Gizmo: October 2022

It has been manner too lengthy since I posted one thing so I assumed it is time to attempt to catch up. Since I installed the LiFePO4 battery pack I knew it would be fairly simple to exceed the 1-hour rating of the motor Lipo battery pack and LiFePO4 battery over heat it. I determined to determine the best way to get a cooling blower mounted after which just do it!

I had to make a shroud for the brush finish of the motor. I picked up a chunk of SS sheet steel from a local sheet steel shop. They lower off a strip the width I wanted. It was sufficient to make 2 or three shrouds. I exploit a piece of aluminum flashing to cut out a sample since it is easy to cut. I used this to make the SS version. I had to do that twice because I had to maneuver the hose attachment from the highest to the again of the motor. There wasn’t enough clearance in any other case. The individual I had make the hose attachment made it a little larger than I was anticipating but then what do you count on from a non-sheet metallic worker? A one-off is way tougher than something that will likely be made by the 1000s.

I picked up a sheet of 1/4″ 6061 aluminum and reduce out a bit to fit the end of the motor. I included a bit of extension to the bottom to accommodate mounting the blower. I needed to shim the plate out from the motor to clear the shaft and housing so I used a gap saw and reduce out some washers from the 1/4″ sheet. I then used a piece of 1/16″ aluminum to shim the bottom and left bolts to compensate for the motor assist beneath the highest and proper bolts. You can see the plate beneath with four holes drilled and tapped to mount the blower motor.

The shims are visible in the picture below. The black tape around the inlet is actually rubber insulation tape which sticks to itself when it’s clean. I used this to make the pipe a little larger and provide a little bit sealing capacity. It finally ends up that it holds extremely well. I’ve tried to remove the pipe and can’t get it off. Maybe the rubber melted somewhat, I do not know.

I picked up some aluminum flex pipe from the native wooden and pellet stove store. I needed one thing which might handle the heat and be able to hold its personal weight in a rough environment. I minimize a PVC coupling in half and, with a short piece of pipe in it, slipped it contained in the outlet. This gave me the best diameter for the aluminum hose. I put some silicon across the joint and a small sheet metallic screw into the PVC coupling to ensure they did not come apart.

My subsequent drawback was to get the splash guard to clear the brand new addition. The splash guard materials is definitely some thick #2 plastic like milk jugs are made of. I figured I might heat and stretch it into the shape I needed. I stuffed some cardboard in between the plastic and aluminum hose and used a propane torch to heat and mold the plastic. Once i starts to turn clear you know it is very pliable.

Here is the result.

Just sufficient clearance.

The subsequent situation is how to ensure solely clean dry air gets to the blower. I wished to drag air from outside the cabin however there just wasn’t enough room to take action. It ends up that whereas driving I can not hear the blower over the highway noise so it is not an excessive amount of of a problem. I determined to get a K&N rectangular filter and set up within the back wall of the tub. The filter is designed to clamp on to a pipe however I wanted to attach a versatile hose. I went to a muffler store and had them make me an adapter out of tail pipe.

A perfect fit.

The next concern was the right way to mount the filter. I didn’t really want anything visible and that i wanted to place as few holes within the tub as I could get away with. As you’ll be able to see in the pictures there is not really anything to mount the filter to.

I decided to see how properly the hose clamp screw would work in maintaining the filter in place. The clamp had to go around the rubber of the filter and hold it to the tail pipe adapter piece. It ends up that the fiberglass is simply thin sufficient to make this work. After greater than 3000 miles I have not had any issues with the filter moving out of place even though it wiggles some.I used some bilge blower hose from a boat shop to connect the filter to the blower. This provides sufficient flexing for the motor to maneuver up and down with the rear suspension and that i solely get clean dry air through the motor.

You can see in the picture above that the hose virtually touches the highest of the motor mount. I later added some strap material (like duct tape without the sticky) to hold the hose up off this sharp level. Below is a bottom view.

I initially started with a toggle switch on the sprint to activate the blower. I didn’t want it to run on a regular basis unless the motor wanted it. The problem with this was that it was easy to forget. I determined that I might install a thermal snap swap to activate the blower. The problem is that it’s troublesome to measure the most popular place on the motor since it is inside. I decided that I would install a swap on the case and use one which turned on at a cool temperature so far as motors go. I chose one which turns on at 105 degrees F. I figure this is early sufficient for the kind of driving that I accomplish that the inside is not doubtless at a melt-down temperature but.

The problem with snap switches is that the majority cannot be sealed. The one I have can be sealed but I did not have the suitable material. The issue is two fold. Apparently air strain adjustments cause points with the turn on temperature and possibly case fatigue. The second difficulty is that most sealants give off a corrosive fuel whereas curing inflicting the contacts to corrode. The snap switch wanted to be placed inside a sealed or nearly sealed box of some sort. It is troublesome to find a small aluminum container of the right dimension. I finally lower the top off of an empty small butane cylinder. I used a socket to flatten the underside of the bottle and presto, I have a can!

I used to be going to mount this to the brush finish of the motor however a fast call the Jim Husted of Hi-torque Electric satisfied me I needed to mount it to the side of the motor case. You can see the opening I had prepared in the 1/4″ aluminum plate. In case you loved this post and you wish to receive more information with regards to Lipo battery pack (his explanation) i implore you to visit the internet site. Now a brand new difficulty arose. How to mount a flat bottomed can to a curved floor. I determined I could make a mount out of a scrap piece of 1/4″ aluminum sheet and bolt it to the motor case. Since my motor is a 6.7″ diameter motor lithium battery pack ion lithium iron phosphate battery pack I mounted a 7.25″ saw blade on my radial arm saw. I clamped the sheet of aluminum to the deck of the saw and locked the blade at a ninety diploma angle. I slowly moved the saw blade sideways on the aluminum plate, lowering it barely with every move until I had a deep sufficient curve in the plate. Somewhat smoothing out with a dremel tool and i had my mount. It didn’t fit exactly but it surely match shut sufficient for what I was utilizing it for. I drilled and tapped two 4-40 holes within the case and put two hex cap screws by the snap change ears, aluminum can, and mount into the motor case. I put a small rubber grommet in the facet of the can and ran my wires inside to the snap change. Aluminum tape sealed the top of the can. The one water entry level would be by means of the grommet but I rarely get any there. The switch should work positive for a long time. At the very least I can change it easily if needed.

The yellow wires run to a 12V relay which turns on the blower fan. I actually put in an on-of-on toggle change in the sprint. The up position turns on the fan bypassing the thermal switch. The center forces the fan off. The decrease place is for auto, the place the thermal change controls the blower. The issue is that I can still forget to show the switch to auto if I’ve turned it off for some motive. I tried a small 12V incandescent bulb across the “auto” place however the issue is that there’s sufficient present by means of the bulb to pull within the relay. I found a small LED at Radio Shack with a resistor attached for 12V use. This works. If the fan change is within the off position the LED will light when the snap switch closes. Turning the swap to the ON or AUTO place will flip off the LED as a result of it would no longer have a 12V distinction throughout its leads. Now I just should mount the LED within the sprint.

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