It's been a long time. We got a lot of snow, and the snow inspired me to get the mower working. I also had some time off work to burn. I had originally planed to mount the motor by it's foot, but decided that a face mount would be easier and quicker. I drilled and tapped 4 bolt holes in the face bell and instead of waiting to get a steel plate I used some 1/2" plywood with several coats of polyurethane. I put slotted bolt holes in the wood plate to allow some belt adjusting.
The smallest pulley I had was a 2-1/4", but the shaft hole was way too small. No problem, I have a lathe! I opened up the bore and broached a new keyway. There was just barely enough metal left in the pulley to fit it all in there. My mounting doesnt give a lot of belt tension adjustment, so I had to try several belts to get the right size. I think it is still just a bit too loose. If I keep the brake on and let the motor go (even in low range) it will slip the belt. I suppose that is a great safety featrure though.
My original plan was to put 3 switches on the foot pedal so that all the way down (brakes on) will stop everything, part way up (brake just comes off) activates low range, and all the way up activates high range. I couldnt figure out a way to add the extra switches (the mower already had a switch for brakes on). So for now I have a user operated toggle switch to select speed range (well, I have wires intended to go to a toggle switch) and when you let off the brake it goes. I think I'll add just one switch for pedal up and arange it so brake on is stop, no switches is low, and pedal up is high. I need to add some safety interlocks I suppose.
I re-covered the seat with new foam and vinyl. It's quite comfy, but I removed the rusted out person-in-the-seat-switch. I should add another seat switch of some kind for safety. I cut out a section of grey outdoor carpet to put in the foot area. I think it looks great, but others say the black traction sandpaper stuff would be better there. I might change it later. I had the carpet already anyway.
After taking it for a test drive on 36V, I thought it was way too fast for mowing. I set it up for just 24V and in high range it is perfect. I suppose I could change the speed control for paralell/series switching for 12/24V, but that might mess up any extra attached motors (the mower). It seems to me that the motor has plenty of power, and I could probably drive a mower blade from the motor. I didnt want to do it that way though.
I'm planning on finding a couple of 19" discarded mowers somewhere around town. I'd like to cut and hack the two decks together into a single dual blade mulching deck. Then I'll need to add a pair of drive motors. It seems that the ElecTrac used 3/4 HP motors for their mower (but I dont know the blade length). I was thinking I could get a couple of 24V 500W "scooter" motors. They are fairly cheap and spinning a 19" blade shouldnt be too much trouble.
I think I have figured out where I can moung a couple of piviot points for a front plow. I'm still thinking over this issue. The frame/body is not real solid so I cant put a lot of force on the front.
I have some photos, I put them in my photo album here
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