It’s taken much longer than originally anticipated, but lockdown has finally provided me with enough time and opportunity to complete our self-made GoKart made from leftover bits of timber, wheelbarrow wheels, pieces of scrap metal, an old chair and, well, a newly purchased electric motor.
Let’s start with a video clip. I’ll add some additional photos and detailed explanations later.
Tom provided me with the idea of a drill powered go kart, which inspired me to build such a contraption with the kids. It turned out that the drill chuck didn’t provide enough friction to spin the wheels of a full-sized go kart. So we went back to the drawing board…
Our new design features an 800W electric motor, currently powered by two 18V batteries (from my power drill!) wired in series. Our initial redneck build didn’t feature a speed controller and, in fact, didn’t even have a switch. We just rammed the wires coming from the motor into the battery pack and flew off – literally! After falling off the go kart a couple of times as a result of a wild wheelie we fitted a motor controller and throttle control to the handle bar – this way we can gently accelerate and still do (a little bit more controlled) wheelies.
And now we need to start thinking about the brakes…
Ah, yes, of course, we didn’t build this GoKart for ME to have fun. Here’s a video of Leo having a go!