Building an electric... bike!? (electric motors)

I'd like to build an electric bike/trike (or something) with our kids. I was considering a Briggs & Stratton "Etek Motor" - until I realised it has brushes.

Would I be correct in thinking a brushless (dc) motor is more suitable? Is that what those nasty k-mart scooters use??

Does a brushless dc motor have "consumables" (for want of a better word) like brushes that I'm not aware of, that will need to be replaced?

I guess basically I'm after suggestions for a long-lasting, reliable motor with a good bit of torque. Something that won't burn out in 12 months time and we can pull out and build something else with.

Also while I think of it, I'm so cheap I don't even want to pay $1.40/L just to get bread and milk anymore. ; ) So if anyone knows of any Australian sites where someone has built electric bikes/trikes/cars themselves - that would be appreciated. Or good US one... There is lots of US sites of course, but parts they refer to are often not available here - but open to suggestions from either side of the pond.

Thanks for reading...

Allan

Reply to
Allan
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mmm Lot of time and energy to design/build or rather reinvent old technology with all the associated costs - which would probably be far less overall than using the car , so start the spreadhseet now...

Petrol is cheaper now than it was 10 years ago, all else considered, and milk is even cheaper, so take some of what you gain on milk and put it to the petrol and think of doing something useful with your time...

ie. Petrol = Money, Time is the killer

cheers

Mike

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Regards
Mike
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Reply to
Mike

Er... Thanks for the reply, but a 7 and a 10 year old can't drive a full sized car around our backyard. ; )

Anyone else here done/know of anything along these lines?

Allan

Reply to
Allan

A few minutes with Google turned these links up:

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There's lots of interesting links for you to chase down in this next one:

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There's a zillion more links in Google - informational, DIY and pre-made (but all the pre-mades seem to cost way over $1K!).

Peter

Reply to
Pete

Try here.

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Reply to
sarleeeepy bo bo`s

Allen, if you haven't already been there have a look at the Oatly Electronics site - they were (last time I was there) selling motors and controllers for electric bikes/scooters at what seemed VG prices

David

Allan wrote:

Reply to
quietguy

How do you work that one out? In 10 years petrol has more than doubled in price, my income has gone up far less than double in the same period.

Reply to
two bob

The more direct route is a small petrol engine, such as off a radio control two stroke petrol car, car more interesting to make work and far more long term interest retained by participants. If you go the route of electric motor and associated batteries, interest will diminish as the performance will lack and the batteries will invariably fail and the project will fizzle out...

See it done a couple of times, electric bike = nice idea in principle until you do some time management. As its for kids there are many more opportunities to learn with mechanics and overall design concepts if you go down the ICE route...

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Regards
Mike
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Reply to
Mike

Yep - we have a small two stroke lying around. Still have that in the back of my mind as a last resort. Thanks!

Reply to
Allan

Some good stuff there - thanks!

Reply to
Allan

Thanks!

Reply to
Allan

Great stuff - thanks. For some reason most of the stuff I came up with was in the USA.

Reply to
Allan

Reply to
Max Harding vk3jin

The gearing on a penny farthing would be of interest but, where do you put the reservoir for the torque convertor,

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Regards
Mike
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Reply to
Mike

You have my respect. I would love to own the Pritchard Steam car. Wish I had the knowledge to build a steam... anything.

Reply to
Allan

Its actually much easier than you'd think:-

a. Boil water in a vessel that can keep a high pressure b. Use the steam to push a piston with a valve that switches the flow off when its on the return, ie Pipes and valve. c. Condense the steam back to water and pump this back into boiler.

These days you dont need proprietary mechanical valves, use cheap electronics and solenoid valves, you can then vary the timing to suit etc.

Have seen a V8 chevy motor many years ago that was configured to run off a waste steam source, what the guy did was:-

  1. Change the valve timing, this is also easier than you'd think.
  2. Use an oil/water separator on the sump, so the sump wouldnt slowly fill up with water, I think it was some centrifugal system to ensure any emulsion was nicely cleared.

No need for sparks or ignition etc, (I seem to recall also he ran some pressure sensors off the old plug holes) just need the inlet manifold to be able to hold the full waste steam pressure. In his situation he didnt worry about recycling the steam to a condensor, just let it exhaust to atmosphere - this was fairly efficient because the exhaust would be straight to air so lower exit pressure and no need for a water pump back to the bolier. If I recall corectly it ran at about 2000 to 2400 rpms or so. Based on BMEP he could have got something like 250 Hp from his waste steam source, might even be legacy links on web, last time I looked was 12 years ago

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Regards
Mike
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Reply to
Mike

I wonder if it ran a week, or a month, before rusting out?

Reply to
Clifford Heath

Dont know, I wondered about that at the time, though if its 'dry' steam and the engine is in continuous use, without much opportunity for condensation and presumably the oil/water separator is working or there isnt much steam blowby then you'd expect some considerable time, wonder how long ordinary older steam engines ran with their cast iron pistons ?

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Regards
Mike
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Reply to
Mike

I saw an article years ago about a VW bug - still have it somewhere, I might dig it out. I *think* it said titanium pistons were fitted. Anyway, point being of course engines are modified to prevent rust. I have always wished I could learn to build steam engines - maybe one day I can find a decent book on it. [sigh]

Reply to
Allan

Yes I would like to see that, I have a heat engine project on the back burner at moment . Basically arranging best use of pressure, also have a pair of unused VL/Nissan 6 cyl engines in the back shed that havent rusted yet, have in mind using them at some point though I robbed one of them of big end bearings for my VLT...

Steam engines are really really simple, just pressure and applied to a piston, thats effectively it...

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Regards
Mike
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Reply to
Mike

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