Nuts and Flags and Pots and Chains

On the stolen nuts problem, a friend (John from Teamdroid) got me some temporary replacements a couple of hours or so ago. They're standard 8mm x 1mm pitch nuts, so they don't do what car lug nuts do, to help center the bolt in the hole. The others were like car lug nuts, with the beveled-in center on one end, which slightly engaged the slots in the sprocket to pin it centered and in one place, no shifting, drifting, or loosening.

The ones he got me'll keep the sprocket on to get me back on the road, at least.

Eventually I need to use the lug nut style again, because those will keep the sprocket from shifting back and forth as the chain tension pulls it around during rotation. That back and forth will eventually cut into the bolts, which is one reason I replaced the original 1/4-20s I was using to start with--I was afraid they'd cut thru far enough to shear off during acceleration, when I need the motor most.

With the lug style, it doesn't do that, because the beveled-in center pushes just a little down into the slots the bolts are in, and prevents them from shifting like that.


In the pedal-chain tensioner pics (which I forgot to post a few days back, I think), you can see the old nuts, but the angle shot is too blurry to see the bevelling I described above.

It's just a large plastic derailer idler wheel bolted thru a derailer idler sleeve onto the old bedframe bracket I had used for the derailer-tensioner before (though it's bolted on in reverse of how it had been before.

The larger idler is much quieter than the smaller one I used to have in that spot, but still makes enough noise to be annoying. Still, it prevents the problem of the chain coming off, so I'm happy enough for now.

I picked up a box of assorted items from Freeycle on Friday afternoon, and among the items were some very bright orange "construction flags", in various conditions.

Just because they fit (perfectly) I stuck two of them in the seat back posts; I could actually ride this way, and then pull them out and lock them into the cargo pod when I leave the bike, so no one steals them.

I also took the wooden handle dowel out of six others, and temporarily duct-taped them over portions of the bike. One up front, one on each side of the middle.

Thinking about cutting one in half and putting on the front of each cargo pod, and another on the rear.

I also put one on the side of each cargo pod. Gotta see if I can find that stick0n lettering I had around here someplace to put the blog address back on the pods, right on the flags.

Might be able to iron-on a logo and lettering using a mirror-image laser printer output, then wash the paper off (same way many home-made PCBs are done).


Also posting some extra pics of the throttle assembly as it is now, for the curious:

The pot was a horizontal control out of some old monochrome monitor. The knob came off some old medical equipment modules. The bracket it's on used to hold a seatpost rear reflector. The spring came off of...something. I forgot what.

I just use the side of my thumb to move it and hold it; my bars are essentially like beach cruiser bars, but since I am seated leaning back some, they are not horizontal; more upright, making it more comfortable to have my hand in that position.

Note that my 2QD has a setpoint pot for throttle, allowing me to use quite a range of throttle control types and still adjust the input to the ~4V full scale needed for the actual throttle input at the comparators.