiring rig, finally!!!

A Rough Outline

The frame is beginning to take shape!  I was finally able to get the crankshaft off that frame thanks to a sledgehammer and a couple good smacks, and I'm rolling again!  Okay, okay, so I'm missing quite a few parts before it gets rolling...

Scrap Metal

Here's the product of today's dumpster diving expedition - random scrap metal poles!  <*Note:> the kayak paddle has nothing to do with the project.  It's missing one end, so I'm going to buy a replacement and have a perfectly good paddle for a fraction of the cost! </note>

The Plot Thickens

Today's project prep consisted of finding two identical (or nearly identical) bikes from the junk pile and stripping them down to the bare frames.  Or at least trying to.  The crankset on one frame refuses to come off.  I've snapped a screwdriver, nearly stripped a pair of visegrips, broken my hammer in half, and spent about two hours trying to cut it off with a hacksaw, only to be stopped by a hardened steel insert.  So in the morning I'm going to try a sledgehammer and if that fails, an acetylene torch should finish the job nicely.  I will prevail!

Pool Time

Just kidding!  It's a 1/2"x36" steel rod, which is not part of an industrial-strength pool set, but instead the latest and greatest addition to the mystery project's pile of supplies!  Another couple days before the big project reveal!

Brown Paper Packages

Only these ones aren't tied up with string.  And it's not quite paper, it's cardboard.
The next shipment of parts for the mystery project has arrived, with all parts correct thanks to the helpful staff over at B&B Manufacturing!  It was a much better experience than the past post.

Slightly Worried

So one of the least expensive places to buy a reputable electric motor controller is apparently overseas.  I placed my order, got my shipping number and when I looked it up, my package was in Eastern China, with a destination about 300 miles north of my address.  That's when I started to get worried.  The next day it passed through customs in L.A., was processed, and forwarded for delivery to... Kentucky.  Kentucky is a long ways away from me in California.  My package got to Kentucky, was processed again, and sent back to me.  Finally, it was delivered and I breathed a big sigh of relief.  The Chinese writing on the delivery address still has me wondering how I managed to ever receive it...

Batteries

The fuel source for the mystery project has arrived, all 28-some-odd pounds of it!  I've never seen a box built so sturdy before!  And thank God for freight shipping rates!

The First Package Arrives!

It's officially official now: my mystery project has begun!  Over the next month to two the rest of the materials will be coming in, and hopefully everything will be in by April 1 (no joke!), and then I can start building and have it finished by June 1st!  Stay tuned for further posts and the revelation of the project's identity!!!!!!