So I have noticed around here Kweld seems to be standard for building battery packs. It produces nice welds, there is no arguing there. I want one, however, in the spirit of “lets save 50-100$” am willing to try and build a welder without the Kweld, from parts I have laying around, for free.
I appreciate any and all criticism, the approach is based off this youtube video.
From what I can tell, the major things you need are: some copper rods for electrodes, a car battery, a larger solenoid (200ish amp), some heavy copper wire, and a momentary button switch. I have all of the items on hand that are shown in the video.
The solenoid in the youtube video cannot be rated for more than 200amps at 12V. I understand about 1000amps is needed. I think the “welder” in the video is shorting the battery and relying on inrush currents to create the weld.
I have not seen this approach very often on here, and I will lose the adjustability the Kweld provides, but if it works, then it works, I have not problem with that. Has anyone taken this approach before or see any flaws in the plan? With all materials on hand I figure it is worth a shot.
Hello sorry to says that but when you’re starting a batterie build, soldering is not a light thing buy a good spot welder because you can loose more when fire is due about bad solder…and for charging the lithium i prefere a slow charge at 5amp/h it make 5 hour to charge 1of my 2 6s10p 18650 samsung 30 q for longer life and it just need a 6s rc quality charger with a simple 20 amp dc alim no need 160€ …for me the 18650 build and all electric components is the best quality invest you need to do for safety ,peformance and longevity…fire ruins the hobby🤙
Nothing is worth the shot is Efoil world , just safety and quality work to get away of trouble , get a decent spot welder , make the battery and sell it if you went to save some money , don’t forget we are talking about more than 600 spot weld for a this king of battery for me that was sweating and letting my fingers cool down
So I have been thinking about this for 2 weeks but cannot decide on the best design. The goal is a detachable mast design. So initially I was thinking female plugs on the bottom of the board that the mast plugs into. But I’m not sure if that’s the best. Looking for advice. I want it to be easy to remove mast for transport.
I’m planning to try putting an aluminum plate on the bottom of my board where I attach the foil, and then cut a slot for the 3 motor cables to pass through. Inside the board I’m using 2 IP67 boxes with grommets and in-line connectors between the battery & motor boxes and between the motor and the ESC box. The connectors are MUCH cheaper that way, should still be very water resistant if water gets in the board, and should still keep water out of the board.
That’s a good idea however I’m not sure how that makes the mast detachable. Do you plan on making the slot big enough in the plate so the IP67 connectors can fit through? Or can the outer shell of the connector somehow be removed so you can pass the motor wired through the slot?
My bad, that wasn’t clear. I was planning on making the slot large enough to fit the connector through. Then it should be fairly easy to take out the 4 bolts on the mast and pull the cables & connectors out. They’re less than 1" O.D. so it shouldn’t be hard.
Hi, we both have a common goal. I can’t show a picture yet though, maybe early July, I might be able to make it. However, I have the quick release system very carefully thought out, but all I can tell you now is that the connection to the mast will be made by two long screws (possibly titanium).
Unfortunately, our goals diverge in other respects. I have started an e-foil project based on the Fliteboard hull design(https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/1M9bK/s1/fliteboard.jpg). The Fliteboard e-foil is considered the best in the world. Placing the motor in the plane of the wing is ideal from a hydrodynamic point of view and brings a number of other design advantages. This is my fuselage design
Did some work on the mast clamp design. Inspired by @nice2cu and @manu clamp designs. Have not loaded them into the printer yet. Also nose cone not finalized. Designed for gong mast V1. The reason for large cavity is because I want to run wires up both channels inside the mast. Not just one side. This way I can access both channels inside the mast.
Question to my USA friends, where are you getting your super long (135mm+) M5 bolts from? Are threaded rods being used?
I am going to use threaded rods and these cool adapters I found from belmetric. My friend is a stainless steel welder, I envision screwing this on the whole way and welding it to the threaded rod.
I want to run in saltwater, so I do not think black oxide would be best.
Unfortunately if I use 110mm hardware, I would not be able to use the mast clamp I want to use shown below. The smaller hardware limits how large I can make the “pocket” to route the wires inside this mast clamp.
I also want the hardware to clamp all the printed layers together. In this way the layers are being held by the clamping force of the hardware and not just layer adhesion. I think this will benefit the strength of the clamp greatly.
Here are some comparison sketches to see what I mean about clamping all the layers.
Everyone is talking about the flite board and inplane thrust and its benefits. I was also thinking about how long my 65161 looks hanging off the gong mast. I mocked up a model of a fliteboard copy to work with the gong setup, I think it could work provided the 3d printed parts are strengthened. I think hollow printed and filled with epoxy and fibers would work.
I know the model is sloppy and is definitely not to scale yet… I am unsure if I want to take this path so I did not want to put in a ton of time into details. Some of the shapes could be optimized.
Why? The motor shell should be plenty strong I would think. I was just thinking since it’s already there, might as well take advantage of it’s length rather than add more material for a tail piece if I don’t have too.
And it looks like the flite board attached it’s tail at the motor fuselage.
How do you want to fix it to the motor? There are strong forces to the mast and fuselage, when you ride the efoil. I don’t think the motor case suports this. DIYS and serial production are different things. I also think the Flite is a one piece metal case, the geared motor sits inside. You would need an aluminium tube wirh an ID that exactly matches the motor OD, then weld it. Not an easy task.
You are right. To do it the way flite did, you would have to figure out a way to somehow add something to the outside of the motor tube that is not too cumbersome.
What about mounting the tail boom to the end of the motor in the existing (6) M4 holes?
If I can mount the tail boom on the end of the motor, then my tail boom is short (because the motor is long), reducing the moment forces directly on the tail boom and translating those forces into the motor and motor mount attached to the fuselage (which are strong).
I think the main reason I would be scared to use the motor as a fuselage would be the thread engagement of the (4) M5 bolts in the back of the motor. I think if the rear wing hits the ground or rocks or anything there is fair chance the rear wing could deflect the motor badly and pull the threads out in the back.
Hi, i think you should first sort out where the wires will pass through the mast and fuselage. Then figure out the length of the fuselage. And only finally deal with the rear wing issue.
for me that was sweating and letting my fingers cool down
