Okay first of all let me say that Tzi's page deserves some sort of award for being the first site on the Internet on how to build a motorised scooter. Like Tzi, I searched the Internet for weeks, I even gave up at one stage. Although after a six month break I started searching again, I don't remember how exactly, but I got to Tzi's main page. After looking around for a bit I decided I'll send Tzi an E-mail and ask him a couple of questions, since me and him both are using a chain saw motor we could help each other and share our vast knowledge on the topic (hehehe).
Let me begin by saying that me and Tzi didn't quite build our scooters the same (I haven't completed my one yet), As you know Tzi built his scooter with a chain drive, this is done by connecting a chain to the motor shaft and driven wheel (Tzi's page explains all about that stuff). On the other hand I decided to attach the shaft coming out of the motor (the clutch) strait onto the top of the wheel - I'll explain more later. My way is the more "conventional" way - this is the sort of drive most motorised scooters use, I had heaps of trouble using this type of drive and this is the main reason why I'm considering to use Tzi's way, and attach a chain to the motor - All this and more will be explained in a couple of minutes.
Okay first step - getting a scooter, so all I needed to do was find a scooter frame, a couple o' wheels and some other bicycle parts, the first one was easy, I just got a child's scooter I used to ride as a kid, the wheels were already on it so that wasn't a problem either. And then all I needed to do was find an old bicycle for some spare parts, I found an old mountain bike and stripped it, I got the brake handles, Gear shifters, Brakes, and some cables. The next stage was going down the local bike shop and getting some new cables and axles (since the original ones were as crooked as dogs hind leg) I got all of those and stuck the wheels onto the frame - and there ya' go, as good as new.
Like Tzi, I got an old chain saw motor, at first the motor wouldn't start so I pulled the thing to pieces sprayed all the parts with oil, gasoline and some good old WD40. I put the thing back together and behold - The beast was alive (I just love talking like that). Okay - after getting the thing to work I took the covering off and started cutting it with a diamond cut-off disc (the case was made of aluminium so it was pretty easy). I then took the blade of the original saw - The blade is NOT the jagged chain, but the piece of round metal on which it "sits", I took this piece and screwed it back into the motor, then I cut the end part off and welded it onto the back of my scooter. Make sure you weld it on properly or it'll fly off when you pull the pullcord (trust me on this one).
My first major mistake was that I didn't check the direction of which the motor spins, so I hook up this whole thing, yank the cord - and what else ? The bloody thing spins backwards (Typical). So, to over come this disaster I would need to use my cunning wits and come up with an ingenious idea, my first thought was to put the motor on the other side of the scooter - but my petrol tank was in the way so I had to use some other kind of "spin conversion device" (haha). To achieve this I just stuck a third wheel between the motor clutch and my scooter wheel, this seems to be a good idea but once I poured in some MOTION LOTION (Gas) and cranked the thing up the clutch started tearing into the third wheel (a skateboard wheel) and shredding the damn thing to bits - that skateboard wheel was now one inch thinner.
|
From left to right: the wheel, skateboard wheel and clutch
|
|
My second problem was to connect the motor accelerator to some sort of throttle located on the handlebars, ti do this I used a bicycle gear shifter (just the thing you push with your finger to change gears on your bicycle). The real problem was connecting the cable running from the gear shifter to the accelerator of the motor - this is a small spinning bit on the motor the more you pull it the more GO JUICE (Gas) the motor gets. There's a little hole located near the top of the accelerator so I just ended up putting a piece of copper wire through it and attaching it to the cable - it's simple, yet effective. But obviously something just had to go wrong, the gear shifter wasn't powerful enough to pull the cable. Eventually I just ended up hooking the cable to a Brake Handle (like the one on bicycles). this was a good solution too.
After some major repair job on the wheels and some major skateboard wheel changing (which involved a different type of skateboard wheel), I cranked the thing up again - hooray, this time it went - very slow but it went. The problem was that the clutch kept slipping on the skateboard wheel. So, what I did was find a new pair of wheels, and I was very lucky cause I found a couple of solid rubber wheels with axles and all. It took a bit of adjusting but eventually I fit both wheels on and they went like a beauty and.... "happy days"
|
I know it looks ridicules here, but in real life it looks super cool !
|
The clutch still slips on the skateboard wheel, and the thing still goes as slow as three legged turtle, but hey - it was only a prototype, I am now thinking of changing my whole system to like Tzi's (He's a genius)...
If anyone has any useful information on how to make my system work properly please, please mail me. Thanks, James.
Mail Me
