In previous videos I built a scaffold with wheels on it
but now I want to motorize it so I can drive it around
without climbing down.
I'm gonna use this slow speed half inch drill
and that's gonna drive this little pulley
which will drive a v-belt which in turn will drive a bigger wheel.
And I want to make a disc that's a little bit bigger than this.
That's about that size here.
So I need to stay this far from the edge.
From each edge to make sure I can still cut a disc.
Right here should be safe for a center.
And there is 1 disc.
Let's do another one right about here.
I just glued 3 layers together. The top is a bit smaller.
And I used a nail through all of them to keep them aligned.
And now I'm gonna use a drill
to provide an axis to spin these on.
And I need to cut a v-belt groove in here.
And I check this up on the table saw with a backstop and a finger board
to make cutting that slot slightly less dangerous.
After a whole lot of milling on the table saw I'm left with this.
The important thing is that when the belt rides on there
it doesn't ride on the bottom but on the sides.
The wheel is going to mount between those 2 things here
and I've got bronze bushings in here for bearings.
A washer on either side
in here.
And this is temporarily screwed on here.
And then a small pulley on here.
It's gonna get driven by my drill here.
Now this runs just in the wood here.
And I've got a screw here that goes in the barrel not in here.
For tightening the belt. Just to make sure it doesn't slip
because there might be a lot of torque on it.
And then the drill is mounted just by the chuck.
And to keep it from spinning
there used to be a handle here but I'm just using a bolt instead.
So that goes in here.
It only runs at 550 rpm.
And it has a trigger lock so now if I plug that in
that should turn the wheel.
This motorized assembly goes on the end of the shaft
and the shaft is supposed to turn
to allow me steering of the scaffold.
So I want to create a round section right here.
Well it didn't need to be totally smooth.
That's about as good as I was expecting.
I'll clean it up with a rasp.
And that steering column rotates on these
very loose wooden bearings.
And I cut these out on the band saw 'cause I didn't have a drill big enough
to drill these holes.
Here's my finished propulsion unit and steering column.
This couples and it goes further out
so that way at the very top of the scaffold.
Here's my steering tiller which allows me to rotate the whole assembly.
And normally this thing won't be load bearing.
But if I want to drive somewhere I'm gonna use this lever
to push that steerable wheel down and transfer the load onto it.
And this is going to screw onto the framework of the scaffold.
All right, drill is mounted.
Let's give this guy a test drive.
So up here is my steering tiller.
And when I push this thing down that pushes down on the wheel
and essentially turns the scaffold into a tricycle.
It is a little bit wobbly in that configuration.
But, here's the magic thing that's gonna make it safe.
It's a vari-x speed controller.
All right, OK here we go.
We're moving. Uh oh.
I need to put that around it.
I like a little bit faster than that.
Woo hoo.
OK, time to go a little bit faster.
Forward again. 80% power.
Oh.
This scaffold does not corner very well.
It's a good thing this scaffold is fairly climbable
'cause when I parked it I was quite a ways from my step-ladder.
All right, this time we're at 100% power.
Let's see how it goes.
Whoa.
Whoops. Ran over the extension cord.
Send that over here.
Great. You know how in movies and car chase scenes.
Sometimes they show the front wheel as it steers.
Well, let's pretend we're having a scaffold chase.
Well, that was fun.
And I have to admit that actually worked
better than I thought it would.