Coming Together

The Magical Mystical GoFast is starting to take shape. The frame is pieced together, the motor is mounted, and the speed control finally came.

Being an old starter motor, the motor had a solenoid bolted on top of it. After I removed it, it left four bolt holes just waiting to be used for something. It would be perfect for mounting something to it. I wanted to mount it on some crossbars going across the width of the frame, that way I could adjust it forward or backward to get the chain tensioned up right. See the picture below for the motor mount.

When I mounted the motor and threw some juice on it, I noticed something peculiar. The motor spins the same direction regardless of which wire is positive and which is negative. Took me a bit to figure out why, but I understand it now. Most motors use large magnets in the motor can for the armature to pull around. This motor however, uses wire coils to generate that electric field, so when you reverse the polarity, you also reverse the magnetic field, thus canceling the two changes out. You can tell in one picture, the motor is mounted one way, and in the next, I've switched it around.

As for the controller, I got around to cutting and crimping the wire to the right lengths and got it all wired up. I had to make some special clampy things to fit on the batteries due to their non-standard standoffs. I had to stop my wiring work when I realized I don't actually have an on/off switch. I'm hoping to find one of those really big ones shaped like a tuning fork mounted on a hinge. Think "Throw the switch Igor!" It's got to be able to deliver up to 250 amps, but not at contact. If anyone has an old electric chair sitting in their basement, shoot me an email. :P

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