Toylander build thread!

[DonkeyApple]

Looking fantastic. Just in case you need any inspiration, my two have only just come in for supper having been driving around for the last couple of hours.

[Hard-Drive]

Been a bit slow recently due to this happening on the full sized one. Blown head gasket now fixed...must have been going slightly for as long as I've had her as magically now we have more power, less smoke, and no more oil leaks!



Anyway, back to the little one. I wanted to improve on the fairly pants Toylander design and use the stub axles from the mobility scooter. Here they are, with a sleeve I got turned up to make the axle longer and to go from 15mm OD to 1" to suit the bigger wheels. Bar and angle ready to make other bits...



Drilling the central axle pivot in my high precision German pillar drill (...it's from Aldi). Axle is a swing axle, like a tractor...



Finished piece ready to go into new axle beam...



Welding it all together...



Making new track rods. Of course, one end had to be left hand threaded which threw me a bit...



Axle on the bench...



And then on the vehicle...



And today we had "roll out", with it sat on it's wheels and steering for the first time...





Got some "flex" (axle articulation) too!





Back into the workshop, and I chopped the ends off the old mobility scooter transaxle, where the old scooter wheels went straight onto, and fitted the gears to take the chain drive down to the back axle...





...and lastly test fitted the motor/transaxle in place. Now I can work out where the chains need to go, and cut the axle spacers on the rear axle to the right length, and weld the lower gears in place.



It really does feel like it's starting to come together now. Next thing is brakes, and an initial test fit of the scooter wiring harness to make sure it all moves properly, before then putting some slightly more bespoke wiring together.

Edited by Hard-Drive on Wednesday 28th August 09:25

[chrisga]

Looks really good!

[Hard-Drive]

I had a separate thread running to try and find an electronics expert to help with some wiring questions...I'll just combine it here.


@Journeymanpro...I can't PM you as your settings won't allow it. So I'll write it here...

So I connected everything up on the scooter at the weekend (2 x new 12v 50Ah batteries) but bear in mind the scooter is a bit of a skeleton now so it's a bench test, not a driving/running test.

The controls are...

The wig-wag pot
Another "tortoise/hare" rotary pot on the dash
A 4mph/8mph rocker switch

...and the controller is an EGIS unit. I've had a fiddle with it and apart from the motor cutting out if you turn the tortoise/hare pot up to full (worn pot I guess) it all works fine now. So I just need to get rid of the wig wag and 4/8 switch and somehow wire in a normal pot plus use this gear lever to handle 4/8 and reverse...

So here's the switches in the gear lever. The red switch handles 1st/2nd (or 4/8mph) and the black does reverse. They are just rocker switches.



4mph...



8mph...



Forward gear...



Reverse gear (pushed down with my finger for clarity rather than the lever)



The terminals...



Any ideas? Thanks very much in advance!!

[TooMany2cvs]

Hard-Drive said:

So I just need to get rid of the wig wag and 4/8 switch and somehow wire in a normal pot plus use this gear lever to handle 4/8 and reverse...

So here's the switches in the gear lever. The red switch handles 1st/2nd (or 4/8mph) and the black does reverse. They are just rocker switches.

...

The terminals...



Any ideas? Thanks very much in advance!!

You really need to go over all those terminals with a multimeter, and see what's connected to what with each switch in each position.

You've still got the original loom, so try drawing up a wiring diagram, too - it'll make life a lot easier to figure out what's what. If you get that done, but can't figure out how to move on, post 'em here.

If it is as simple as that switch is fore/aft, then can't you just put that/those (they'll separate) behind the dash, with something pushing on it/them as required? Hide the 8mph until the advanced driving test...

[karona]

Reversing switch

[cptsideways]

How utterly brilliant


I reckon a LilLotus 7 should be next

[Hard-Drive]

Sorry, it probably would have been helpful if I'd posted the content from the other thread to add some context here. Karona, I think the wiring may be more complex than that, as the scooter set up comes with a large speed control unit, that works in conjunction with the wig wag. However, are you saying that if I installed the SPDT rocker switch between the existing speed controller output and the motor, that would do it? The motor cables are rated at 3A (although they do seem pretty chunky for that amperage) There's no markings on the rocker switch apart from 12V, however it would appear from a bit of googling that all similar switched are rated to 24v and around 12A anyway so at a guess it would take it (or easily be replaced). I thought that the FWD/REV switching would have to happen between the controls and the speed controller, but will this solution of between the speed controller and the motor work just as well?

If so, that's one of my questions fixed. Obviously the 4mph/8mph is an easy one, no questions there either.

So lastly it's the pot. This is the wiring diagram for the linear pot I want to use:

http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1699476.pdf?_ga=...

How do I wire it to replace the wig wag?

[Toltec]

I take it you have already found a manual for the egis controller?

e.g http://forums.parallax.com/discussion/download/486...

A quick look finds a reference to using a wigwag or single direction throttle with reverse switch so hopefully the wiring will be in there.

[Hard-Drive]

Toltec said:

I take it you have already found a manual for the egis controller?

e.g http://forums.parallax.com/discussion/download/486...

A quick look finds a reference to using a wigwag or single direction throttle with reverse switch so hopefully the wiring will be in there.

Er, no, I'd not even thought about that to be honest. I'd just not even considered that the controller might be programmable to work with the inline pot. So...

T H A N K Y O U!!!!!

So, armed with a cup of tea and a healthy dose of RTFM I shall have a look at that tonight and report back!!!

[JohnR2]

A lovely build - have you finished it?
I like the attention to detail - I extended the wheelbase of my Series 2 Toylander to be closer to scale, changed the profile of the rad panel, re-designed the rear lights panel (I think RLT are using my design now after requesting the details) and made a replica of a period indicator switch for the steering column. It's not quite finished in these pics - I've just had the Dorset Fire Brigade crest applied to the doors today after re-painting.

[Hard-Drive]

That's a beauty John, nice job. Love the "panel gaps" on the wings...that's something I forgot to do before I put the sides on. Slightly nervous about how to do it now without making a mess! Any more pics?

A question for you and the wider audience...my build is going to have the "gears" controlled via the lever shown earlier in this thread (but made to look like a Series 2 lever) but also a semi scale representation of the high low, 4WD and also overdrive levers. Can anyone think of some kind of cheap, preferably steel mechanism with some kind of detent stop on there, operating through about 30 degrees? The handle is irrelevant as I'll weld a new one on, I just want to think of something with a nice action to use as the base that's also fairly toddler proof.

On this pic, the red one needs to go back and forwards, as does the smaller black one, and the yellow one just goes up and down (easy peasy, rod/sleeve/spring)

[JohnR2]

I've not seen another toylander with the wingtop to side gap - trouble is the attention to detail is what makes a build take far longer than it should! Tricky to groove once the wingtops are secured - I would be reluctant to take a router to it then - especially as you wouldn't be able to get close enough to the bulkhead to finish that end. I forgot to extend the door gaps up onto the upper rear body side strips but I'm leaving it now!

[JohnR2]

Here's one I did earlier With regard to your hi/low ratio levers I suppose you could use hollow tube containing a spring and ballbearing at the bottom of the lever, locating in a strip of thin steel with holes at the extent of throw and bent to a curve compatible with the arc of the swing of the lever. Set the mechanism in narrow MDF box or steel if you have a welder to hand. Hope that makes sense?

[nichio3478]

ColinM50 said:

A bit like the ride on or drive yourself toys you can get in Halfords, they're toys for Dads, kiddies aren't really interested in them and after 5 mins will want to play with something else.

I bought a ride on remote controlled one from Ebay and 3 yr old grandson played in it for allotted 5 mins and never shown any interest since. Chatted to manager of local Maplins about them, he had an offer on and tried to sell me one and he said they're all sold to Dad's kiddies aren't really keen.

From OP's pov, OK build it for the fun and challenge for you but please don't think your little monkey will spend hours playing with it - he won't

Sure it's been covered above but what an awful depressing thing to say.

[ColinM50]

Depressing it may be Nichio, but afraid it's true. My one's for sale, had it twice on Ebay and not met the £25 minimum. Most Dad's realise the toy's for them and not the kiddy, those that don't soon learn

[DonkeyApple]

ColinM50 said:

Depressing it may be Nichio, but afraid it's true*. My one's for sale, had it twice on Ebay and not met the £25 minimum. Most Dad's realise the toy's for them and not the kiddy, those that don't soon learn

*Sample of one. May transpire to be total bks.

[Hard-Drive]

ColinM50 said:

Depressing it may be Nichio, but afraid it's true. My one's for sale, had it twice on Ebay and not met the £25 minimum. Most Dad's realise the toy's for them and not the kiddy, those that don't soon learn

Well, if you’re selling a Toylander for £25 I’ll give you four times that right now and have a spare one. However, I suspect it’s probably a generic battery powered kids car that won’t deal with long grass or mud and won’t do 8mph or 8 miles between charges. I suspect when you can load up the vehicle in question with lots of your friends, an adult, pull a trailer and drive it round all day without charging the engagement factor probabky increases a bit....

[Dog Star]

Hard-Drive said:

Well, if you’re selling a Toylander for £25 I’ll give you four times that right now and have a spare one. However, I suspect it’s probably a generic battery powered kids car that won’t deal with long grass or mud and won’t do 8mph or 8 miles between charges. I suspect when you can load up the vehicle in question with lots of your friends, an adult, pull a trailer and drive it round all day without charging the engagement factor probabky increases a bit....

I've always been obsessed with toy cars, and I had a little pedal Fire Chief car that I loved. I can assure anyone, if in any doubt - that I and millions of other kids like me would have been beyond overjoyed at having a Toylander or similar - there's years of pleasure to be had from that. I'm sure the same applied to children now.

[chrisga]

I'd have been in one of these for every waking second of every day if I'd had one when i was a kid come rain or shine. As it was I made do with my pedal car until I could ride a bike.

As the OP has the full size version I'm sure his son will want to be "just like dad" offroading everywhere possible. I think they look fab.