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Thursday, December 6, 2007

More work on Plan A-1/2

I still need a better motor, but at least the one I've got is still working so far as an assist when I need it.

I restarted work on the other version, which uses a whole backend of another bike for a left-side drivetrain, with a motor in place of the rear pedal cranks. Looks crazy crappy, but it does work. Unfortunately the 12v power window motor doesn't have enough torque even at 24v to turn the wheel if I have my fingers lightly pressing on the tread. I need it to be powerful enough that the brake applied to medium pressure would not even stop the wheel once it's at full speed, so it will have enough torque to actually move me and the bike along.

I've got several gears it could shift into now, though the actual shifting won't work until I can build a mirror-image derailer for the left side (no one makes one, unsurprisingly). JBWeld strikes again. :)

Oh, and I figured out a way to use the freewheel on the motor side without having to build it in mirror-image, too, though it's not as efficient as if I did the mirror-image version and used it at the rear-wheel hub like it normally is on the right side, to mount the chainrings on. Gonna take some searching for the right bolt at a hardware store, though, because nothing I have here has the right thread pitch and/or is not the right diameter or length. I need a two-inch version of the one-inch bolt that normally holds the pedal cranks on, because it has to go thru a washer, a bearing set and cup, the motor-drive-socket, a metal mounting plate, and the freewheel mechanism, then into the crank socket, so that everything will rotate correctly and freely.

I think it will be a while before I get the full version of the Electricle™ working. :)

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