school project, maybe.

[r97]

my school is having a science fair, you have the option to do an "engineering challange" project. i'm just curioue for ideas, i would love to make a kart, or mini, or bar stool, or.... basically i wan't to make a vehicle. i could just use the mini bike i'm building as my project, but i would like that to be a personal project. i'm just looking for ideas.
so far i have:
electric kart, super torque! how much could i build this for? it looks like sooooooooo much fun,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrdNxgcNlYA&feature=related

electric barstool
electric sofa/lazy boy chair

anyway like i said, let the ideas of cool, interesting, builds come in!!! just not too expensive!!

 

[devino246]

Like the electric lazyboy idea. Has to have an attached end table though

 

[r97]

 

[redsox985]

And a mini fridge as the base of the end table.

 

[Imbo]

And a mini fridge as the base of the end table.

YESSS!!!! thats the nastiest idea ever yooo. ive always wanted to make a motorized lazyboy. to bad im too lazy and i dnt have a couch/chair to use haha

 

[r97]

a lazy boy like that would be awesome, but i can imagine myself doing donuts in that kart all to easily..... unfortunately my wallet doesn't have as vivid an imagination. i will have to try the junk yard. i bet an old power chair would be perfect for the lazy boy.


EDIT: if i wanted to go about 30mph, and do donuts with an electric motor on a race kart frame, how big of a motor do you guys think i would need? how many batteries? where could i get a controller from, golf cart?

 

[Rustydog2010]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrdNxgcNlYA&feature=related

Omg! He needs to get that out in the gravel sooo bad.

Jeremy.

 

[bighead]

I love thinking of ideas like this. Now that it is for a school project got me thinking.

Do schools nowadays still have those little desk you sit in? I was thinking you could make a school desk/bar stool racer type thing. The school desk would tie it to your school. The school would be more likly to go for it. And it would steal the show for sure. Just think about riding up on a powered school desk. You could call it TIMESAVER. lol

I was thinking like the desk the grade school kids use. I bet you could pick on up from your local grade school for this project. Maybe they do not have this type of desk anymore. If you can find one. You could put the wheel inside the desk. Or use the whole desk for the wheel. LOL

Or maybe even a pedal contraption.

Link http://www.automotto.org/entry/bigdog-a-four-wheeled-four-men-powered-giant-bicycle/

 

[r97]

thanks guys, some of these ideas are looking pretty cool! i have bean online looking for a cheep power system, what do you think of this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/4-HP-24V-DC-VEHICLE-ELECTRIC-MOTOR-BIKE-PUMPS-GOKART-/260711365426?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb39bbb32#ht_1135wt_905

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Curtis-PMC-DC-motor-controller-1204-410-36-48-V-225-A_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ75208QQitemZ260720602674#ht_500wt_1182

and three of these to over volt to 36v
http://bluegrassbatteries.com/Powerstar-12V-33AH-Group-U1-Deep/M/B0006VCCMW.htm?traffic_src=froogle&utm_medium=CSE&utm_source=froogle

do you guys think thats enough power for going 30mph and doing donuts? i'm thinking of building a race style frame like what rgvkid made, except electric.

 

[Bluethunder3320]

with all that money you could get a 13hp clone.

 

[r97]

i think i could do better than a 13hp clone. and yes it is expensive, i would need to get a bit of funding from mom and dad, and then shovel some more driveways , but i think i could afford it, just barely. how well will it preform? if it can do donuts, go 30mph, be driven inside, get me an A+, and barely make any sound (except the tires screeching ). it would be 600 bucks well spent in my book!

 

[redsox985]

How about a motorized fridge? And run the fridge off of the motors power? Or, what I really would love to do, get one of those motorized shopping karts and drop in a clone. You will have to cut the fiberglass to get more air down there but it would be awesome. You could put the gas tank in the basket and disguise it as, say, a box of cereal. Then head over to Wal-mart, go out into the parking lot, and zip around doing like 20 in the thing. The looks you'll get will be great! You could even use a little clone, not the 6.5.

 

[r97]

i like the shopping kart idea. funny you mention the fridge, i was thinking about exactly that a few months ago!

 

[r97]

600-700dollar electric go kart, too expensive, just checked to see if i can pay for it, i might barely make it, but i would rather not. i thought i had more cash :/. sooooooo.....
lazy boy here i come!

how do you guys think i could control it? i was thinking like a power scooter drive system (if i did that i could drive it in my house!!!!! ) but aren't those things super expensive? even used? maybe i could just get the controller, Google here i come!

 

[r97]

here is what i'm thinking:
joystick controller from an old video game controller.
i have this Lego toy called an NXT, its basically an easy to program robot, do you guys think i could adapt that to run the motors instead of a controller?
then just 2 electric motors, 1 or 1.5hp each.
all thrown on a lazy-boy chair that turns on a dime.

 

[Bluethunder3320]

here is what i'm thinking:
joystick controller from an old video game controller.
i have this Lego toy called an NXT, its basically an easy to program robot, do you guys think i could adapt that to run the motors instead of a controller?
then just 2 electric motors, 1 or 1.5hp each.
all thrown on a lazy-boy chair that turns on a dime.

i dont think a lego electronic chip would come close to powering anything other than a little 6v motor. the wires are way too small anyway.

how about making your own controller from some car starting solenoids?

 

[redsox985]

I like the idea of independent drive motors. You could have like 2 dead axles and just steer by applying the right amount of gas. Now for brakes...

 

[r97]

i know the lego thing couldn't handle the power, i'm just saying it could make the controls from the joystick to more simple commands that could control solenoids, or something, not really sure just throwing the idea out there. i have also considered solenoids, how would you set it up? i was thinking something like this,
motor A has a forward and a reverse solenoid.
motor B has a forward and a reverse solenoid.
forwards-when the joy stick is pressed forward it opens both forward solenoids.
reverse-when the joy stick is pressed back wards it opens both reverse solenoids.
turn right-when the joy stick is pressed to one side it opens one reverse, and one forward solenoid.
turn left-when the joystick is pressed to the other side it opens the other forward and reverse solenoids.

only problem i see with that it might apply too much power, too fast. how could i fix that (if its a big problem)? maybe 2 solenoids, a low power, and high power one?

what do you guys think about using starter motors? or is it too likely they will over heat and catch the chair on fire?


EDIT: do i even need brakes? i don't plan on going very fast. maybe (forgetting what they are called) i could set it up so the motors act as brakes?

 

[redsox985]

Forward would deliver power to both wheels, left to only the right and right to only the left so that the outside wheel spins. Then, if you're feeling crafty, make left also apply braking force to the left wheel and right to apply braking force to the right. Couldn't you just flip the polarity into the motor to toss it into reverse? Although, going from forwards to backwards quickly could be too much wear on the motor. Maybe some small calipers on each dead axle would be good?

 

[r97]

i could do that, but don't you think the one wheel forward one wheel reverse concept would steer better? maybe i could setup a skid steer type control system using two double pole switch's, one on each arm rest.
so left switch makes left motor go in either forward or reverse, same with the right switch and motor, thoughts on that?
to solve the problem of switching the motors into reverse to quickly, couldn't i just set up some type of mechanical spring or something so you couldn't flip the switch really fast?
also, is it likely that i will run into problems applying full or like 3/4 power from a dead stop?



EDIT: just read this looks like if i were to use a big switch/solenoid/relay on relatively small motors i could apply all the power in one burst, correct? or would i still run into a problem like frying the motor?