Cams senior project

   Camden Reiss           I just want to start off my reflection by saying that I don't think I've ever learned more in my life from a project, I've learned so much about welding and fabricating as well as Machining in precise measurements. all these things that I have learned can also be correlated into day-to-day life. when I first started this project I had no idea that I'd actually complete the whole thing and with it almost all together I have almost reached the finish line. this week I spent a lot of time perfecting and making sure the drivetrain was going to run smoothly I worked a lot on the jackshaft as well as switching the sprockets so that the standard and Metric sizes would be together. This means that I'm going to have a metric chain from the motor to my first jackshaft sprocket as well as a standard sprocket from my jackshaft to the rear hub which in turn gives me the ability to run two different chains that all work together drivin...

            The past few days have been a tremendous struggle and have taught me a lot about building stuff yourself in the difficulties and setbacks that you run into when creating mechanical things such as an e-bike. I spent most of the day trying to come up with ways to reverse the polarity of the motor as well as come up with little fixes for my bike that I hadn't checked off the list yet. The little things included stuff like how I was going to run the wires throughout the bike as well as mounting up the throttle and ignition key for the bike. in the future I think I'm going to move the ignition key onto the frame of the bike instead of the handlebars so there is less clutter in the cockpit. I also realized that I was going to have to make a chain tensioner that I will create in the next day or so. Hours: 5:00 Total: 55:50

             Day 11 was very short due to the fact that it is a Saturday this cut my work time down by few hours. I only had about 3 hours to work on my project today and this was mainly due to the fact that Gordon had to go to kayaking, all that aside though I was able to complete a lot in those three hours. I start off my morning Gathering all the material is for my seat I headed up to Greg shop and found a piece of wood that perfectly fit in between the frame rails of my bike. This piece of wood would be the base to my seat I also receive some foam from Will, a fellow student who is also doing his senior project in the metal shop. I'm using a piece of canvas as my seat cover, although I haven't put my see together I think it will be extremely comfortable and cushion my ride just a little bit more. The second half of the morning I spent putting all my electronics in I was able to put everything in to the bike and finally see the first section of...

            Day number 10 was very productive I finished up all the little Loose Ends that'd been on the checklist for a while. today was spent with a lot of welding end routing of wires. all the small pieces that were tacked onto my frame I ran full beads on to increase the strength and durability of my bike. I spent an especially long time with this Center sheet metal that I am using for brackets this stuff may be hard the world but it makes the bike a little bit lighter. in this case I decided that dinner sheet metal would be a much better fit for my project to keep the weight down in all reality metal is a very strong and durable material especially when it is put under load. As you weld metal it pulls end stretches the material out slightly as it cools down creating tension in the frame as well as brackets which is extremely beneficial for what I'm doing. Hours: 6:05 total: 47:50

            Today was a good day I'm feeling very confident in the build, as well as finishing on schedule. In the morning I headed over to the shop to finish up the few things I need to do with the drivetrain. Define a few things I need to do our create a mounting plate for the speed controller as well as welding the last two seams for the drivetrain. These are all things that I will accomplish tomorrow and should be pretty simple and straightforward. After all this time building this bike my worlds have become increasingly better as the days pursue. This only gives me more confidence in riding the bike and it not breaking or decomposing overtime. In the afternoon I had a very busy schedule with a few appointments that I had to go to but I believe I have most of the materials that I need for the Cosmetic end of the bike. This includes plastics, new tires, and a seat cover which is just some random fabric I found at my house. For the Plastics I headed ...

            Day number eight was very short because it was a Wednesday, not giving me a lot of time to complete stuff. none the less I have finished the drivetrain completely. Even though on day seven I had a lot of setbacks what is metric and standard sizing, I worked it out. I now have all the gears in the right spot so I will be able to run a metric chain on one side and the standard chain on the other. although it took me and Gordon quite a while to get everything perfect call Mama it was completely worth it. I was a little bit shaken up after I realized the sizes were different but I'm glad I persevered and made it all work in the end it was just a small setback that taught me just a little bit more about what you can do in a machine shop. Hopefully, once my new standard size chain comes my bike will be completely functional, even if it doesn't look that pretty yet. I plan on getting materials to make a seat as well as getting plastic sheeting to ...

           Today was not a very good day I started off the day by getting to the metal shop excited to finally finish the drivetrain of my dirtbike, But then it all took a turn for the worst I got an email from Alex saying my package had arrived meeting that I would have all the components to complete my drivetrain. You would think this would be a good thing but when I got back to the shop I tried the chain and realize that the sprockets that I had ordered or metric end the other sprockets or in fact standard or iso. I think I might have had a bit of a mental breakdown in the shop after that. Realizing my mistake Gordon proposed a new idea, I could counter fit the sprockets in a way in which the metric sprocket and chain that I had would run to each other and the standard sprockets would also run to each other instead of having standard to metric, metric to standard. This conversion took Gordon and I the rest of the day and I still have a little bit of...

 Day six was very productive, I was able to complete a lot of the important stuff like finished up all the mounting brackets. The fisher bracket that I created was my motor mount slider allowing me to tension the chain properly with out having the proper chain length. Since we didn’t have the proper angle and to complete this bracket I cut square tubing in half instead of welding flat stock together to make the angle. In hindsight I think I will create a mount for the back of the motor as well just in Stiffen it up and make sure it is as stiff as possible. The next thing I did to finish this bracket was using the mill to create two slides so that the motor is able to slide back-and-forth. The next two brackets I made were the final two and there to hold the bearings for the jack shaft, if you’ve read my previous blog post I talked about how the jack shaft was an essential part of creating my brake giving it enough torque to move. These last two brackets consisted of flat stock that...

  This first week was extremely hectic for me I never thought I would actually come this far within this project. this project started at the beginning of the year trying to challenge myself to build something that I didn't think was accomplishable for my level of fabrication and metal engineering. When Gordon said yes to this idea after I had mocked up the frame with wood I was extremely surprised. I'd had the idea for a while but just really did not know how to execute end Gordon saying yes gave me the freedom to start my journey in creating a new passion that I had never explored before. Switching my senior project to my electric motorcycle build was one of the best things I think I've ever done. In the past week, I've been able to accomplish all the extremely complicated parts of the build. Building the frame was a piece of cake and although it took me a long time it was nothing difficult, but making the bike run and creating the internals and drivetrain is one of t...

 Day five was long but good I got a lot done including mocking up my jack shaft mounts and marking one of them. Creating the mounts was way more difficult than I thought just because I didn’t really take into account how many different moving parts there are and the amount of things that need to be perfectly inline to make it run smoothly. Another thing that Gordon made me think about is was the adjustments that would have to be put in place to tension both of the chains properly. To make this possible I made slots of the bangs were able to pivot back-and-forth creating tension in the chain. I also added a set screw in the 21 tooth sprocket so I am able to adjust it and make everything lineup before this set in the drive shaft. Hours: 5:10

            Today was extremely fun I'm starting to finish up most of the unsolved problems and stuff is starting to come together well. As you can see in the photos I have started to figure out where I'm putting the motor as well as planning out where I’m going to set up the jackshaft. Today I got in my pillow box so I'm able to start working on the placement of those tomorrow. I spent most of my morning setting up the 14 tooth sprocket and my jackshaft I created a keyway as well as a locking screw to make sure it won't move at high RPMs. In the afternoon I ran to the store to pick up Velcro as well as rubber to insulate the battery tray so there's no chance that any of the electronics will short circuit. Hours: 6:45

            Day three was very slow, I spent a lot of time trying to find things to do around the shop to stay proactive towards my project. this included planning out the next steps for the jackshaft as well as placement and fitment of the motor which is a very key part of the bike. Midway through the day around lunchtime, I received one of my packages containing the 14 tooth sprocket that will be running the chain back to the rear hub. I was not able to do much with the sprocket today other than boring out the inside so it would be the right diameter to fit on my half-inch steel drive shaft. The last thing I was able to complete today was the mounting plate for the lower idler pulley. I created this part by using an angle grinder to cut out a small 3 by 1 piece of steel flat-stock end fitting it to this space right behind the pegs. After that, I brought my piece of metal over to the mill channels for the bolt to move up and down creating chain tensio...

            Today I was able to accomplish a lot, to start off the day I finished up my battery mount. There's a very essential part to my motorcycle considering the battery is extremely delicate end can catch on fire if it is not properly installed. Another thing I accomplished today was creating the idler pulley for my chain tensioner which allows the chain to clear the frame in a very streamlined way, as well as keeping tension in the chain throughout the full motion of the rear swingarm. To create this pulley I started off with a piece of aluminum round stock, then I put it in the lathe and extruded the unnecessary material. I created a single channel for the chain to run through and I'm using two standard-size skateboard bearings to reduce friction and increase the lifespan of this part. I will post more pictures of the pulley and the battery mount tomorrow! Hours: 4:45 total: 9:30hr

          For my senior project, I am creating an electric dirt bike that eventually I will get registered, so I'm able to ride on the road. Today I did not accomplish much other than planning and setting up my electronics. Gordon my mentor, helped me figure out how I’m going to route the chain from the motor to my drive sprocket on the rear of the bike. We decided that doing a jackshaft was going to be the most effective because it enables the chain to be much closer to the pivot point of the rear triangle. Today we also calculated an estimate of what the final torque output would be after the two reductions, if I remember correctly it will be about 50 ft-lb of torque which is plenty for my application. I also ordered all the other materials that I'm going to need to complete the jackshaft which included 2 reduction gears, about 7 ft of chain, and pillow blocks. Hours: 4:45 Total: 4:45hr