A scooter, of course, is not, but it allows you to save a lot of energy on moving, especially if you use it constantly.
A homemade scooter is easy to make, its cost is minimal, and the benefits for the health of the body are simply invaluable! After all, it is known that constant, uniform loads strengthen the heart muscle and increase the overall tone of the body. A scooter assembled by yourself greatly helps to increase endurance, if, of course, it is used daily.
Wooden scooter for commuting. The scooter was made of 10 mm plywood and 28 mm furniture board, the latter went to the support platform.
The front fork of the scooter is taken from a standard bicycle (20-inch wheel), the rear wheel has a smaller diameter (12 inches).
The scooter was assembled with your own hands, self-tapping screws and furniture corners were used as fasteners, except for the glue, all parts were glued with PVA glue.
Over the summer of 2012, more than 600 km were covered on a homemade scooter.
It is worth adding to this description that such a homemade scooter is much better than a purchased one. I have not seen a normal scooter with pneumatic tires at an affordable price. Even scooters with 2 suspensions (for each wheel) from Decathlon do not allow driving on grass or a country road, and when driving on paving slabs or chipped asphalt on the roadway, they “knock” and vibrate very strongly, which makes riding very quickly boring.
Bicycle wheels used in a homemade scooter allow you to avoid such shaking, and the large diameter of the wheels helps on off-road conditions. In addition, you yourself can design the ground clearance of your scooter, if you ride on a country road - make it larger!
With proper manufacturing and subsequent treatment with varnish (preferably waterproof - for example, yacht varnish), a homemade scooter will serve you for many years!
More articles for DIYers.
A scooter, of course, is not, but it allows you to save a lot of energy on moving, especially if you use it constantly.
A homemade scooter is easy to make, its cost is minimal, and the benefits for the health of the body are simply invaluable! After all, it is known that constant, uniform loads strengthen the heart muscle and increase the overall tone of the body. A scooter assembled by yourself greatly helps to increase endurance, if, of course, it is used daily.
Wooden scooter for commuting. The scooter was made of 10 mm plywood and 28 mm furniture board, the latter went to the support platform.
The front fork of the scooter is taken from a standard bicycle (20-inch wheel), the rear wheel has a smaller diameter (12 inches).
The scooter was assembled with your own hands, self-tapping screws and furniture corners were used as fasteners, except for the glue, all parts were glued with PVA glue.
Over the summer of 2012, more than 600 km were covered on a homemade scooter.
It is worth adding to this description that such a homemade scooter is much better than a purchased one. I have not seen a normal scooter with pneumatic tires at an affordable price. Even scooters with 2 suspensions (for each wheel) from Decathlon do not allow driving on grass or a country road, and when driving on paving slabs or chipped asphalt on the roadway, they “knock” and vibrate very strongly, which makes riding very quickly boring.
Bicycle wheels used in a homemade scooter allow you to avoid such shaking, and the large diameter of the wheels helps on off-road conditions. In addition, you yourself can design the ground clearance of your scooter, if you ride on a country road - make it larger!
With proper manufacturing and subsequent treatment with varnish (preferably waterproof - for example, yacht varnish), a homemade scooter will serve you for many years!
More articles for DIYers.
Today there are quite a large number of factory-made electric scooters on the market and you can choose one to suit every taste and budget.
But any product, as you know, is designed for the average buyer.
One is foldable and lightweight, but it travels slowly and does not start from a standstill.
The second one starts and accelerates perfectly, but is too heavy.
What to do if you want a scooter specifically tailored to your needs?
There are two options - either take the factory one and modify it, or assemble the device yourself from scratch.
Both options have the right to life and which way to go is everyone’s personal choice.
I will try to outline how a set of elements for self-assembly is completed.
The main element of the assembled scooter is the “base”.
Scooter databases are conventionally divided into subtypes:
Micro - with wheels up to 8 inches,
Mini wheels 8-10 inches,
Midi - 12-16 inches,
Maxi - from 20 inches and more.
Scooters with wide, non-bicycle tires stand a little apart. Rhino, Evo, Scruiser and their clones are also considered scooters, although in terms of engine power and appearance they are clearly closer to motor scooters and scooters.
So the base is where you should start dancing.
The final driving performance of the electric scooter depends on the choice of base.
What should you pay attention to first?
The size of the wheels, cast or inflatable, the presence of suspension, a place for a convenient location of the battery and the width of the dropouts for installing the motor-wheel.
If your city has mirror asphalt that is washed with shampoo every evening, then 5.5 inches is quite suitable for you.
If there are tiles and cracks in the asphalt - 8 inches is the minimum and pneumatics are very desirable.
If your asphalt has not been repaired for the last 10 years, don’t even look below 12 inches.
Do you want to drive at a speed of 40-plus and not be afraid to fly head over heels on an unexpected hole? From 16 inches and above.
The suspension partially reduces impacts from bumps on small wheels, but the rule “a wheel can move over an obstacle no more than half its diameter” will not go away.
Battery location Options - in the deck, in the steering column, on the steering wheel in a bag or case, on the trunk, in a backpack.
Some scooters have a cavity in the deck that allows it to be used for packing battery assemblies.
Pros: low center of gravity, appearance. Disadvantages – additional protection of the battery from impacts on road surface protrusions may be necessary.
You can place a battery in the steering column if it consists of several pipes and there is free space between them. Pros - the battery does not significantly affect the weight distribution of the scooter; when making the facing, the scooter is not afraid of falls. Disadvantages: labor-intensive work.
Also, some scooters have mounts for a bottle on the steering column, where you can screw a case or battery in a “bottle”. Pros: ease of installation, ease of removal. Disadvantages – it interferes with driving; if you fall, the fasteners can break off.
You can place the battery on the steering wheel in the case. Pros: ease of installation, ease of removal. Cons: worse weight distribution, more noticeable impacts on the front wheel. If you fall, there is a chance that the case will break.
The batteries for small and folding scooters are usually located on the handlebars in the bag. The bag for photographic equipment is sufficient for a small battery and does not attract attention. Pros - ease of installation, Cons - risk of damage to the battery if dropped.
The battery on the rear rack was a popular solution for early electric bicycles. It is of little relevance for scooters, due to the lack of a trunk on most of them. Pros: ease of installation, ease of removal. Cons: change in weight distribution, noticeable impacts on the rear wheel.
It is also possible to ride with a battery in a backpack and a cable with a connector to the scooter itself. Pros: the ability to insulate the battery for use in winter. Lightening the scooter, which significantly increases maneuverability and the ability to actively ride with jumps. Disadvantages – diseases of the spine from constant load (depending on the weight of the battery), change in weight distribution to the motor-wheel side.
Dropout width.
This is the distance between the seats in the front or rear fork of the scooter.
For micro and mini models, the standard motor wheels are 45 or 65 mm. For anything larger - 100 mm.
Bicycle MKs for the front wheel also have a standard of 100mm.
There are MK 110s with brake discs, but less frequently.
135mm is already the bicycle size of the rear wheel, for gears on one side.
The electrical part of the electric scooter is quite simple, 4 points - battery, controller, motor and controls.
Previously, batteries were heavy lead, with a low resource of 300-400 cycles and low charge-discharge currents.
Modern electric scooters run on different types of lithium batteries – lithium-ion, lithium-polymer, lithium-iron phosphate.
Let's look at the difference between them.
Lithium polymer (LiPo) batteries have a favorable cost, high charge and discharge currents, and a service life of 500-800 cycles.
Lithium ion (LiIon) – 500-1000 cycles, light weight, temperature dependent.
In general, there are three subtypes of ions, depending on the type of chemistry. Some have higher capacity, but higher internal resistance, others have high current, but do not shine with capacity.
They require protection from mechanical damage when used on scooters. There have been cases of ions catching fire from impacts when dropped.
Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePo4) – About twice as heavy as ions, more expensive. They give out and receive high currents, the service life is 2000 cycles.
Not fire hazardous, quite resistant to mechanical deformation. Can be discharged at sub-zero temperatures.
Drive of a scooter wheel from an external motor by a belt or chain is still common, but it is clearly losing ground to motor wheels.
A wheel motor is the best choice of motor for a self-assembled electric scooter.
They come in two types - geared and direct drive. Let's look at the differences, pros and cons of each type.
Gear micros.
Lighter than direct drive MK of the same power, better efficiency at low speeds. Excellent roll-up due to the presence of a freewheel, which is very useful when using a foot-powered scooter. There are wear parts - gears, someday they will require replacement. Noise - the gearbox howls during operation. Impossibility of regenerative braking. Slightly better boost potential due to higher rotation speeds.
Direct drive (DD).
Heavier than gearboxes, rolling is worse due to the cog effect. There are no wearing parts other than bearings in such MKs. Low noise, and when using a sinusoidal controller they can be completely silent. They have the ability to use recuperation braking. They justify themselves when using a scooter in areas with large differences in elevation and as a means of saving brake pads. When installing MK on mini and micro scooters, it happens that recuperation is the only adequate brake on board.
Controller.
The controller is the brains of our scooter; the traction uphill, the start method and the dynamics of acceleration will depend on its choice. The choice of controller must be made according to the motor parameters. For example, a wheel motor has the following parameters: 48V 350W, what does this mean?
The rated voltage of the wheel motor is 48 volts. Nobody forbids feeding it less, but at the same time its power will be lower. No one forbids supplying more to it, but it is important not to overheat the microscope with the pumped power.
This is the rated power of this mk. As practice shows, the rated power can be increased by 1.5-2 times for DD and 2-2.5 times for gearboxes. To select a controller, let's convert watts to amperes - 350/48 = 7.3 amperes. Of course, it will run at 7.3 amps, but it’s pretty sad, so we boost it to 12-15 amps for direct drive and 15-18 for gearboxes. For these currents we will need to look for a controller for such a microcontroller.
Controls.
1 – power switch.
The power supply is usually connected directly to the controller and is not interrupted when idle. The power switch turns off the low-current part of the controller that supplies voltage to the control circuit. Since the currents there are small, you can use almost any suitable latching button.
2 - Gazulka.
It is a motorcycle-type throttle grip, or a half throttle or throttle trigger. I strongly recommend choosing the trigger, since it is easy to release in an emergency, and a person instinctively grasps the handle more tightly to hold on. Has at least three wires - plus 5 volts, ground and output signal.
3 – Brake levers.
Electric scooters are equipped with brake handles with built-in limit switches to turn off the motor when the brake is pressed. If the controller has an activated regeneration braking mode, it will also turn on when any brake lever is pressed. They come with built-in buttons, with reed switches and with hall sensors. Connection - ground, output signal. For hall sensors, + 5 volts are additionally connected. Sometimes, in order not to change the standard handles, separate modules with reed switches or hall sensors are installed. They are attached to a cable or to the body of the handles.
So we figured out the general electrical structure.
Let's look at assembly examples.
This project uses the Yedoo Ox base,
battery cells lithium iron phosphate
and micro direct drive, 12 inches in diameter.
The battery is divided into two packs and placed in the deck and steering column.
The controller is mounted under the steering column, where it does not interfere and is always blown by the air flow.
The drive is rear-wheel drive, which is a convenient solution for climbing hills. The battery is protected from below by a 4mm alucobond plate.
Final characteristics of the scooter:
Weight 18.5 kg.
Battery 16S3P, 52 volts 9 ampere-hour.
A powerful battery... And an impressive price. Yes, there are economical options, but is it possible to spend even less? And if so, how to make an electric scooter with your own hands?
Decide on what you will base your iron horse on. There are three good, repeatedly tested options:
If you do not have much experience with such tasks, we recommend making an electric scooter with your own hands using a screwdriver.
Have you chosen an engine? Now it is important to decide how you will transfer torque from it to the wheels. The following transfer options are available:
Again: if you don’t have much experience, use a chain. The option is controversial, because the chain can fly off, but this will be the easiest to implement.
Which wheel will be the drive: rear or front? If you choose the rear one, it will be easier to install; if you choose the front one, the scooter will be better controlled. We advise you to still bother with connecting the front wheel, it’s worth it. The wheels themselves can be taken as ordinary ones, with plastic discs. Wheels from garden carts work well.
The frame is made from ordinary steel pipes. Profiled steel 2.5 millimeters thick will be enough for a self-made electric scooter to withstand a load of up to 100 kilograms.
IMPORTANT: If you are making an electric scooter not entirely from scratch, but on the basis of a regular - non-motorized - scooter, you will not have any issues with the frame and wheels. Just choose from durable and stable models: very elegant ones may not be ready for serious loads.
Do not use heavy lead batteries! You will most likely not be able to carefully remove them under the deck, and the battery will simply break the entire balance of your scooter. If you are doing it on the basis of a screwdriver, there are no questions - use the original battery - if not, look at those for electric helicopters, the same drills and similar equipment.
It is not necessary to use welding or similar technically complex fastening methods.
The best choice would be to watch a video on YouTube before starting work. Look specifically for a scooter assembly based on the engine you choose and with the gear you choose - there are videos for almost all existing options.
And, in any case, you will need some experience working with your hands. Ideal if you have already worked with electrical and metal. If you don’t have any experience, we strongly recommend finding an assembly partner or at least a consultant - a person who can look at your idea and project and give their comments on it.
If you do everything carefully, a DIY electric scooter will cost only 5-7 thousand rubles, which means you can save a lot. Good luck with the build!
The front part is made of mountain material, and a hand brake is also installed here. As for the rear part, a smaller diameter wheel from a children's bicycle is used here. The author got the bikes almost free of charge. To create a powerful frame that will not bend under the weight of a person, a thick-walled metal pipe is used. The scooter is assembled quite quickly and easily. It is enough to have some basic skills in working with the tool.
Materials and tools for making a scooter:
- the front part of an adult mountain bike;
- rear fork with a wheel from a children's bicycle;
- steel plates;
- screws;
- a piece of strong metal pipe to create a frame;
- spanners;
- welding machine;
- Bulgarian;
- drill;
- dye.
Scooter manufacturing process:
Step one. We disassemble bicycles
First you need to get the necessary elements to create a scooter. For a mountain bike, you will need a front fork with a wheel, and you also need to leave a handbrake. You need to take a grinder and cut off the frame from the front fork, as you can see in the photo. In addition to this, there is also another option: you can not cut off the lower part of the frame, but simply extend it with a piece of pipe, if it is rigid enough to create a scooter.
As for the rear fork from a children's bicycle, it all depends on the design. If this is also a mountain bike, then the fork can simply be unscrewed. If it’s an ordinary one, you’ll also have to work with an angle grinder.
Step two. We create a frame and weld the structure
To create a frame, you need to take a metal pipe and bend it so that the shape is approximately the same as in the photo. The pipe must be strong so that it does not bend under the weight of a person. One end of the pipe is welded to the front fork, and the author welds a metal plate to the other end. Next, the rear fork is welded to this plate, so the design is more reliable, since the rear wheel bears the greatest load.
Step three. Attaching the board
To make it comfortable to stand on the scooter while riding, you need to screw a board to its frame. For these purposes, you first need to weld 2-3 metal plates to the frame and drill holes in them. Well, then the board is simply screwed to the plates using screws with nuts or self-tapping screws. You will need to make a cut in the board, as in the photo, so that the frame fits into it.
Step four. Scooter painting
You can paint the scooter to suit your taste. The author used matte black spray paint for the frame. As for the board and rear wheel, bright fluorescent pink paint was used. This is the color that most suited the author’s daughter.
That's all, now the scooter is ready for testing.
