Test stand for Smart Drive Motor

I made a little bit of progress on the recumbent bicycle front today. I’ve made a makeshift test stand for the Smart Drive motor so I can start testing some control board designs before I put in the effort of installing the motor on a bicycle frame. This way the motor has no load connected to it, which will keep the current required to run the motor to a minimum during testing.

The stand basically consists of the shell from an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), bolted to a piece of steel plate, with the nylon hub of the motor cable tied to the UPS frame. The first thing I did was strip the UPS frame and reinforce it with a couple of cable ties.

The bare UPS frame with cable ties to prevent it from wobbling.

Four matching holes were drilled into the cover of the UPS and a piece of scrap steel I bought for $5 and then they were bolted together using M4 bolts and nuts. I had to buy this piece of steel because, it wasn’t until after I gave the steel case of the washing machine to the scrap metal merchant, I realised I could of cut it out of that instead of having to buy more. But, that is a lesson learnt I suppose.

Lid of UPS bolted to steel plate using M4 bolts and matching nuts

Basic stand after UPS frame is bolted back into its lid and attached steel plate.

I then cable tied the motor hub to the basic frame through the holes that were already present in the bottom of the UPS. The motor does have a bit of movement after it has been secured. However, if this becomes an issue during testing I will probably just put some double sided foam tape down between the motor hub and the UPS frame to prevent it sliding about. Time will tell on that front.

The motor secured to the frame via cable ties around the motors bearing hub.

After all is said and done, I think I have managed to slap together a passable test stand that should get me through to the time that I have to actually mount the motor onto the bicycle frame.

Finished test stand. The steel plate was connected so that more of it was on the side that the motor would be on. Due to the centre of gravity of it not being directly over the hub, but underneath the actual motor. This way it stops the stand from falling over.