This is the hulking Behemoth of a motor that we are machining the aluminum to be the same outside dimensions of. Each of these motors weigh in at around 40 pounds and are not fun to carry around because of the cooling fins, size, and weight.
The first step of the project is to start machining the extruded aluminum. What we did was cut the 5 feet long pieces with a band saw to the approximate lengths we wanted and then machined each piece to the correct length.
The machining was not without mistakes, even though we wish it was not. When we started the holes for the aluminum with the stock drill bits at the shop, we noticed that we were running the drill too fast. Combine that with a dull drill bit and you have some heated aluminum that deforms after the drill bit punches through. This is byproducts of excess friction provided by a dull drill bit.
One of the good things about drilling with the shop drill bit is that they did not have the correct sized drill bit we needed for the final hole. So, we went out and bought a brand new drill bit for the correct size hole we needed. The new drill bit cut right through the aluminum and produced quiet a bit less heat then the shop drill bits.
The culmination of about a months worth of work payed off last weekend. Everything was machined to +/-.005inches. We also took the time to clamp everything down on a granite machining block that is, for our purposes, perfectly flat. This mock motor has the same bolt hole spacing and outside dimensions as the actual motor, minus the weight.
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EV Team Electric Motorcycle Motor Mount
For the Electric Vehicle Teams Electric motorcycle project, we plan on mounting two 50Kw electric motors to the motor cycle. One of the problems with mounting the motors is that they weigh around 40 pounds a piece and are rather bulky. What decided to do, was mock up some extruded aluminum that has the same profile as the motors, however they will be about an eighth of the weight. This will make the design and processing of the sub-frame for the motorcycle easier and more accurate.