Will the scooter be strong enough to stand on? Hmm. Perhaps not!
The donor scooter (see second photo) has an existing frame that is perhaps 100mm wide. The foot board that has been built is about 300mm wide. The weight of an average human adult would probably fracture the foot board nicely over the frame. Perhaps I should have thought of this sooner?
The answer – fabricate a light frame from aluminium to strengthen the foot board. Ulrich Aluminium supplied some sturdy and inexpensive box section. I cut two cross members with 45 degree cuts using a regular drop saw with a waxed blade – slowly! – and two longitudinal members to fit over the top of these. The total aluminium used represents less than $10.
As can be seen in the photo, one of the cross members had to have a section cut away with a hole saw (using CRC as a lubricant on the drill press) to fit around an existing tube on the scooter. The two longitudinal members had three sides of the box section removed with a hacksaw, file and some elbow grease. Holes were drilled to match existing mounting holes in the scooter frame (for the old plastic foot board).
The frame will be mounted in place (in the position shown in the photo) through existing holes in the scooter frame, and the foot board/fairing mounted to this. I had to cut away a section of sheet steel that was welded to the rear of the foot board area at an upwards angle. The first time I have used an angle grinder – the sheer amount of sparks gave me a bit of a fright, but no problems there!
You can see the hub motor in the rear wheel. The whole unit is cast as one piece. It is also on the right way around now 🙂