Ben Nelson's Electro-Metro Build thread

[bennelson]

My best candidate motor has a splined shaft which is just about 1&1/8th inch.

I picked up one lovejoy connector when I was out at the farm store anyways. It was only $10.98 and gave me something to see and touch to help figure this all out. The store was out of the sizes that would have fit the Metro tranny or the other motors.

The lovejoy that I got was a 1&1/8 shaft diameter. It slides right over the splined driveshaft with a tiny bit of room to spare.

I have heard that you can get a keyway cut into a driveshaft. If I could do that, it may be a simple way to attach the lovejoy - just slide it on, put in a key, and tighten the set-screw. Not sure if the tolerences are good enough or not though.

The Raymond reach truck's original drive motor has a normal driveshaft with keyway. It is on the small side, it's only about 80 lbs or so. Also, it only has four brushes. Would be so easy to hook up though!!!!

[bennelson]

Yeah! Finally a little progress on the Electro-Metro.

I went over this afternoon to meet a machinist, Jim.

In his "garage" (about the same size as my house!) he has lots of fun drills, lathes, etc, a full-blown car lift, and a hot-rodded 57 Chevy that he did EVERYTHING on it from scratch!

I brought the Metro transmission along with all three forklift motors to show and the one Lovejoy coupler I had.

He said that the mounting plate should be no problem, I just need to do some measuring.

It's a good thing I have splined items I can attach lovejoy couplers to. Apparently cutting splines is a very tricky thing to do, and it requires lots of wacky measurements.

I have the original clutch disc, so we can use the spline out of that. On the big forklift motor, it was double-ended with a drum brake on the back end. We are going to pull out the little splined hub from the brake and use that to attach to the lovejoy on the main end of the driveshaft.

Jim told me to make a template for the plate with some tagboard and knock-down the brake to get just the little splined bit out of the center. Then he can weld up the bits and make a plate from the template.

Real nice guy. Heck of a hotrod he's got. He also said that he knows an Exide dealer and can get some really good deals on batteries every once in a while.

I am also working on cleaning out my garage. I got $60 for a punching bag and crappy non-street-legal trailer I wasn't using. I just got $250 for a 50cc scooter I didn't have the title for, and thus couldn't ride anyways (sold back to the original owner - long story, don't ask...)

Anyways, that gives me over $300 to put towards the electric car fund that should cover either a controller or machining services.

[MetroMPG]

Glad to read an update.

The adapter plate is really easy to do - esp. if you make it from aluminum (soft, like buttah). Some people don't even bother to trim them - just slap a rectangle of material on the bell housing & mark the holes to drill out.

The fact the guy knows an Exide dealer could come in really handy. The ForkenSwift's running on Exides now.

[MPaulHolmes]

I'll be reading your mounting plate/adapter process with great interest!

Originally Posted by bennelson

It's a good thing I have splined items I can attach lovejoy couplers to. Apparently cutting splines is a very tricky thing to do, and it requires lots of wacky measurements.

The little baby motor (62 pounder) that I just bought has a keyed shaft. That will make coupling pretty easy on the motor side. You went to some sort of farm shop? Did they have a pretty good selection? You can't beat $10. I hope it's easy to find one for my motor.

Originally Posted by bennelson

I have the original clutch disc, so we can use the spline out of that.

Once I saw your picture up close of the clutch disc, I understood what the EVDL people were saying. Take that little spline, widen the hole of the love/joy with a lathe, insert the spline, weld it in. But you only get one chance with the welding, so I think I'll get a pro.

So, the only difficulty with centering is with the adapter plate, right? Lee Hart suggested to me that I use 2 separate plates, one for the bell housing, and one connected to the motor. Make two rough holes (you can be sloppy) in both of them. Mount the motor to the transmission (so the coupler should be done before this) and wiggle the motor around until there is the least amount of vibration. That is the center. Then "lock it into place" by some means, drill holes, and bolt the 2 together.

With no clutch, what do you plan on using for spacers? How much extra space will there be?

Have you seen the very recently added videos by the guy making his own coupler and adapter plate on youtube? He's going the WAY home-made approach.

[bennelson]

Hey Paul,

The two plate concept sounds like not a bad idea for aligning the centers.

For the spacing, I will just have the machinist make the plate out of whatever thickness aluminum spaces it out. I will have to do some measurements to figure out what that actually comes to.

I picked up one lovejoy coupler at FARM & FLEET, a farm and automotive store, they had a number of different sizes, but only about half of them were actually in stock. I was able to get the one that fit the motor, but not one to fit the transmission shaft.

Yeah, you only get one shot at welding with the clutch plate spline. The machinist said he could lathe out a step into the back of the lovejoy, slide the spline into that and then weld it.

The one coupler was $10.98 for a size 095 coupler with a 1&1/8 shaft hole. I think the rubber "spiders" that go between the two coupler parts are around $5.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

So, the only difficulty with centering is with the adapter plate, right? Lee Hart suggested to me that I use 2 separate plates, one for the bell housing, and one connected to the motor. Make two rough holes (you can be sloppy) in both of them. Mount the motor to the transmission (so the coupler should be done before this) and wiggle the motor around until there is the least amount of vibration. That is the center. Then "lock it into place" by some means, drill holes, and bolt the 2 together.

...

Have you seen the very recently added videos by the guy making his own coupler and adapter plate on youtube? He's going the WAY home-made approach.

Lee's advice is, as usual, elegant & workable.

Do you have a link for that YouTube video?

[bennelson]

I just found this guy's YouTube car conversion diary.
This clip shows how he makes the coupler by grinding down and bolting through a Lovejoy connector.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XeAN-XGJms

[MPaulHolmes]

That's the one I'm talking about! It'll be interesting to see him drive, to see how well it worked out.

[MPaulHolmes]

Hey Ben, do you know your clutch spline outer diameter? I was thinking of getting a half of a lovejoy that has the same inner diameter as the motor shaft, and the other half of a lovejoy that has the same inner diameter as the outer diameter of the clutch spline. Then I could just ask a shop to weld that piece without having to get any lathing done. Hopefully, the outer diameters of the 2 lovejoy halves would still be the same.

[WaxyChicken]

Comon, BenN. I'm still following your thread with great interest. Don't putter out and lose steam. Tell us what you plan to do with the power steering pump, or the breaking systems, or the cruise control, or the air bag, or something. The writers are off strike but yours is still the best show in town.

(just eager for a major update with lots of pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one.)