Big question is: when will you offer the production run of a SuperLoom for sale? 

Quote from: stopintime on May 12, 2012, 07:54:07 AM
Big question is: when will you offer the production run of a SuperLoom for sale? 

It's not really applicable to a standard bike, as I've changed things.

One of the things I've changed is this:



It's a board I knocked up that'll take a set of big-arse power MOSFETs and Linear Tech LT1910 current limited high-side drivers (http://cds.linear.com/docs/Datasheet/1910fa.pdf.  Sorta like a motogadget tailored for my bike.

Basically it means I can chuck out my relays and fuses, and mount this thing where the fuses went (actually on the bracket that holds the ECU).  Then I run smaller gauge wire for the ignition switch and headlight high/low beam switch, and the whole thing should be awesome

^^ Good idea!

What are the protected loads in this case? Are the "fault" outputs driving something like an LED? Are the FETs on the bottom of the board?

Quote from: tuxicle on May 28, 2012, 07:39:53 PM
^^ Good idea!

What are the protected loads in this case? Are the "fault" outputs driving something like an LED? Are the FETs on the bottom of the board?

There are eight outputs in total, each driven by a big D2PAK MOSFET (Probably IRFS3006, but I haven't bought parts yet) on the bottom of the board, with the drains connected to the +12V buss via a current sense resistor.  Each output terminal has a little surface mount LED next to it that lights up if there's a fault.  If there is a short or whatever, the driver chip just shuts off the output and lights it's fault LED.

Outputs are:

ECU (permanently enabled)
GAUGES (permanently enabled)
IGNITION (enabled by active high ignition sense input)
LOADS (enabled by active high ignition sense input)
HIGH BEAM (enabled by active low light enable input and active high high beam input)
LOW BEAM (enabled by active low light enable input and active high low beam input)
INJECTORS (enabled by active low fuel pump enable input)
FUEL PUMP (enabled by active low fuel pump enable input)

These correspond roughly to the standard Ducati fuse box outputs, but with lights split into low and high beam, and fuel pump split into fuel pump and injectors.

Each output can be current limited from 0 to 20 odd amps, by selection of an appropriate current sense resistor for the channel.  All the outputs are via 1/4" spade terminals. The 12V input is from either an M5 stud or a pair of 1/4" spade terminals.

The holes around the edge correspond to the mounting holes on the ECU, but mirrored. The idea is that the ECU mounts to the top of an aluminium plate and this board mounts underneath.  There's no provision for heat sinking the MOSFETs, as they have low enough on-resistance that the power dissipation is negligible.

Here's a photo of the bottom:



Apologies for the awful photos - I'm at work so just took photos with my phone.

Both heads are ported now.

Here's the vertical head:



if you look really close you can see where I damaged the valve seat - this will be fixed shortly.  I cut down the lump around the valve guide, and then blended it all together, removing some of the casting irregularities, before finishing with emery.  I also rounded out the sharp edges in the combustion chamber and removed many of the tooling marks.

The horizontal head looks much the same:



Looking into the vertical intake port from the head side:



And from the intake side:



You can see how much it's opened up from stock:



The exhaust is similar:



It was a huge amount of work. I have enormous respect for the people that do this for a living. Here are a selection of the tools I found useful:



On the left are carbide burrs of various shapes. The long rounded cylinder was useful for bringing the guide protrusions down. The ball was used for blending around the back of the guide, and the little one was used for some final blending. After the shape was right I went at it with the emery cylinders to remove as many tooling marks as I could, then with emery cloth by hand, then finally with the flap wheels.

Last step was spinning some scotchbrite in the ports using a simple homemade holder.

Next step in terms of the heads is to measure up the guide holes, then order guides and press them in. Then I'll ream them to 7mm, and buy some Neway seat cutters in 30, 45, and 60 degrees to clean up the seats before fitting valves.

Ooooh.... Purdy...

holy smokes. soooo much. brain on meltdown.

Impressive!!     

For something completely different, I figured I'd take a break from engine and electrical stuff and paint my frame (that was ostensibly the reason for doing all this in the first place).

I decided the original paint was in very good condition, so rather than stripping it completely I'd touch up the areas where I'd removed brackets and then clear the whole thing.

So first step was to wash the frame.  I started with a rag soaked in kerosene, then ordinary car wash stuff, then finally prepsol. It's critical to get the frame as clean as possible, especially removing wax and oil, as the clear won't adhere to these.  I went over much of the frame with 600 grit wet, both to smooth things out and to give some key for the clear.

Then I went out and bought supplies:



The ingredients are primer/surfacer, colour, and clear, with a hardener that's shared by the surfacer and clear. I used a little Iwata RG3 touch up gun to do the work. I bought this for painting bicycle frames. It's a little small for this, but worked okay.

So after much cleaning, I applied surfacer to the bits where the bracketry had been removed:



Then I erased the surfacer with colour.  I blended it in to the existing colour carefully (the colour match is really good):



These steps were both done inside, in front of a little spray booth.  There was no way the booth would cope with the volume of paint when clearing though (you have to work quickly or else you get overspray on bits you've already done, ruining the gloss), so I took the whole assembly outside.

This was by far the hardest bit - my Ducati frame is ten times more complex than a typical bicycle:



I got a reasonable gloss without any terrible runs, so I'm happy with that.

Now for the hardest part - not touching the frame for a couple of days.

The bits for my power distribution board arrived today, so I assembled it at lunchtime and gave it a quick test.

Here's a top view, showing the control circuitry:



The chips here are protected high side MOSFET drivers. They allow me to turn things on and off, with full protection against over current. There are LEDs that light up if there's a fault for each of the eight channels. The bolt in the middle is where +12V is connected.

Here's the other side of the board, where all the heavy lifting is done:



Each of the power transistors is a 2mOhm switch, with 4 mOhm current sense resistors in series for six of the channels, and 12mOhm ones for the ECU and Gauges channels. That gives me 15 and 5 A current limits respectively. I can change the current limit for each channel just by swapping out the current sense resistors.

Here's a photo of the board in situ. It replaces the fuses and relays, so I've cut the mounts for the fuse box off the battery box bracket.  You have to look carefully to spot the board - it's under the ECU:



Once the tank is in place, it vanishes:



Oh, btw, that's my nice shiny newly painted frame.  Here's another view:



It's really nice to finally be putting things back together again rather than just pulling them apart.

Awesome!      

nice one!

Question for ya Suz... Where do you get your harness braid/sheath from? What brand is it?

Cheers!

I buy it from Element 14 (AKA Farnell). They're an electronics wholesaler. It's "pro power" brand.

Here's a link to the stuff in 10mm nominal size:  http://au.element14.com/pro-power/petbk10bg5/sleeving-braid-10mm-black-5m/dp/1297227?Ntt=1297227

The 10mm size can be expanded to 22mm dia, and is applicable for cable bundles from 7 to 22mm dia.

I use 3mm, 5mm, 8mm, and 10mm sleeving.

It's polyester, with a working temperature up to 150 degrees C.  You need to secure the ends with glue-filled heatshrink to ensure it doesn't fray.

You can also get silicon coated fibreglass sleeving, for example http://au.element14.com/pro-power/pp14789/sleeving-4kw-silicon-glass-6mm/dp/1242827

This stuff doesn't expand or conform to different size cable bundles like the polyester stuff does, but it is good for higher temperature (180 degrees C), so it's applicable to things that are in more intimate contact with hot parts of the motor.

Ahh excellent thanks, I buy quite a lot of stuff from them for work