# XM3500i rebuild



## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

I didn't do anything EV related over the weekend. I didn't even ride.


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

Well the XM3500 is in the EV room and the Zap is not. That means it's getting started!


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

The seat hinge is a giant pain in the butt!!! It's in the way all the time. It flops down into the battery space every minute or so. Sticking straight up is equally in the way. The screws or threads into the frame are completely buggered. I have to do surgery to get the hinges off the frame. The 2 M6 bolts will not come out! Someone added nuts under the frame section to secure the 2 bolts. Those came right off. The mess is inside the frame threaded holes.


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

900 21700 cells will arrive tomorrow. Geez that's a LOT of cells! Welding them into packs...that will take a while! Tracking shows the cells are at the local fedex depot. As long as the fedex truck doesn't break down or get in a wreck, they should be in my drive way tomorrow. YIPEE!!!!


I think I have a solid line on 150v VESC controllers capable of better than 20kw. If that pans out (fingers and toes crossed!) I'm set for motor control.


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

WELP! MUCH ARGUING later with Battery Hookup and they apologized! Then they gave me a $200 refund! They "claim" they didn't understand what I was telling them. This is baffling since it is abundantly obvious that 4400mah != 4800mah. AND I've told them this in every email (more than 10 times now) about cells testing far too low. More drama! FML!!!

I'm still dealing with VERY SLOW testing since any cell that fails to meet 4700mah gets 4 tests before I fail it. Some cells do test immediately to 4700mah or better, but many take a few tests before they "wake up". Just my opinion based on testing around 10 thousand cells before these ones, needing multiple tests to "wake them up" is sketchy as hell!


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

My Lii-500S started malfunctioning. It's been recording overly optimistic capacities for about a week now. I wasn't suspicious about the random 4900mah cells that would come from it, but then it started getting 5000mah and 5100mah. OK OK...NO! That's NOT possible! Since who knows what has gone through the Lii-500S and into the box of cells I have passed, I'm now testing all of them yet one more time to see if the Lii-500S misrepresented any low cell capacities. So far I have found a few...GRRR!

Down one cell tester! And cell testing is already glacially sloooow. I have bought 4 more Lii-600's to get through the cells faster. I'll have them in a week or so.


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

I think these cells are subject to temperature more than I suspected. The nights are getting cooler and I've been testing the cells on my porch. i'm seeing far more cells that don't test to 4700mah or better. Some still do, but the occurance of lower capacities is climbing. It's not like it's cold at night...only 55F at the most, but what else is causing lower cell capacities to increase?


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

I bought this late last week. It should be here Tuesday. I need to get some sheet aluminum to bend into boxes.


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

The paint on the shocks was pretty scratched up. A little sanding and scotch brite to clean off the old paint and a new paint job in black makes them look lots better. New seals arrived today so I finished rebuilding the front shocks tonight. They used to bottom out just pressing down on one of them. Now they move about 1.5" before getting solid. They are probably too stiff so I'll need to take out some fluid to make a bit more room for air so they compress more. I won't know ridability until I get them on the scooter and can ride around some. I do wish I could add schrader valves to them so I could adjust the pressure, but like the Zap shocks, there is no place to put one.


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

All of this is in preparation for the X3500 build. Yes...I know...not directly EV related, but it will be soon enough! I need a larger chuck on my mini lathe. The 3" is not large enough for lots of operations and it's badly non-concentric. I'll put a 1/2" carbide end mill in its jaws at random to check its concentricty. Tap tap tap to get it back to close to dead on again. GRRR! I want that chuck to go away since it's a regular issue. Change from the inner to outer jaws and it needs centering again.

I lacked a 4 jaw and I'm constantly running up against the 3" being too small. I opted for a 6" chuck which still fits inside the carriage at 6.5" of swing. The bed has 8" swing. I bought a 6" 4 jaw which will eventually bolt to the lathe spindle once I rework its adapter plate.

SHARS 6" 4 Jaw Independent Lathe Chuck With 1-1/2" - 8 Back Plate 202-6579+202-6600 R[ - - Amazon.com










I got a 6" 3 jaw as well. Fingers crossed it's lots more concentric than the steaming turd 3"! The adapter plate not fitting my lathe was expected since no one makes a 6" chuck for it. Online pictures made it look like this chuck adapter plate could be reworked to fit my spindle.

Shars 6 Inch 3 Jaw Self Centering Lathe Chuck + 6.3" Fully Machined Threaded Back Plate with 2-1/4 x 8 TPI 202-5411-202-6110 L[ - - Amazon.com










Lots (nearly all) mini lathes are not exactly awesome since they come out of China. People that use them are not looking for the high levels of accuracy of something name brand, big, heavy and expensive. We need it to work with "pretty good" levels of accuracy. My spindle plate was not exactly flat or concentric. First thing I did was take a thin layer off of it to make it flat and to make the shoulder concentric. At least the steel used is fairly hard. HSS wouldn't cut it so I used a carbide tool. The shoulder had about 15 thousands of run out and the back flat about 8 thousands. I have a Starret dial indicator that measures tenths or .0001 inches and that is now reading 2-3 tenths on both. Cleaning this up "helped" the factory 3 jaw somewhat.










I got to work on the 6" adapter plate...which was also not exactly round or flat. Gotta love Chinese stuff! I can't afford the name brand stuff so you get lower levels of precision as a result. I got my 3" 3 jaw concentric and then could baaaaarely mount the threaded flange in the "outer" jaws for the 3". I did my best to tap the plate into flat and concentric on the crappy 3" 3 jaw. Go easy until you can get a more secure hold on the plate so it doesn't come loose and fly off!!!!










The center of the adapter plate was threaded and needed to enlarged. That got done to the other side so that I could remount the adapter plate to take off this 3/4" tall section. I wanted to part it off, but my parting tool dulled instantly on whatever this is made of. Hogging away 3/4" thickness of steel took a while. Time for a new parting blade! Clearly mine is worthless for more than aluminum, brass or HRS.










When done, I had this. All major surfaces have been reworked. The shoulder on the lathe spindle and this shoulder match up perfectly. I need to work out how to duplicate the spindle bolt pattern onto the adapter plate yet. Once it is bolted to the spindle...which will get a pin so it can bolt down in only one position, I'll probably give it one more skim pass to take out any remaining wobble or non-flatness that may have been missed thanks to the shitastic 3" chuck.










I was in the middle of making a jig for copying the bolt pattern out of aluminum. It will get used for both adapter plates. If I ever want to mount something else like a collet chuck or face plate, I'd have the bolt pattern and shoulder recorded in aluminum. I don't know HOW the drive belt even worked! It had eaten half the teeth on it. A section that is about half the length of the belt has no teeth on it. I guess that shitastic Chinese belt didn't like hogging steel very much! 2 more belts are on the way. I noticed I had a problem when all of a sudden the lathe wouldn't turn anymore. Maybe the belt self destructed all at once?


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

I bought a rotary grinder that I intend to mount to the cross slide on the lathe. Hopefully it's not a POS! The head will get an adapter block that will fit in a quick change tool holder. This specific unit is the most powerful (1000w) and reversable I was able to find. It also has a chuck for up to 1/4" bits and everything else has a smaller chuck. I'll need to make a new shaft for the motor I plan to use in the XM3500 scooter. The shaft will have key ways in it. With this tool on the lathe, a small end mill can cut the keyways. With a cutting disk in it, I can make slots for circlips. If I need a precision cylinder, a grinding wheel in it will make that possible. I'd like to mount the grinder motor to a quick change block, eliminate the flex shaft and have the entire thing mounted to the tool post like I have seen done for larger lathes.

Amazon.com










I did look at spindle motors like are used on CNC routers, but they are lots more expensive and too tall for the power I want. They generally need liquid cooling and a separate control box. All of that adds complexity. I have limited height to work with so I needed a way to unmarry the motor from the tool holder so flex shaft tools were the best option for my little lathe.


















I need to lock the lathe spindle at set degrees of rotation. The motor shaft for the XM3500 will have key ways that are 180 degrees apart. I need to accurately position the lathe spindle at these positions and then lock it there. I think a small rotary table ought to work well for this. They have 1 degree increments around the table and the hand wheels usually have 1/10 degrees. Mounting one on the outfeed side of the spindle will get me the controls I need. This inexpensive 4" table has dual table locks and probably sufficient precision in the drive mechanism to work reliably. I'm not sure how I'll work out mounting it. The cover over the outfeed side of the spinde is sheet steel. I think locking the spindle to the table will be straight forward by using that hole in the center to tighten or loosen a bolt to lock the table to the lathe spindle. It will be here in a few days...so here's to hoping!


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

All of this is coming along nicely. I am building an attachment for my lathe so that I can cut keyways in the motor shaft and a few other features for this new EV build.

Before I could continue, I needed to get the new 6" 4 jaw mounted and that happened last night. It wasn't made to fit on a small lathe so that took some customization to make it work. I can now unbolt the 6" 4 jaw and swap in the 6" 3 jaw in a couple of minutes since they now both bolt to the same adapter plate.










I have purchased an ER11 collet on a 12mm x 150mm shaft. They are commonly used on CNC routers. This will be much more robust that the crappy spindle that came with the rotary grinder. I also found a belt sprocket for the spindle that will gear down motor RPM 3 to 1. This will make the tool speed something like 10,000 RPM max and that will be fine. 3X torque at the tool will be nice too. Looking at what people do with CNC routers, this is a reasonable top RPM. I may cut it shorter if this is too long. It will get circlip slots in it to retain the shaft to the bearings. Flats will be cut for the belt sprocket set screws.










I'm used to ER32 and 5C collets. ER11 collets are just so micro tiny. The largest tool they can hold is 6mm which is fine.










The spindle housing will mount directly in a quick change tool holder. I have enough material to cut a "bar" in it for clamping in a tool holder and still have enough room for the bearings. Undo the 4 set screws in the quick change tool holder and the spindle can be flipped over for running in all four positions on the tool post. The motor bracket will get 2 bearings so it can ride directly on the spindle shaft and then lock in position with some M5 screws.


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

Next step is to figure out exact center in the "bar" section so that the spindle is always the same height regardless of which way it is oriented in a tool holder. The 4 jaw chuck with 4 independent jaws will allow me hold the odd shaped spindle housing so that I can bore out a hole in it that is inline and parallel with the "bar" section. There will be 2 bearings on each end of the spindle for improved lateral loading. The bearings will fit into the housing at pretty close to this location. The motor brackets will get bearings so it can ride on the spindle shaft. 2 M5 screw holes on either end will hold the bracket up or down depending on the desired orientation of the spindle.


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

Been busy with related projects on the lathe! I set aside the grinder project so I could work on them.

This is a dye follower. The MT2 taper goes in the tail stock and the straight rod section acts as a guide so threading a dye onto a shaft section is dead straight. I'll soon be needing this for some aspects of the new EV build and it's always a useful tool to have around for lots of lathe threading operations. It only works with 1" hex threading dyes. The 2 handles were threaded by using the dye follower.


























This is a setup so I can make small increments of rotation of the lathe spindle. The grinder attachment will be used with mills, drills or grinding wheels to cut features in things. There are a variety of mods to the motor for this EV that will done using this set up.

The side door of the lathe is just sheet steel. It needed stiffening and reinforcing so I added a 10mm thick piece of aluminum inside the door.










Conveniently, the side cover was held on with M6 screws into the spindle casting. 3 were in good places to use for stand-offs that reinforce the door. The aluminum rod is tapped in both ends for M6. The back ends use sections of M6 all-thread to secure them to the spindle casting and to secure the side cover.










A short section of the M6 all-thread with a point on it leaves a nice mark inside the door for drilling out the screw holes for the stand-offs. You can buy transfer screws that do the same thing, but I don't have any and so I made one myself.










The area around the spindle hole was not flat so I did some filing to flatten it. I'll have to repaint the door later. All the holes in it, scratches and dings need repainting! The bracket can be moved a little so that the rotary table can be positioned exactly dead on inline with the lathe spindle.










This is the spindle shaft. The end of the wider section expands out into the spindle and locks itself in place in the spindle. The beveled nut does the expansion and the long bolt draws it up inside the shaft.


















The shaft is slightly smaller than the spindle bore so it will slide in place easily. This also means that it doesn't naturally line up dead on in the bore. This is deliberate to aid in getting the rotary table in it's mounting bracket which is a pretty tight fit around the table.










The rotary table slides on over the shaft. Once it is screwed into the bracket, the shaft is also lined up with the spindle bore and can be tightened to lock it in place. The ER32 collet chuck has a bolt head sticking out of it. This is for tightening the bolt inside the spindle shaft. If the collet is loose, the shaft spins freely with the spindle, but does not engage the rotary table. Tighten the ER32 collet nut and that clamps the collet to the shaft. The rotary table can then be used to make incremental rotation changes of the spindle and whatever is in the lathe chuck.


















Getting inside the door is not so easy anymore. It used to close with a single M5 screw.
1. Remove the 6 M5 screws mounting the rotary table.
2. Slide the rotary table off the shaft.
3. Loosen the retaining bolt for the spindle shaft.
4. Remove the spindle shaft.
5. Remove 3 M6 screws that secure the door to the 3 stand-offs.
6. Remove the M5 screw that used to secure the door.
7. Open the door, make gear changes as needed.


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

One of these days, I'll get back to the scooter frame! I want to build a sand blasting box that it can fit inside of. I realize now that painting it was premature. It really needs to be taken back to bare metal, welds fixed, reinforcing added and then paint it.


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

I learned to single point thread last night. The grinder motor spindle has a reverse metric thread on it. I needed to make a nut for it. It takes some doing and technique to make threads. It's not horribly difficult to do, but you do have to watch what you are doing and make sure you don't cut them too deep or else the nut won't hold on the threads. It took several tries before I got them right. Each time I got faster and screwed up less. I practiced in aluminum. Now I think I can make them in steel or brass...which is what I want the nut made from. I might try 6061, but plain aluminum is much too soft to make good threads.

A few tries later and was able to make the 1mm reverse threads needed in brass. The new nut replaced this flimsy aluminum knurled nut that retains the motor in the support arm.


























This is the tool post grinder attachment so far. It still needs more motor support and the bracket I made for the motor is not very good so I'll make a better one of those too. The spindle carrier required some milling to make it clamp in a tool holder and then set up in my 4 jaw on the lathe to make the cuts for the spindle bearings. The toothed belt pulleys are 3 to 1 so that will give me a lot more torque at the tool and I didn't really need 30,000 RPM anyway.


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

The tool post mounted grinder and rotary table will be super useful for quite a few operations. I'm adding a specific kind of milling to the lathe!

1. Drill a hole pattern at a set diameter into the face or perimeter of a part.
2. Copy an existing bolt pattern with a specific diameter onto a new part.
3. Make slots and keyway features in parts.
4. Make vent holes in motor covers like I did on my drill press for the Zap motor.
5. Make long slots that connect around the radius of a part to another slot. I'll want this for my water cooled spot welder pens.
6. Radial interrupted features in a part such as radial fan blades.
7. Circlip slots in motor shafts.
8. Precision grinding to get very close tolerance parts such as for bearings.


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

I finished up the tool post grinder attachment Friday night and posted a few videos on it.


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## remy_martian (Feb 4, 2019)

What are you doing for way covers?


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## rishimaze (May 23, 2021)

remy_martian said:


> What are you doing for way covers?


If I deal with grinding dust, I'll lay something over the bed ways. For metal chips, I use an old paint brush to sweep them clean before the carriage slides over the metal bits. Otherwise I don't cover the bed ways.

This is all aluminum chip accumulation from making those 6 vent holes in this hub motor side cover. It sweeps off easily enough and doesn't hurt the bed ways just accumulating there. No stone or diamond dust in there.


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