Electric Starter System Troubleshooting Part 1: Learning How to Drain Engine Oil Among Other Things

I've been reading through the manual to troubleshoot why the starter switch might be causing the relay to go nuts. The ZX600RC1 manual referred to a Base Manual for going through the starter motor removal in detail (which thankfully was updated on this forum 12 days ago).

After reading through the base manual, I found some possible scenarios which may be causing the symptoms it's having. A winding on the starter motor might be open (having infinite resistance) which would make it very difficult for the current to make the starter motor turn. Also, if there's a short between the commutator and the shaft, that would indicate that the armature has a short and would cause weird things to happen to the starter circuit relay. (The starter circuit relay is different than the starter relay, because it's behind the starter lockout switch. The starter lockout switch ensures that the vehicle is in neutral and the clutch is engaged - the clutch handle is out - in order to prevent the bike from being started in gear. The starter relay is what directly controls current to the starter motor).

This picture will help explain:

Motorbycle: A Bigger Electric Vehicle... Or So I Thought

After the Electric Orbit Wheels and the extremely fun nights/early mornings in the Stata Parking Garage with Ben's Trike, I started thinking about a bigger, faster electric vehicle. The Electric Orbit Wheels are great for short commutes around MIT, but not for midnight garaging. 

I started playing with the idea of returning to my childhood and making a small motorcycle (not a pocket bike, but a small motorcycle similar to Mars's). (I also wanted to make my own Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) to help with drag racing in the garage.) I've actually been riding motorcycles for most of my life, I've just never taken one apart or built my own. It's time for that to change.

MIT Museum: Electric Orbit Wheel Demonstrations

After seeing the Electric Orbit Wheels at Tech Fair 2013, the Director of Education and Public Programs at the MIT Museum, Brindha Muniappan, invited me to the Play Day at the MIT Museum on April 17th to do a demonstration. I didn't hesitate to accept. Since then, I've been demonstrating the orbit wheels and the most recent GlowBoard every other weekend at the museum. It reminds me of the good old FIRST days when my team, 3705 Porhtal, would take our robot around to various schools around the state of Alaska and teach robotics. 

For more pictures...

Earth in the Foreground: How I Managed a Research Trip to Alaska

Flying into a Beautiful, Sunny, Hot Fairbanks

This project requires a good introduction of Ed Moriarty. I first met Ed at a summer camp at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). At ASRA (Alaska Summer Research Academy), Ed was everywhere. He would stop by every module checking in on whatever cool things we were up to. He was also very involved in and taught the Underwater ROV and Extreme Photography Modules for a few years. Ed has done a bunch of cool things in Alaska to spread awareness and get kids excited/inspired about science and technology. 

Recently, we were talking about ASRA, and he had mentioned that he's been dreaming about getting a 24 hour time-lapse video of the sun above the Arctic Circle in Alaska for quite a long time. So, I looked into it, received a grant from the MIT's CAMIT Arts Grants, and started building a device to take a moving time lapse. A couple weeks passed, and I hopped on a plane to Fairbanks, 181 miles below Finger Mountain and our decided video location. Not only is Fairbanks a good location for setting up equipment, but it's also the location of my family's house. Here's the story of my adventures researching back home.

Servo Actuated Gauge: Part 2

I finished up the wireless servo actuated air pressure gauge. The last things remaining were to finish the transmitter, and make a small transmitter box to house the transmitter PCB with a dial and markings corresponding to the servo actuated gauge. 

RC Servo Actuated Air Pressure Gauge

As part of my Undergraduate Research Opportunity (UROP) at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, I took apart an air pressure gauge and added a servo to remotely move the needle. I hacked the parts used in the air pressure gauge to make a four-bar-linkage with a servo I crufted from the remains of Charles' 2.00GoKart class. I'm not sure if I can reveal the intentions of doing this for secrecy of the CSAIL project, so I better be safe and not mention it.

GlowBoard: A Welded Steel Mini-Skateboard

Inspired by Ben's PocketBoard, I decided to make a small skateboard in order to scavenge free food faster. It all started when my roommate crufted an old skateboard from his fraternity. I went on Ebay and found some awesome glow-in-the-dark 70x51 mm skateboard wheels. I wanted to make the deck such that I could maximize the visibility of the wheels. I recently learned how to MIG and TIG weld (thanks to Mars) and after finding some steel rings in MITERS' scrap metal I decided to practice my welding technique (before welding together my future electric motorcycle). I made a wire-frame deck with supporting steel rods underneath and the negative piece of a water jetted steel wrench for the truck plates. 

For more on the build process...

Early Morning Waxing and Waning Photography

By "Early Morning" I mean 0300 to 0600. Eric, a really awesome programmer on my hall, and I didn't feel like sleeping. Instead, we started carving the large pieces of wax another one of our hall members crufted from Reuse awhile back. Eric had a nice camera and some color filters of various shades. We played around with them and actually got some really interesting pictures. Here is a slideshow of our doodles.

Some of these photos would make a great desktop background!

First All-Nighter at MITERS: Casting the Urethane Wheel

I've been procrastinating the molding of the orbit wheel in favor of machining for too long now. I need at least 24 hours for the mold to set. Starting three days before TechFair.

Tightly Packed Electronics and Machined Housing

After my motors, motor controllers, and HobbyKing radio transmitter and reciever came in the mail from a long and expressed journey, I could start on the electronics. I decided not to cram it all inside with the ring gear, because I may potentially get sprinkling aluminum flakes as the bearings etch away the water jetted surface. This change of plans required more machined aluminum, which I could do on the MITERS mill.  

Cruft Shelf

I found a really nice piece of plywood on hall, and my closet was overflowing with closet stuff and cruft. So I decided to make shelf exclusively for crufty things. Also, since I have a loft, I have a bunch of places to attach things. Therefore, I can make the most efficient use of the space in my small room (it is actually the smallest room on hall and the only "double"). 

Click to read about the very short build: