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PLEASE SEE THE CURRENT BUILD LOG FOR THE LEMNISKATE SCOOTER HERE:
https://sites.google.com/view/seanviolettesprojects/other-projects/202425-elo-engineering
Note: This is an old idea that I had 9 (!) years ago, but I never finished a prototype. From what I can tell, it still is a unique idea, and I am working with my high school to get credit for completing the design and making a functional prototype of this scooter by the end of my senior year. This is called an ELO (Extended Learning Opportunity) as the engineering product development class I was supposed to be taking was cancelled, due to the teacher resigning.
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 hub is the out-runner motor.
The motor windings cant fit all the way around so we made a couple segments. The hardest part will be finding electrical steel to make the laminated core from. From what I have read, it is hard to cut, so I may have to pay to have it water-jet cut. I may have to try salvaging it from an old motor. It's the hardest part of making a custom motor that I have found so far - just trying to find the steel. Good information on where I might find it is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/manufacturing/comments/1enjtbl/motor_research_where_to_get_electrical_steel/
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.
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