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I electrified my push scooter with a power drill

100 points by speckx 5 days ago | 41 comments

robgough 5 hours ago

My first thought after reading this title: Oh cool, they've taken part in a drill and used the motor. I don't really know what that looks like inside a power drill. This will be an interesting post.

Immediately opened it and laughed out loud. Perfect execution, no notes.

shermantanktop 3 hours ago

Not enough gaffer/duct tape! But the inability to bank to the right side is perfect. Just do a 270 to the left.

dotancohen 2 hours ago

  > inability to bank to the right side is perfect.

That disadvantage is balanced by the advantage of not having to open the kickstand at every frequent stop.

oniony 2 hours ago

It's the Zoolander feature.

blitzar 2 hours ago

Its got the blue steel paint job

Aurornis 3 hours ago

Same thought here. Did not expect this level of jank but I loved every photo and word.

The contrast between the 3D scanning and bolting a power drill to the side was fun.

bombcar 5 hours ago

This is exactly what I wanted even though it was not at all what I expected.

madaxe_again 4 hours ago

You’d love how I’m starting my generator. Same drill. Hodgepodge of springs and string to manage the choke. ESP32 committing obscenities in the middle of all of it.

dotancohen 2 hours ago

What is that one-way bearing TFA mentions. I understand its purpose, but where does one acquire such a bearing?

ano-ther 59 minutes ago

Had the same question. The article has an Amazon link to the bearings.

Gee101 3 hours ago

This absolutely deserves to be documented

kleiba2 54 minutes ago

That's all nice and well -- but Matthias Wandel built a wooden scaffolding on wheels 12 years ago that was drill powered. That's _really_ crazy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBmnQN78aZU

Doohickey-d 4 hours ago

I do wonder how long the electronics, motor and little (plastic) gears in the drill would last with this. Especially since I'd suspect that it's designed for intermittent use, where it has time to cool down between each screw / hole drilling that you'd do normally. If you drive 2 miles in one go, that'll be a lot of heat that doesn't have time go anywhere.

Somehow I'd suspect that it won't last all that long...

userbinator 24 minutes ago

I suspect there's very little power needed once you're up to speed and cruising, but constant stop-and-go and long uphill runs will certainly cause it to overheat.

It's brushless so brush wear isn't a problem, but these motors are air-cooled and will actually be cooler at high speed, low-demand. Lugging it up a hill would be a worst case.

lisp2240 3 hours ago

Drills are used sporadically. If a drill was used intermittently it would be on most of the time and occasionally off.

toast0 2 hours ago

> If a drill was used intermittently it would be on most of the time and occasionally off.

But when the wipers in my car are set to intermittent, they are off most of time and ocassionally off.

Daneel_ 40 minutes ago

I’m fairly sure ‘sporadic’ indicates random/unpredictable timing while ‘intermittent’ has a predictable pattern.

sandeepkd 5 hours ago

Feels good to see some one is enjoying and having fun with the tech

kphorn 5 hours ago

We are in the days of building the things we dreamed about as kids. Looks great for right turns!

jeffreygoesto 3 hours ago

Where have I seen something like this before. Right HAWK Hildesheim organized (locally) famous "Akkuschrauberrennen" https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=akkuschra...

willy_k 5 hours ago

Wonder how this would work with an impact? Also, since it already uses one-way bearings, could another drill/impact be fitted to the other side so that there are two “gears” available?

userbinator 28 minutes ago

Wonder how this would work with an impact?

Not very well. It will work as long as the power demand is below the point it starts hitting, and then just stall with the tires absorbing all the impact hits once it reaches that point.

dotancohen 2 hours ago

Squel the tires every few meters? Like an AC Cobra.

MezzoDelCammin 44 minutes ago

and as a bonus, now you know how it feels to ride a BMW boxer motorbike in a turn ;-)

ielillo 5 hours ago

Reminds me of the red green show sans duct tape

dylan604 2 hours ago

I remember watching this show as a teen while thinking I had to be the only person watching it.

ksenzee 3 hours ago

It's only temporary, unless it works.

aaronbrethorst 4 hours ago

When all else fails, play dead

https://www.youtube.com/@RedGreenTV

delichon 5 hours ago

What is that 3D printed wheel made of that it can support over half of your weight while bumping along a road?

bruckie 5 hours ago

ASA, per the post

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile_styrene_acrylate

jacquesm 4 hours ago

Yes, but you could have made it out of PETG just the same. I have some PETG parts here that we have tried to break but couldn't, that stuff is ridiculously strong for its weight if you use the right infill and you take the layer direction into account when designing the part.

echelon_musk 4 hours ago

A good friend of mine told me he would frequently come across a guy who had modified his bicycle with an electric drill.

He would see him leaning over and pulling the trigger get an electric assist on the uphill section of the commute.

_joel 5 hours ago

Direct drive, yes, also direct drill.

Watch out for the gear change, may end up in hammer action.

bzmrgonz 21 hours ago

You know you could have used a 90 degree chuck buddy. Or better yet, an angle grinder to make it a friction drive from above.

jacquesm 4 hours ago

It's got 2 miles of range, adding those complications would likely eat up a lot of the range.

gniv 5 hours ago

Turning right seems hard.

dotancohen 2 hours ago

Is that why all politicians are suddenly turning to the left?

BLKNSLVR 49 minutes ago

If that's what you're seeing then my guess is that, like this scooter, they'll be turning left three times so they end up going right.

I'm not sure where you are if you're seeing politicians turning left though.

nchmy 3 hours ago

video or it didnt happen!

tamimio 5 hours ago

Missed the opportunity to add vacuums and blowers and go upside down plus lateral and rotational movement, with fancy dark themed site and buzz words all over :)

erelong 4 hours ago

add another wheel on the other side of the drill for a kind of sidecar-like stability? (tricycle style?)

blackspacx 5 days ago

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