After printing the remaining parts late last night for the frame and floor of the Makerbot electric car model I just had to get these photos taken and show off my efforts. So here are the latest photos along with more interesting facts about the model and possibilities of it being a real vehicle some day.
These views of the model give you a good idea of how large an actual car would be. The model here is two feet long and the figure of a man standing next to the car is one foot tall. If you do the conversion of numbers in your head and make the man six feet tall the car now would be twelve feet long. I measured the height of the roll bar from the ground and it would be 42 inches tall. A very low, small and light electric car to be sure. Just what I was shooting for. I got on a discussion about this being an actual vehicle some day and so far it looks promising. There would be no doors on the car as it is so low that they are not needed. The framework that encloses the interior of the vehicle is very low at only 23 inches high so it is an easy task to just step into the vehicle similar to a Lotus Super Seven or an old style dune buggy.
In this view of the model you can see the working rear suspension and the electric motor assembly already installed in it's correct location. The front suspension of the model is wide. It needs to be to make an actual vehicle that much more stable when cornering in a three wheeler.
This is a good shot of the motor assembly mounted to the floor of the model. The black mounts will hold an electric battery box on the top of the motor assembly once it has been printed on the Makerbot 3D printer.
This view again shows the rear suspension of the model on the left side of the model. A few of the pieces that were originally designed for the swing arm assembly in the rear of the car had to be changed to accommodate a new 1/4 inch aluminum shaft which cleaned up the assembly and made it simpler to assemble. The axle for the rear wheel and pulley was exactly the correct length at three inches so the nut fit on the end perfectly. You can see the aluminum shaft that extends out of the swing arm and of the electric motor. These will have a belt and pulley mounted to them both to complete the assembly. This will probably be one of the last things done on the model as the swing arm and rear wheel assembly is mounted to the upper frame. This upper frame will not be mounted to the floor of the model until the interior of the car has been installed with the seats and all of the battery packs.
At this point in the model build I am encouraged as to how well it is all coming together and makes the idea of actually building this vehicle for real some day more of a possibility. A lot of interesting details have been revealed with this model as to how big a real car would be and what kind of space is needed for a motor, batteries, seats, people and storage. It would be a very interesting and fun vehicle to drive to be sure. If anyone out there in Internet land is reading this and you have some ideas or questions for me about this project (or any of my projects) please let me know. I encourage any and all comments and advise! No matter what, like most of my projects I am learning new things once again here at the Tinker's Workshop and so that is always a good thing.
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