Archive for June, 2010

How Much Electric Kart Can You Build in a Day?

Last week I rebuilt the kart with fresh fasteners and axle bearings, plus picked up a steering wheel and some #35 sprockets. Then, once the Mars motor looked repaired and good to go onto the kart I picked up a handful of 7/8 keyed #35 sprockets from Surplus Center. The parts were forecast to arrive […]

Posted on June 20, 2010 at 11:40 pm by Henry · Permalink · 15 Comments
In: Electric Alt-Kart

Breaking and Fixing the Mars BLDC Brushless Motor

Here’s the short version: Because we are cheap, my friend picked up a Mars “Brushless Etek” BLDC motor from Ebay user “megadan” who has been selling these motors for about half price, with the catch that they are shipped with an odd and difficult to deal with shaft adapter (I’m starting to get used to […]

Posted on June 16, 2010 at 12:45 am by Henry · Permalink · 2 Comments
In: Electric Alt-Kart, Little Fixes

The Most Advanced Scotch Tape Dispenser. In The World.

It’s absolute overkill. Over a pound of 6061 aluminum, every part CNC machined and yes, it’s just a scotch tape dispenser. This is the creation of the Advanced CNC class at Laney College as taught by Bob Rice. I programmed and machined all the parts from drawings using MasterCAM, a Chevalier toolroom mill and a […]

Posted on June 3, 2010 at 11:09 am by Henry · Permalink · 41 Comments
In: Machining, Photo Journo

Full Speed Ahead

I’m really looking forward to driving this one. Of course it will be electric. Yes, a steering wheel is on the shopping list.

Posted on June 2, 2010 at 9:59 pm by Henry · Permalink · 3 Comments
In: Electric Alt-Kart

One Step Closer: New DC/DC

In the seemingly never-ending parade of not-quite dialed in and failed components preventing the EV Miata from being able to be a car instead of a project the latest issue arose with the DC/DC converter. After spending a couple days working on the stupid battery balancing system, thinking it had a better chance of being […]

Posted on June 1, 2010 at 1:18 pm by Henry · Permalink · One Comment
In: EV Miata