Self Balancing Scooter Day 36th October 2012
2.5 hours |
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Well, it's been 2 days & the project has come a long way already, to be honest I guess I've spent more time designing & documenting the progress than actually working but I still never thought I would be this far ahead after 2 days.
Balancing without electronics
The next part is working out where to put the batteries in relation to the motors & handlebar so that the scooter is balanced. I would ideally like the scooter to stand up by itself when it is turned off but still be ok when a person stands on it, I'm not even sure if both these things are possible which is why this next bit will involve a lot of trial & error.
I can't fit the checker plate cover yet because I need to cut out the sides to fit around the motors, & I can't fit the motors because I don't know what the best position is for them.
So I'm going to make a wooden foot plate out of an old desk top for testing with enough space to be able to move the motors into different positions. Plus I can then mount the batteries in different positions under it by drilling holes & using cable ties until I get the balance right.
Some things to think about:
1/ Two or four batteries (my batteries are fairly small for this project so maybe 4)
2/ To be able to balance when the scooter is off as well as when a person is on it then the person would presumably have to stand over the wheels
3/ If the above is true & I have to stand over the wheels then it would be good to have the wheels towards the back for a good riding position. Which means I need most of the weight at the back to keep it balanced.
4/ Will my foot plate be so big that the rider is not forced to put their feet in a specific place but free to move around too much which will ultimately affect the balance.
I'm sure all these questions & more will be answered as the project slowly evolves in the next few hours.
A few hours later....... I ended up meeting some really interesting new customers that visited us, plus I took my son for a driving lesson & fixed a few minor things with his car. But I never actually got chance to do anything on the scooter apart from write this page.
So tomorrow I will change the date at the top of the page to the 6th & start again. I also found out that the electronic bits I'm waiting for haven't even been shipped yet, so a little disappointed with that.
Balancing without electronics
The next part is working out where to put the batteries in relation to the motors & handlebar so that the scooter is balanced. I would ideally like the scooter to stand up by itself when it is turned off but still be ok when a person stands on it, I'm not even sure if both these things are possible which is why this next bit will involve a lot of trial & error.
I can't fit the checker plate cover yet because I need to cut out the sides to fit around the motors, & I can't fit the motors because I don't know what the best position is for them.
So I'm going to make a wooden foot plate out of an old desk top for testing with enough space to be able to move the motors into different positions. Plus I can then mount the batteries in different positions under it by drilling holes & using cable ties until I get the balance right.
Some things to think about:
1/ Two or four batteries (my batteries are fairly small for this project so maybe 4)
2/ To be able to balance when the scooter is off as well as when a person is on it then the person would presumably have to stand over the wheels
3/ If the above is true & I have to stand over the wheels then it would be good to have the wheels towards the back for a good riding position. Which means I need most of the weight at the back to keep it balanced.
4/ Will my foot plate be so big that the rider is not forced to put their feet in a specific place but free to move around too much which will ultimately affect the balance.
I'm sure all these questions & more will be answered as the project slowly evolves in the next few hours.
A few hours later....... I ended up meeting some really interesting new customers that visited us, plus I took my son for a driving lesson & fixed a few minor things with his car. But I never actually got chance to do anything on the scooter apart from write this page.
So tomorrow I will change the date at the top of the page to the 6th & start again. I also found out that the electronic bits I'm waiting for haven't even been shipped yet, so a little disappointed with that.
So I quickly made a wooden foot plate so I could test all the ideas I have & especially to get the balance correct.
With wood it was possible to easily & quickly drill holes & adjust things & use self tapping wood screws, it took an hour to mark it all out & cut it up.
I would thoroughly recommend doing this.
I even added a couple of old springs to hold the handle up, these will definitely be replaced or altered later.
The top & batteries are temporarily held with cable ties.
With wood it was possible to easily & quickly drill holes & adjust things & use self tapping wood screws, it took an hour to mark it all out & cut it up.
I would thoroughly recommend doing this.
I even added a couple of old springs to hold the handle up, these will definitely be replaced or altered later.
The top & batteries are temporarily held with cable ties.
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To be able to get the scooter to balance & offset the weight of the motors I had to mount the batteries at the back. I decided to use 4 of those little batteries, they are only 45W each which is 3.75A so two clearly wouldn't have been enough.
I tried to stand on the scooter & soon learned that it was not possible to do this, or at least not with some degree of safety. It was just too hard to balance on it. I think what I have done is finely balance the scooter by having all the weight towards the ends. What I should have done is balance it by having as much of the weight towards the centre. What I was trying to do was to create some room between the rider & the handlebar.
So tomorrow I will slide the wheels forward & bring the batteries nearer the wheels.
If that doesn't work I will swap the motors so that the long black bit of the motor goes to the back.
I'm really pleased I made this wooden top for testing, I kind of thought this part might be tricky.
I just hope I don't have to make the top & the frame shorter, it would certainly help the balance but I'm going to stick with this size for now.
I tried to stand on the scooter & soon learned that it was not possible to do this, or at least not with some degree of safety. It was just too hard to balance on it. I think what I have done is finely balance the scooter by having all the weight towards the ends. What I should have done is balance it by having as much of the weight towards the centre. What I was trying to do was to create some room between the rider & the handlebar.
So tomorrow I will slide the wheels forward & bring the batteries nearer the wheels.
If that doesn't work I will swap the motors so that the long black bit of the motor goes to the back.
I'm really pleased I made this wooden top for testing, I kind of thought this part might be tricky.
I just hope I don't have to make the top & the frame shorter, it would certainly help the balance but I'm going to stick with this size for now.
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