Wow, what a mountain we had to climb to get this far. We are finally ready for the test ride tomorrow! We had to adjust the brackets that the shocks mount to, replace the LCD readout which our client screwed up to add to our workload, and hard weld the frame to the bike. Then we hooked up the batteries and controllers to test the whole thing and make sure everything worked.
#fabrication #fabricator #fabricating #welding #beetlebike

Working on new sketches for the beetle itself. Not quite right but this is more the direction we need to go, The head is too low and needs to be higher and more forward to act as something like a parasol. Had to sleep so I bever got to refining the wheels. Will do more tonight and then start modeling on a small scale with wire and cardboard.

#beetlebike

Did some practice welding before getting to welding the face joints on the frame. Started by tacking the angle iron to the frame to help stabilize the joints while they are welded. Mitigates the movement of the metal from the heat. Then I tacked the 1" tubing and then did beads all around on both faces. Capped the ends of the long 1x2 with flat bar. Followed up by grinding the welds flush to the tubing. #welding #welder #fabrication #fabricator #beetlebike

Made some more progress today on the frame. Tack welded only this time so that we can easily correct any issues with the frame should they come up.

It's a real challenge to fabricate on OSB. We should be using a proper welding table with a solid flat top to do our fabrication on. However, our budget does not allow for it.

Next we will build the mounts for the rear wheels, but not until Sunday. taking tomorrow off.

#fabrication #fabricator #welding #welder #frankenbike #beetlebike

Spent a good chunk of the day testing, cleaning, then labeling each cable on these control units. Each hub motor will have its own battery and control unit. We need to figure out how to wire all of the separate brake sensors and throttle control cables together so they can be controlled by one throttle and one set of brake levers.

If there are any e-bike nerds out there who are inclined to point me in the right direction i will be most grateful for the help!

#Beetlebike #frankenbike