The making of a Dutch Toylander II

[Robert]

After reading an article about Touylanders in Top Gear Magazine, I decided to build one for our kids.

I got the drawings from a colleague (thanks Harold!) who bought them, but never found the time (or the guts?  ) to start building.

When I started building in January, I didn't have a clue what type of motor I was going to use, but decided to build the body work according to the drawings and change later on whatever would be necessary.
Therefor, I didn't glue the panels at this stage.

Due to the assistance of the future driver, things were going really well 




Two months later, the shape of the body work was really recognizable, and my son was allready planning the shake-down trip 


The time had come to decide which motor was to be used.
At the internet, I found a 900W - 36V motor, complete with a diff. and brake disk.



The following wish list made me decide to build a steel chassis:
- leaf springs at the rear axle (although I can not find suitable and affordable leaf springs at this time)
- a swing axle at the front
- a hydraulic disk brake
- changed steering gear ratio
- a towing hook (heavy duty)
- and whatever comes to my mind while building this thing!

After a strugle to dismount some parts from the motor axle (I destroyed my wheel dresser) I made some bushes to fit the wheels I bought from Richard.



At this time, I started engineering the chassis in CAD. The enginering takes a lot of time, but it is the only way to prevent endless changes while trying to meet all my demands.

That's all for now folks!
 

[brian]

Hello Robert and welcom to the forum.

That looks like being an interesting build, keep up the good work and keep us posted.

Regards,

Brian.

[Robert]

At first, I only wanted to build a sub frame for the motor, but decided later on to change it to a complete frame, so to have more tweaking possibilities.



Battery compartment:
At that time I wasn't sure to use a 36 or 48 Volt system, after some test runs I choose for 36 Volt, this gives a top speed of about 10 km/h.
The battery's will probably move under the seat, so I 'll have a better weight distribution and more space left for the controller etc and a dummy engine cover.



It starts to look like a real TL2 now:



`

[brian]

It's looking good Robert, keep us posted with the details, I'm running short of reading materials. 

Regards,

Brian.

[Robert]

Brake system:

Because the dif. of my motor was allready supplied with a brake disk, i decided to build a hydraulic brake system.
At first I needed to increase the diameter of the brake disk, which was a tough job for my small lathe because the disk is made of a very rigid stainless steel.



At the local motorcycle shop I found all the other parts like the brake pump, brake caliper and brake line from a gas scooter.



The brake pump is completed with a pressure switch. I 'll probably use it to assure that the brake is activated while changing the driving direction.





Unfortunately, the mounting holes at the brake caliper were situated at the wrong side (axle side). I had to cut this part and integrated the brake in a mounting bracket.

[Robert]

Front axle and steering ratio:

I wanted to have a light end precise steering in combination with the swing axle, and looked at some possibillities to change the gear ratio like a pair of bevel wheels, chain wheels. timing pulleys and 2 small hydraulic cilinders (communicating vessels).

In terms of the available space , simplicity and costs I choose for chain wheels with a 8/24 ratio.
This construction gives me the same steering angles like the standard axle and a suspension stroke of 18 cm.
The chain is actually quite heavy , but I choose this size because I had some of the necessary
parts in stock allready.

Unfortunately, I had to lower the front axle 25mm to get more space for the chain, so this construction costs some ground clearance. Therefor I will make a guard in front of it.

Although the steering angle is limited on uneven ground, this construction combines light and precise steering with enough stroke to keep all wheels on the ground while driving on or of the sidewalk with on wheel.

But most important:
The customers (kids)  are very satisfied with this modification!

[brian]

Very nice Robert, yet another elegant solution to the toylike steering of the build manual.

I often wonder if all these modifications were being made before the members forum was started by Richard and Anthony and other members saw what was being done by others??

regards,

Brian.

[markh15]

Hi Guys,
I have to agree Robert, nicely excecuted steering conversion.

I mentioned (in jest) some time back, that someone out there is watching all of these modifications with great interest, and when the forum runs out ot brilliant ideas, will build the ultimate 'Toylander', which will incorporate all of the best ideas from the forum.

Now, where are my shed keys....

Keep up the good work,
Regards,
Mark.

[Robert]

Thank you for your compliments!

After a few test runs with increasing voltage it was clear that I needed a speed controller for the TL because at 36 Volt it was really launched when the throttle was activated.
Although it was a lot of fun to see my daughter's reaction to that (screeming and laughing...)
I found a used speed controller from a fork lift truck.
Since I am not much of a electrician, I arranged a fork lift mechanic to help me test this thing and it seems to be working very well, but the pot. is not suitable due to the extremely short turning angle its working on.

So at first, I need to construct a decent throttle pedal with a linear position sensor like the standard Toylander.
Then, its time to sort out these wires ,arrange them and hope it still works afterwards ...     

[multisync]

Hi Robert
I have to agree that your engineering skills and steering solution look absolutely super and deserve a prize, but what about the wiring! I'm sure it will shortly be as neat as the enginering work, but in the meantime it looks like something knitted by grannies when they were taking a break from the shreddies!
Best wishes with the ongoing build, and if the kids like it....it's a job well done
Regards
Walter

[Robert]

Throttle pedal:

I 'd like the throttle pedal to be in the same styling as the brake pedal.
I used the standard 5K ohm linear pot from the Toylander throttle pedal because it was perfect for my controller, I just had to design a suitable pedal.


This should become a throttle pedal:




After a few hours I got something that looked like this:



The bolts are there to adjust the stroke of the pedal and protect the pot from overloading. I want to get some other bolts because I think the hexagon heads look to big.

This is what it looks like after some tweaking and with improvised bolts besides the brake pedal :



Afterwards, we took the TL for a testdrive, and the kids were positive about the improvements.
They now have quite a good control over the TL, but I still think the acceleration is too fast due to the powerfull motor and short active stroke of the pot ( 0 to 5 K ohm in 10mm)
The controller has a possibility to set the acceleration time, but this setting gets lost every time when I disconnect the power supply. Hope I can fix this for an even better control.

The other changes appeared also to be positive:
The steering system with the chain works fine, and takes very little force, also because the batterys moved from under the bonnet to under the seat.
This battery position gives a lot of traction, as proved today on a steep hill with wet grass.

Now it's time to focus on the forward/backwards lever.

[Robert]

Hi Robert
I have to agree that your engineering skills and steering solution look absolutely super and deserve a prize, but what about the wiring! I'm sure it will shortly be as neat as the enginering work, but in the meantime it looks like something knitted by grannies when they were taking a break from the shreddies!
Best wishes with the ongoing build, and if the kids like it....it's a job well done
Regards
Walter

Walter,

thanks for your compliment, and yes, the wiring is a mess.  
I will address that when the mechanical issues are solved. But first of all, I need to make a proper wiring diagram , otherwise I don't think I'll be able to get the system working again.  

[markh15]

Hi Robert,
Once you get the bugs ironed out of the system, it will be fine.

You say you've moved the batteries under the seat, how has this effected the space in the rear of the body?

Some pictures of this modification would be really nice to see.

Sounds like the kids are eager to take delivery.

Looking good, keep up the fine work,
Regards,
Mark.

[multisync]

Hi Robert
I like the matching pedals, simple idea and nicely executed, yes, make a wiring diagram from the basic setup while it's working, at least you'll have some idea what you have to get back to.
Best Wishes
Walter

[Robert]

Hi Robert,
Once you get the bugs ironed out of the system, it will be fine.

You say you've moved the batteries under the seat, how has this effected the space in the rear of the body?

Some pictures of this modification would be really nice to see.

Sounds like the kids are eager to take delivery.

Looking good, keep up the fine work,
Regards,
Mark.

Mark,

I will make some pictures of the battery position one of these days.
Indeed, the kids are very eager to get the TL finished, they threath to sell my motorcycle if I don't hurry up.
But the thing is: I promissed them to have the TL finished in the summer, but didn't tell them in which year  and as I get more tweaking ideas every day, it could take some more summers to get it finished