Adding tube clamps and hard side panels to frame triangle

[spinningmagnets]

Here's the master thread with all of the mods I've done to the Electra Lux

http://electricbike.com/forum/forum/builds/customer-gallery/9435-electra-lux-fat-with-bbshd

The Bike is an Electra Lux Fat 7D, $700 stock, with a 100mm BB and aluminum frame, one-inch head-tube on a steel fork. Dual cable-operated disc brakes. So far, I've added a Suntour NCX suspension seat post. The drive is a 120mm BBSHD using a 52V / 14-Ah triangle pack using the GA cell. It's a high capacity cell so I can get 14-Ah of range in a very small and light 4P pack. At 4P, this tiny pack is still able to provide 40A comfortably

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I am happy with the battery bag, the velcro version has a reasonable amount of water resistance if I get caught in an unexpected sprinkle of rain. However...I also wanted some hard side panels for puncture resistance, and also to hide some of the wiring clutter. If i was just making this for me, I might have taken more time and made some bitchin aluminum billet tube-clamps, but...I decided I wanted to start showing new builders how to make cheap and easy project parts.



This project can be done with a vice, cordless drill, hacksaw, and a jigsaw. I'll post pics first, and later I can add more info. The aluminum channel is exactly 4-inches wide on the outer dimension, so after adding two 1/4-inch thick panels, the total width is 4.5 inches. I might have been able to order some channel that was a hair narrower, in order to make the project as narrow as possible (while still having room for the 18650-cell battery pack), but I have a shop nearby that stocks this cheap, and 4-inches leaves a little spare room for padding if I want (Yoga mat?).

The steel tube clamps are cheap, they are from a plumbing supply, and they are called "split pipe hangers"

[spinningmagnets]

The aluminum channel could have been a little narrower and still fit the 18650 battery pack, but the 4-inch wide channel is readily available at my local supplier. The 18650 cells shown are the standard 65mm wide, so 2.6-inches wide on their sides.

The "black cast iron" clamps are the cheapest of this type, compared to brass or copper. They were $3.50 and $4.50 for the officially-named "one-inch" and "1-1/4 inch". Their true inside diameters (ID's) were 1-1/4 inches and 1-5/8ths, when fully clamped down. With some silicone tape (or duct tape) wrapped around the frame tubing, you can achieve a snug fit. In millimeters they would be 31mm-33mm...and the larger size would be 41mm-43mm.

This common style takes a hanger bolt (all-threaded rod) that is a common 3/8-16 thread.

Reserved for more pics

[Louis]

Picture of the mounts and placement before the panel was placed? And weight of the panels? Cool project! Again!

[spinningmagnets]

I always start with cardboard. Free, easy to cut, and the rough version allows me to quickly identify where there will be conflicts. Middle version is 1/8th inch thick fiberboard, very cheap, thin, so it's very easy to cut. It flexes easy, but it's just stable enough to make precise measurements and then have the result end up as a reliable and sturdy pattern.

Final version could have been acrylic or some other plastic sheet. I chose 1/4-inch thick plywood. I chose the style of plywood that is ugly on one side to save money, but the other side is smooth and pretty. If you sort through the pile, you can usually find a sheet with a section that has no knots or irregularities. Bring the pattern with you to overlay when deciding which sheet to buy.

[Louis]

Picture of the mounts and placement before the panel was placed? And weight of the panels? Cool project! Again!

[spinningmagnets]

My pleasure...the panels are very light. I suppose i could have used polycarbonate or acrylic, but I like wood grain. I plan to use stain to make a pattern on the wood grain. I'll post a lot more pics when its done. That way you only have to wade through the final "improved" version, not V1, V2, and V3...

This is the style of aluminum that was locally available fairly fast. Also it was thicker, so I knew I could just drill a hole and epoxy-in the steel threaded nutserts/rivnuts. If I ever do this again, I'd use aluminum channel that was much thinner, and just crimp the nutserts into the hole, just the way they were designed to do.





You can find channel that has a uniform thickness, but this stuff has a flared interior shape. The outer sides are parallel, but the insides aren't. This meant that the nutserts would be difficult to crimp properly, but I cut a chunk out of another section to make some square washers that had the same exact flare on one side. Flip them over and their respective flared sides cancel each other out. After doing this I can say that it would have been easier and faster to just order uniform wall-thickness channel. Drill a hole, then crimp the nutserts