Electric buggy twistgrip proportional control

[snip]

My personal Amigo brand Amigo mobility scooter, which apparently is the sort of thing you're talking about, uses two 12V batteries in series to get 24V, and has a lever control for the power output.

Pretty much their entire line uses these systems, and many other companies do as well.

My suggestion is... call the local vendor/repai shop handling these scooters. Chances are they've got exactly what you need either in their junk box for a nominal $5, or brand new for $50ish.

(the brand new ones will vary a HUGE amount depending on how much they think they can get from you).

[snip]

My personal Amigo brand Amigo mobility scooter, which apparently is the sort of thing you're talking about, uses two 12V batteries in series to get 24V, and has a lever control for the power output.

Pretty much their entire line uses these systems, and many other companies do as well.

My suggestion is... call the local vendor/repai shop handling these scooters. Chances are they've got exactly what you need either in their junk box for a nominal $5, or brand new for $50ish.

(the brand new ones will vary a HUGE amount depending on how much they think they can get from you).

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I have to agree, talk to a pro who has insurance. Although I've repaired mobility equipment and built electric vehicle prototypes I feel that the liability concern is too great for home shop re-engineering.

The fellow isn't physically disabled, by the way. Whether he has other "challenges" I will sidestep. Apparently he has been directed to a "regulator" which does the needed. Sorry I am short on background - I didn't even want to go there about questions like "why?". Regards, Rich Smith

The fellow isn't physically disabled, by the way. Whether he has other "challenges" I will sidestep. Apparently he has been directed to a "regulator" which does the needed. Sorry I am short on background - I didn't even want to go there about questions like "why?". Regards, Rich Smith

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You or he might get better results by searching for information on do-it-yourself electric bicycle controls.

As a technician I was put in the difficult position of being asked to design and wire electric motorcycle controls after the electrical engineers decided to back away from that project. I've done enough in that and the medical electronics field that I've learned to be very careful about what I write. I was almost sued for using a circuit I found in my car's shop manual, that another company claimed was their proprietary secret.

I share to a certain degree Jim's trepidation, but I think a search for

24V *PWM Speed Control might help you find an off the shelf speed control. Then its about getting the right mechanical bits together to make it practical to use.

• PWM Pulse Width Modulation.

FYI: PWM is one of the more efficient ways to control power (speed) with a DC source and DC load. Its not anything new. Not even in retail applications. I have a 12V PWM controller for an electric trolling motor that dates back to the 1970s.

P.S. If you find the perfect control that's cheap let me know. I have a couple DC buggy motors on the floor under a work bench courtesy of a fiend that used to sell and maintain electric mobility scooters.

P.P.S. I've got a buggy crane I think might someday make a good vise crane in the shop courtesy of the same friend. Just need to find the right DC power supply for it without having to maintain a battery on its cart.

Some can be "reprogrammed" - or get a high output e-bike controller

- or a golf cart controller

Thanks guys - you've been great. Knew what is obvious and easy to you would be valuable here. Best wishes

P.P.S. I've got a buggy crane I think might someday make a good vise crane in the shop courtesy of the same friend. Just need to find the right DC power supply for it without having to maintain a battery on its cart.

--------------------------- A Bruno hoist? I have one that was removed from an old SUV but I found a pickup truck bed crane mounted on a taller pipe swivel stand to be more adaptable.

When I need a temporary means of lifting and moving something heavy I set up the outdoor extension of one of my overhead gantry tracks. It's made of two pieces of 3" by 8' steel channel, surplus pallet rack shelf supports I bought for $10 each. Its easier to install than a length of I (wide flange) beam because each piece weighs only 33 Lbs and the straps bolted between the ends are good hangers. Changing their position requires simply drilling new holes through the webs.

I do have a standard cherry picker / engine hoist. Its not really convenient for placing a vise on a mill table or a chuck on a lathe spindle. I do plan to make a heavy tool cart for the new (new earlier this year anyway) South Bend Mill in the back. I expected it will be plenty heavy enough when loaded up with tools to allow a small crane arm to swing a 100lb vise out over a table, and when not in use the arm can swing back over the cart to not be in the way. In fact I wish I had already set it up. I want to move one of my 8 inch vises from the Hurco to the South Bend, but haven't done it because I am not looking forward to lifting it with my arms extended over the machine. (I have in the past. These vises were originaly on the Charter Oak piece of trash bed mill.

For other not excessively heavy things a chain off the bucket of the front loader works too. Its rated for 750 lbs, works fine to about

1200, and has lifted upto 2000 but maxes out with just a few inches of lift at that weight. I also rebuilt one of the hydraulics recently...

My shop is pretty crowded though. Bringing the loader inside to do any real work optimistically takes a half day of moving things to clear a wide enough path.

<snip>

I've seen some little cranes mounted to lathes similar to the HF pickup truck bed version. Able to lift item off the cart and on to the machine...

They use to make really nice mechanical cranes similar to today's hydraulic engine hoists. Nice big solid wheels for rolling around the shop. No hydraulics to leak out:

On 10/21/2021 4:25 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote: .....

I do have a standard cherry picker / engine hoist. Its not really convenient for placing a vise on a mill table or a chuck on a lathe spindle. I do plan to make a heavy tool cart for the new (new earlier this year anyway) South Bend Mill in the back. I expected it will be plenty heavy enough when loaded up with tools to allow a small crane arm to swing a 100lb vise out over a table, and when not in use the arm can swing back over the cart to not be in the way. In fact I wish I had already set it up. I want to move one of my 8 inch vises from the Hurco to the South Bend, but haven't done it because I am not looking forward to lifting it with my arms extended over the machine. (I have in the past. These vises were originaly on the Charter Oak piece of trash bed mill.

For other not excessively heavy things a chain off the bucket of the front loader works too. Its rated for 750 lbs, works fine to about

1200, and has lifted upto 2000 but maxes out with just a few inches of lift at that weight. I also rebuilt one of the hydraulics recently...

My shop is pretty crowded though. Bringing the loader inside to do any real work optimistically takes a half day of moving things to clear a wide enough path.

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This inspired me to build a similar portable hoist:

Mine has a tripod at both ends and optionally shear legs supporting the center splice, for big loads such as the 2100 Lb oak log. Boat trailer winches attached to the tripod legs by muffler clamps raised and lowered the

16' long, 200 Lb track. On a more conventional previous version I found that trailer tongue jacks make good cheap retractable casters.

My mill and lathe are small enough that the vise and chucks are manageable by hand, but that wasn't the case at work. My personal favorite tight-quarters heavy lifter is a platform stacker. Its base is too small to support a cantilevered load so the feet have to run under the destination, for example a mill table cranked out to the side. A sling around the platform converts it for a load with lifting eyes at the top, ie the engine of my tractor. For the lathe you might need a wooden cradle that holds the chuck at (slightly below) spindle height and a well supported ramp to the platform.

I added a table to my engine hoist that lists the maximum load at each boom extension position based on tipping forward. They aren't the same as the limits based on boom strength. Since it has been converted into a towable trailer if the load exceeds the table I chain the mast top down to the tractor.

My shop is pretty crowded though. Bringing the loader inside to do any real work optimistically takes a half day of moving things to clear a wide enough path.

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A solution that worked well for me when I needed to move heavy oak beams from one well defined place to another was hooks or slings on roof rafters above both places. I hung a chain fall above the destination and a block and tackle above the source, with both attached to the load. The block and tackle lifted the heavy beam off the trailer, then raising the chain fall swung it into position in the storage shed.

Actually the chain fall hung from a gantry track so the beam could move in 3 dimensions, but you only need 2 from the cart to the spindle.

Two chain falls would certainly work but they are more expensive and more susceptible than ropes to damage from dragging in dirt. Two blocks and tackles are awkward to operate simultaneously. The chain fall at the destination leaves both hands free to align the chuck without needing a nearby tie-off cleat.

If you don't have a convenient hanger directly above the lathe spindle, one behind it would let you position the chuck horizontally using both hoists. Even a ton can be positioned pretty accurately with one hand while raising or lowering it with the other.

I chose a 2 ton chain fall as the heaviest I could maneuver onto a hook straight overhead with one hand while on a stepladder, plus a 1 ton because it hoists twice as fast. When running the sawmill the 2 ton lifts logs, the

1 ton stacks cut beams. They were from Harbor Freight and so far have given me no trouble.

Having been seriously injured about 10 years ago I decided to avoid unnecessary heavy lifting of things like my rotary table. As it's stored on a shelf near the BP mill I made a bridge to fit between the two so I just set the table level with the shelf and install the bridge and slide the RT on and off the BP table without any lifting other than the minor lift to get the RT over the lip of the shelf onto the bridge.

Here's one mounted to the carriage: