[svskibo]

Hi everyone.
I'm converting a sailboat to Edrive and considering a forklift motor. I'm wondering what I might do for a mount bracket that doesn't require a metal fabricator.
Any thoughts on DIY mounting brackets?
Are there any hacks or find items that make good mounting brackets for forklift motors?

All the best,

Mike

 

[MattsAwesomeStuff]

I'm wondering what I might do for a mount bracket that doesn't require a metal fabricator.

Not sure if English is your first language... I'm a bit puzzled by your question in a couple different ways.

What do you mean by "Fabricator"? Are you referring to a person (someone that you would have to pay, who makes things), a machine (perhaps "welder" or "milling machine?"), or a process (building it from metal)?

A bracket is really the simplest possible thing to make out of metal. If you had a hammer, hacksaw and a hand drill you could make just about anything. I can't imagine the kinds of things you could make if you didn't have those most basic tools.

If you for some reason can't or just don't want to build it out of metal and want to use some other materials, that's pretty specific, so, I don't want to be overly prescriptive as to what your actual skills and abilities and tools are. You know what your skills are, so, use them to make a bracket.

Wood would be acceptable. Fiberglass. Perhaps rope and leather. I dunno, you could probably make anything work on a desert island situation.

I also can't imagine the situation where you know how to make things with one medium, but would be confused by a bracket. It's... just a bracket.

Maybe give us a little more explanation of the difficult part for you so we can help better.

 

[svskibo]

Lol. Your reply is both reassuring and hilarious.
I guess what I'm saying is that while I'm quite proficient at the desert island jury rig...I am a sailor after all, I want to make this install somewhat pretty, but on a budget.
The first thing that came to mind was Meccano. Maybe I could bolt together some angle iron. I'm not familiar with forklift motors but I bought a heavily used golf cart motor once and was confounded as to how to attach a bracket. Of course it was missing the drive train end that mounts to the cart.
I'm guessing a forklift motor must have external mounting points that could be attached to a chassis? Sorry I'm not more informed. I'm hoping to look at some forklift motors this week. I'm also curious as to what the motors PTO looks like. Male output shaft normally? Or female?

 

[Duncan]

Hi

You want an external "male" shaft - I prefer a spline drive

First pic is the motor - rear end
Second pic - motor
Third pic shows the spline adapter - on the motor this was used for the parking brake
Fourth pic is the two parts of the rear motor mount - you can see how they bolt to the back of the motor
The bottom bar then has two exhaust rubbers to bolt to the chassis - and there are another two that bolt to the top bar and the top rails of my chassis

Number five is the bar with the exhaust rubbers that bolts to the front of the motor

No great machining needed - drills, files, grinders, welders and taps

 

[boekel]

I couldnt find good pictures, but what I've done is just bolt a strip or angle bar to existing bolt holes, and mounted the motor with that.

Easy and cheap.

 

[brian_]

It looks like the desire is to avoid welding; that's understandable, as most people don't know how to weld and don't have the equipment. It's tough to make reasonable mounts that are entirely built of steel angle stock, straps bent around motors, and plates, without welding them together. A solution is to fabricate the parts yourself (a cheap angle grinder is the only power tool needed), clamp the bits together, and take them to someone else to be welded.

In boekel's example, the mount is all that red angle and plate. While it all appears to be welded together, it could have all been bolted together instead, although to do that the steel plates bolted to the motor end housing would need to be bent to bolt them to the angle sections.

 

[boekel]

I found some better pictures from another project, here I used the rear of the motor for driving the propshaft, a flange originally from the attached brake (forklift motor) I re-used in the frame, and on the other side I used a piece of angle iron.

I wouldn't avoid the welding, just let someone make the frame for you, and mount on the original mounting points.

http://boekel.nu/foto/17/2017-03-zwaansloep/image63.htm

http://boekel.nu/foto/17/2017-03-zwaansloep/image64.htm

In this project the big frame in the pictures also carries the battery, filling the original engine area.