<$1k DIY Neighborhood Electric Motorcycle

[Christ]

I see. Still have to recommend chamfering the holes in the plate, though.

[captainslug]

Originally Posted by Christ

I see. Still have to recommend chamfering the holes in the plate, though.

The holes in the aluminum plate will be drilled out to a larger size. I won't really need to chamfer them much since I'm not trying to cool the mounting plate.

[Christ]

I only suggested chamfering so that more air could be charged through them. Fluid Dynamics.

[captainslug]

Spacer plate for the blower fan.

Blower fan installed. Does a fine job of keeping the motor at reasonable temperature levels.

I ended up making a chain pad since I couldn't find a replacement one anywhere.


Rode it 5 miles today. Performs really well.
Next step is to replace the battery pack and controller wiring with a higher wire gauge so I can remove the circuit breaker (or get one with a higher rating).

[Christ]

Originally Posted by captainslug

Spacer plate for the blower fan.

Blower fan installed. Does a fine job of keeping the motor at reasonable temperature levels.

I ended up making a chain pad since I couldn't find a replacement one anywhere.


Rode it 5 miles today. Performs really well.
Next step is to replace the battery pack and controller wiring with a higher wire gauge so I can remove the circuit breaker (or get one with a higher rating).

Where does the motor vent? Other side?

[captainslug]

Originally Posted by Christ

Where does the motor vent? Other side?

The blower exhausts air out of the motor. So the air inlet is on the other side near the motor drive shaft.
I'll get a better picture of that side later tonight.

[Christ]

Oh, see, when I recommended chamfering those holes, I thought you were using the fan to push air through the motor, not pull it.

Is there any reason the sprocket wouldn't have made a decent fan to push air through the motor if you'd used a shroud?

[captainslug]

{Forgot to bring camera to work so I'll insert pictures here tonight}

Originally Posted by Christ

Is there any reason the sprocket wouldn't have made a decent fan to push air through the motor if you'd used a shroud?

I don't want the motor driving the fan since most of the heat is produced at lower speeds when the current draw is highest. That would result in an ineffective fan.

The blower fan as-is works quite well and only consumes 16 watts (outputs 29CFM @ 12volts 1.35amps). It was temperature controlled originally, but I shorted that feature because it wasn't working as well as I wanted.

[MazdaMatt]

Congrats on going for a ride - nevermind the technical details, how'd you like your bike?!

[captainslug]

I rode it to-and-from work yesterday and this morning (10 miles in the past 24 hours). It handles really well, the suspension feels super smooth, feels fine on wet roads, accelerates as well as everything else at the lights I was at, and it's already attracting way more attention than I expected it to.

Top speed on level ground (so far): 32mph

Hopefully I can take some video soon. I just have to finish making a camera mount.