<$1k DIY Neighborhood Electric Motorcycle

[Daox]

Woohoo! Nice to see this project back on its feet.

[captainslug]

More good news: I found the original footpegs and the rear brake rotor in a box at work.
I can reinstall the rear foot-operated brake which will give me more control and safety. Especially when the roads are wet (when front brakes are almost useless).

[captainslug]

Now I just need to buy a new freewheel and get the chain drive back together.

[orange4boy]

Great thread, sweet bike.

I have a possible motor idea that you may be able to find cheap. (if you are still thinking about upgrading) The drive motor from an electrak or an electrak snowblower. The blower motor would probably be easier to find and get cheap. But you may have to buy the whole blower to get it. Mine came with a 4 hp GE motor. Not a PM, a series wound, but really hefty.

The drive motor from an E12 would be good too. They are PM just like my electrak and Auranthetic. Similar motors are used in scissor lifts and floor sweepers. They are 36 volts but ar actually 1 to 4 hp rated continuous.

Those Chinese motors are notoriously underrated. I see them all the time and compared to my 1HP Auranthetic motor are mobility wheelchair sized. It is 14" long and 5 1/2 inches in diameter and weighs a ton. Motors made here have to be built and tested to industry standards. Chinese motors have to be nothing. The numbers on them are useless. When they say 1200 watts continuous think peak. Expect every rating to be grossly overstated until proven otherwise.

This is more what you should be looking for: Imperial Electric - DC Motors - 42 Frame

It's either something like that or an Etek style. Found here among other suitable motors, but you can find them cheaper or salvage.

In case you or the readers of this thread are interested here is a link to motor ratings information. If you don't know the difference between A rated and H rated insulation you should read this: motorsanddrives.com - Motor Temperature Ratings

Or you could build your own like this guy (your build quality looks like you could): 'Fly Electric' - Crocodile Motors



BTW: Love the thread and only just found it. Good luck!!!

[Christ]

Saved DIY motor link. Been looking for something like that.

[captainslug]

Originally Posted by orange4boy

I have a possible motor idea that you may be able to find cheap. (if you are still thinking about upgrading)

I'm keeping my eye on free craigslist listings for treadmills (working perfectly or not). The vast majority of them are powered by Constant Duty 1.5 to 3 HP brushed motors running anywhere from 90VDC to 115VDC. Brushed motors are okay with undervolting, but not very happy with being overvolted.

They will be roughly the right size and I will have to gear them down a bit, but they're much closer to what I need than any of the other motors I've found.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by captainslug

I'm keeping my eye on free craigslist listings for treadmills (working perfectly or not). The vast majority of them are powered by Constant Duty 1.5 to 3 HP brushed motors running anywhere from 90VDC to 115VDC. Brushed motors are okay with undervolting, but not very happy with being overvolted.

They will be roughly the right size and I will have to gear them down a bit, but they're much closer to what I need than any of the other motors I've found.

You too, huh? I've been looking in the free section forever, and always seem to miss the occasional one that pops up. They go like hotcakes! Even the ones that don't work!

I feel like a couple of those motors (matched) would be perfect for a mid-size road legal trike.

Hell, they could even be not matched, one stronger than the other, and I could just run them at the same voltage, one to cruise, both to GO!!!!.

(Ok, so it wouldn't really GO!!!!, but it would still help out if I needed to accelerate quickly.)

[captainslug]

I've ordered a 2.65HP treadmill motor to be used as hopefully the last and final power plant for this project. Its rated for 2.1kw peak, 1.6kw constant @ 95VDC.

And here's what I eventually want the frame to look like. Whenever it is I can get around to painting it.

[captainslug]

Motor arrived today. It's the perfect size, weight, and ratings. It also includes a hall effect switch for monitoring RPMs which will be very useful because I will need to use that in order to select the right gear reduction ratios.

I will test it at 60 volts with the controller tomorrow.

This motor spins so smoothly I'm contemplating not bothering with a freewheel. If I do ditch the freewheel I have the option of later adding motor braking of some kind (regenerative or not).

[captainslug]

Yesterday I removed the pair of motors and started work on designing the revised motor mount.

I'm waiting on a laser tachometer to arrive in the mail so I can measure the peak RPM of the motor at 70 volts. Then I can determine what reductions are needed.
The drive shaft of the motor unfortunately has a mix of imperial and metric dimensions. The tip is left-hand threaded 1/2-13, but the rest of it is 17mm.

I'm probably going to end up making a V-Belt pulley for it from scratch.

Edit: And now I have the motor mount finished.