ATV electric conversion part 4: Starting assembly

Continuing from previous part 1, part 2 and part 3.

After some consideration I ended up building simple L-shaped frame from rectangular pipe for the motor and welding it directly to the swing arm. In addition of being easier to build and weld, it also has the benefit of moving with the swing so chain stays about the same length all the time.

I'm not exactly proud of the welds itself (complete beginner), but  I am confident enough that they hold. Here is the swing arm shown from top.

And from bottom after few layers of paint and motor attached. One corner of motor point is not connected but I expect it to be just fine.

Chain was slightly long so I had to shorten it a bit. It didn't have master link so I had to take two pins out (with bench vice, few small nails and hammer) and pinning it back together. The rear part of swing arm is adjustable so tightening chain was easy enough; just loosen few bolts, adjust, then tighten again.

Moving on to final assembly. Here I just quickly replaced swing arm to check on how other parts could be positioned, without spring/dampener so it's not riding correctly yet.


I have absolutely no idea on how waterproof the electrics exactly aren't, but considering that they are built for this kind of use (scooter, ATV, bike etc) I'd expect them to have at least some resistance to waters. Either way, I am planning on adding some kind of plastic sheet there to at least guard them against smaller splashes they will encounter.

I wouldn't want to place controller in enclosed area due to thermal reasons (air cooling), so I was considering just hanging it (silvery box in picture) approximately there from engine mount from old gasoline engine. Here it's just hanging by a wire to illustrate the idea, I was planning on mounting it horizontally.
Battery might as well be at bottom there (or maybe a bit higher, under the bench) with simple mount to allow easy removal for periods when vehicle isn't used.

More about exact placement in next part.

Around the world, and nothing truthful is on.

There once was a dream.

The dream was that the Internet, with capital I, would bring the world together in unity, to cross all political, religious and other gaps and make our world, in a lack of better word, whole.

Unfortunately this didn't happen. Exactly the opposite did. The world is, if possible, more divided than it ever has been.

These days everyone, and I do mean everyone, including myself, is firmly dug in their own little foxhole of opinion, and they won't even hear anything else. And this is all because of the internet as we know it.

The original dream was (I think, with my entrenched opinion) that since everyone could connect with everyone, there would be lot of cross-cultural and cross-political dialogue, bringing people together. After all, this had happened before, under more physical circumstances. Trade between neighbors brings the world together like nothing else.

That didn't happen on the internet. What did happen, instead, is that internet allowed people to find peers, other people that think alike and dig in with them, blasting out their own version of Ride of the Valkyries so that no dissenting voices could be heard, and actually actively closing themselves out from hearing anything not in line with their opinions. People all over the world did this very same thing with their own peer groups, often without even realizing it, and the result is what we have now. World divided.

There are, of course, people who love this division, thrive in it and even actively work to encourage it. Divide et impera - divide and conquer. Make people hate each other so they don't notice what you are doing to them. Some people of course are true believers, but these days it seems that the huge majority of active - that is, most often posting and most vocal - people are fake. Imaginary people, made up by someone just to further the division.

The main service providers in internet - and this with absolutely no exceptions includes every single large-scale service operator you might know or have heard of - are actively contributing to this problem by implementing services and policies that allow and even encourage this behavior. The rich and the politicians have their own goals and since this benefits them, too, by distracting people from nefarious stuff they are doing, so they, too, encourage it.

As I write of this, another huge distraction appears to be nearing flash point at middle east while huge chunk Australia is burning with temperatures reaching all time records.

I often try to think up some hope when discussing this kind of current topics, but alas, this time I see none. Too many people have too much to gain from the current situation, either by allowing them to live in denial or by allowing them to profit from said denial, so I can't see anything changing anytime soon.


So in meantime, here's a puppy enjoying a summer day at a lake.