Portable snow tank for towing skiers

[Philosoraptor]

Schools out so we had trips and a family sick spell, so not much to update until today. I spent a few hours grinding all the welds down. Nice and smooth now, so I can start putting panels in and attach the motor mounts


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[Quinc]

Any updates?! Or you wasting your days away enjoying time with your family?

 

[Philosoraptor]

Any updates?! Or you wasting your days away enjoying time with your family?

Hahaha! We have four birthdays in the last two weeks of June, so it’s been a lot of time wasted on that

I took a half day Monday for some grinding and welding. I made a mistake and needed to correct, then started tapping the frame for the motor mounts. I’m taking the day off tomorrow to hopefully finish the frame and plasma cut the panels. If it looks halfway decent I’ll upload some photos (or even if it doesn’t I’ll upload some!). I’ve been printing TPU gaskets all week for the frame / panel interfaces too.


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[Philosoraptor]

Today I welded the frame back together after installing the motor mounts. I designed the outer panels and started plasma cutting those.

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[Philosoraptor]

A few more action shots. Drilling out motor mounts before I welded the frame back together

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[Philosoraptor]

Far and away the biggest lesson learned that I’m going to take into my next project is this: whenever I design and build my own frame and body panels, I’m going to etch the outlines of where everything goes into all the body panels when I laser cut them. I measured and measured and measured again before I welded and cut everything for the frame, and I still have several little things off, which means I can’t just laser or plasma cut based on the cad files because the parts won’t necessarily fit unless they’re rectangles. But if I had etched outlines of where everything should be connecting on all of the body panels and cut the irregularly shaped pieces, I could’ve used all of that as guides, and all the pieces would fit right in.

I just keep telling myself the joke I heard as a software intern - you always know how to build it the second time. Lots of lessons learned on this project.


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[Philosoraptor]

I put everything together to test fit. I have a little more room than I expected, so that’s probably good. I mounted the motors and am going to leave them while I debug the joystick software so the motors don’t jump away from me.

Finding drive sprocket and hub combos is proving to be a challenge. Sprockets are not so much a problem, but hubs that will fit sprockets and my build is a challenge. For 428 chain the hubs are pretty big and designed for rear motorcycle wheels, which are a pretty different design from what I’m doing. I may wind up making my own.

I’m trying to decide what to use for the floor that everything sits on (battery, controller, etc). There’s a steel plate under the frame to protect everything. Part of me wants to keep weight down and not do another steel sheet, part of me wants more “armor” for the underside since the clearance will probably be 6 inches.

I need to build a battery box soon to insulate those from the metal frame. I’m planning to design and 3D print that in pieces. If anyone has a creative idea for mounting the battery I’d appreciate it, since they are likely to get bounced around a lot.


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[Quinc]

Looking awesome!

 

[Philosoraptor]

Family vacation to Myrtle Beach last week but I’m back at it. I spent time dialing in the software for the joystick to controller interface and I’m really happy with it. It steers both motors just fine now. I’ll tweak it more to my liking later but I can say that it works.

I ordered a horn today and picked up a set of golf cart tires and wheels for it earlier this week. 18” wheels may be overkill but they were really cheap and I want to get this thing out and testing soon. Now to get hubs and mount them to shafts.

I’m trying to make time to get out to the plasma cutter tomorrow and cut the rest of the body panels

 

[TommyCat]

Been following along and enjoying your build. And being jealous of your build equipment access...

Did you come up with definite planning/construction particulars to stop intrusion of snow, water and moisture to protect the electrical components?

Regards,
T.C.

 

[Philosoraptor]

Been following along and enjoying your build. And being jealous of your build equipment access...

Did you come up with definite planning/construction particulars to stop intrusion of snow, water and moisture to protect the electrical components?

Regards,
T.C.

I am. I’ve designed and been 3D printing TPU gaskets to go all around the exterior where the body panels will attach. I’m also going to be isolating the battery compartment from everything else. If this is a space you have experience in, pointers are always welcome!


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[JRP3]

Great project, I've long wanted something similar for the same reasons, snow boarding when not near mountains. Closest I've come is being towed by a truck. Very ambitious build :thumb:

 

[Quinc]

To save weight and time on the batteries you can wrap them in pvc/heat shrink. I used hydroturf under mine for padding and used a rubber strap to hold it in place.