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⚠️ This project is still in its early stages. Not guaranteed I'll ever finish!
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By jorisroovers.com
Introduction
- Project Goal: build an electric Ride On car for my daughter from scratch. You know, one of those electric cars that kids can actually ride in.
- It should be strong and large enough so I can ride it in it myself, however this car does not need to go fast at all. Walking pace is fine.
- Why:
- Looking for a new project that combines new electronics, mechanics and construction techniques with the right level of challenge
- I never had one of these as a kid and always wanted one, I think most kids do.
- How:
- In experimental and iterative fashion, piece by piece. Not by assembling a complete pre-existing kit or by following someone else's design.
- I fully expect to make mistakes and backtrack.
- Timeline: I’m taking my time. Started in mid-July 2020 and given the unknowns and other things going on I'm hoping to complete this project in ~2 years. Long is fine too.
- My daughter is still a toddler, I've got time :-)
- Cost: No idea. I'm fully convinced I'll be spending a whole lot more on experimentation and materials than to just buy a Ride On car. Cost savings is not the point.
- Updates: on this page, intermittently. Often weeks or months in between.
One of these. Definitely not so fancy looking.
Updates
See Kid Car - Experiments for latest details. High-level timeline of updates below
- 2021-08-02:
- After frying quite a few speed controllers while trying to ride the kid car, I finally got it to work long enough to shoot some video of it (see tweet). Next up is front wheels and steering.
- 2021-01-20:
- Ordered some steel and aluminium pipes for rear axle experiments. Research around rear axles and wheel attachments.
- 2020-12-27:
- Doing more research into chain and belt drive systems in order to spin a rear axle. Ordered few test parts to play around with.
- 2020-12-18:
- 2020-09-27:
- Prototype 1 minor tweaks: added speed controller, Makita battery easy-attachment clip
- Thinking about second prototype
- 2020-09-08:
- Tried out welding for the first time this weekend. Thinking about welding the bottom frame of the car and some other parts
- Got the 3D differential gear working together with a motor and battery as an experiment. See Kid Car - Experiments
- 2020-08-16: Did some experimenting with power tool power supplies + 3D printed a differential gear set to better understand the mechanics.
- 2020-07-29: Created this page. Did some light research about what others have done before.
https://twitter.com/jorisroovers/status/1422163494695211011
Problem Decomposition - Open Questions
- Electric Motor: What kind of electric motor I'm going to need
- Battery: How to power and charge the car
- Gears: How to transfer motion from the motor to the wheels. How to steer. What about reversing.
- Frame:
- Base Frame: Metal, wood, PVC pipe?
- Bodywork: plywood, most likely. Spray paint
- Wheels: should be pretty straightforward
- Suspension: needed? If so, what/how?
- Electronics: probably need some micro-controller and supporting electronics to control the car. Especially if I want to add fancy features like honking, headlights, etc.
- Not too worried about this, this is an area where I have some experience (Arduino, simple PCBs, etc). Might want to experiment with some new things.
Prototypes
Kid Car - Experiments
Research
How to Make a Go kart / Electric car using PVC pipe at Home
How to make an electric car for your kid
Part Sourcing
Gathering parts is often one of the harder parts if you're not intimately familiar with the terminology and or vendors. This section contains links for potential part sourcing.
Rubber wiel 20 mm naaf | Halvewerk.nl