2015 Project:
Lemniscate Electric Scooter
I am starting work with my dad on an electric scooter. It started with a sketch on my whiteboard before bed - not the knight, the scooter below it.
It looks like the infinity symbol ∞ called a lemniscate that you put your feet into - so I think I might call it Lemni-"Skate"
We are working on the motors and gears now. The frame connecting the wheels, some kind of steering and a battery is next. I hope I can ride it!
We have done more design work on the motors gears and the frame. Here is what it looks like now:
It is linked in the middle to have the wheels steer. We did a test on my regular scooter and found that even with leaning I can't make it turn well. My dad thinks we may have the angles of the pivots the wrong way. Maybe we should 3D print a small prototype to test it.
We had to change the design - we had the pivot angles wrong!
We mounted the two battery packs in the middle, one on each side. There will be a velcro strap to hold them in place. We need to order the batteries, brushless motors, belts and pulleys. We will start machining the parts soon! It will mostly be made from aluminum and plastic.
We 3D printed one of the wheel hubs last night to check the fit of the belt and the bearings. Looks good so far - perfect fit. Now we just need to test the belt idea in it.
The belt did not work. I asked my dad about a brushless motor like the one on my plane and in my RC car - but bigger to fit inside the wheel. Weve been working more on the design, and we are starting to order the electric steel and the magnets to make our own motor inside the wheels. It lots of work. we will have to wind our own magnet coils for the motor. My dad's friend Chris made a machine to make coils, so we might borrow it.
Instead of gears or belts each wheel would have a ring of magnets all around the inside. The wheel is the motor.
The motor windings cant fit all the way around so we made a couple segments.
We are going to machine out the circuit board from a piece of material with copper on it instead of connecting wires to every coil.
Another of my dad's friends has a big laser that can cut thin steel so we hope to cut the thin steel plates at his shop.
My dad also found a website all about electric skateboards. https://diyelectricskateboard.com/ I want to get one of the neat wireless controllers. I hope these drives will work with our motors.
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy-sk8-esc-for-electric-skateboard-conversion.html?___store=en_us