Materials:
- plywood;
- cordless screwdriver with speed controller;
- wheels with bearings – 4 pcs.;
- wardrobe round rod;
- thin steel tube;
- screw-studs – 4 pcs;
- large and small bicycle sprockets;
- front bicycle axle with hub;
- bicycle chain;
- clutch or gas cable;
- furniture corners;
- foam rubber
Electric car assembly sequence
To get a really convenient self-propelled car for a child, you should first make a template of it in real scale from cardboard.
The bottom of the electric car and brackets for attaching the front wheels are cut out of plywood.
The brackets are a circle with two beams located relative to each other at right angles.The short beam will be used to connect the steering mechanism, and the long one will be used to install the wheels. Looking ahead, it should be noted that an axle for a wheel made of plywood is not the best solution, so you don’t have to make a long beam, and then screw in a steel hairpin screw instead.
Also, a semblance of a front axle is cut out of plywood. In essence, this is simply a reinforcing element that will be located above the bottom. This will allow you to securely fix the brackets. Next, you need to drill holes in the reinforcing strip, brackets and along the edges of the bottom. Then, using furniture bolts, washers and nuts, you need to assemble the structure together. The fasteners are not clamped too tightly so that the brackets can rotate.
At the next stage, the control system is assembled. A rod from the cabinet is used as a steering rack. To secure it, you need to cut a triangular stand from plywood and make a through hole in it at an angle, equal in diameter to the pipe. The stand is screwed to the bottom. Then you need to insert the steering rack into it and drill a recess in the bottom where it will rest.
To fix the steering rods to the rack, you need to make a flag from a piece of plywood. A hole is made in it and it is put on the pipe. The flag is fixed to it with several screws. Next you need to screw in 2 screws at the bottom of the flag and one at a time on the short arms of the brackets. Then rods are made from a steel tube, which are installed on the screws. Now, when you turn the steering column, the brackets rotate.
After assembling the steering, you need to install the front wheels. Plywood axles are not the best solution for this. Instead, screw-studs are screwed into the brackets, and the wheels are already installed on them. Before this, bearings are pressed into the discs.
Next, the steering wheel is cut out of plywood. It needs to be sanded to perfect smoothness. The steering wheel is installed on the steering column through a plywood washer. The washer is connected to the pipe, and the steering wheel is screwed to it.
A large bicycle sprocket is screwed to the rear wheel disk. The rear wheels themselves are mounted on stud screws, screwed into a bottom reinforced with scraps of plywood.
Then a mount is made for the bicycle hub with a small sprocket mounted on its axis. It is fixed so that the sprockets are located on the same line, and the chain can be pulled on them.
A mount for an existing screwdriver is also made from plywood. It is important to secure the screwdriver so that the bicycle hub axle can be clamped in the chuck. You need to put a loop of cable around its handle with a button and route it to the plywood pedal in the front of the electric car.
The length of the cable is adjusted so that when you press the pedal, the loop presses the button and the car begins to move. If the screwdriver has speed control, the speed of rotation of the wheels will depend on the degree of pressure. To prevent the pedal from sinking, you will need to put a spring on it.
After completing the assembly of the technical part of the car, you can paint it and install the seat. Its back is made of plywood, and the soft part is made of foam rubber or polyurethane foam.
Since this car does not have a ratchet on the sprocket, it does not have a strong roll. This eliminates excessive acceleration when trains are going downhill. The car does not have reverse gear, but it has such a small turning radius that this will not be a problem.
