Auranthetic Electric Mini Bike

This is a sweet little minibike I stumbled onto when buying a Tote Gote trial bike. The Auranthetic Charger was built from 1973 to about 1974 in Los Angeles California. The bike were imported less engines from Taiwan as a Gemini bike. Aurathetic stretched the frames an added all the electric drive componets. Power is from a pair of group 27 deep cycle (automotive type) batteries. Motor is a KDB permanent magnet 1-hp, 24-volt motor. The motor measures 4.5 inches in diameter and 11 inches long.

When I bought her I had never even heard of one. After cleaning her up I tried to charge the batteries with the onboard charger, but after a few days I gave up. Installed a couple of used ones and was thrilled when I cracked the throttle and she came to life! Had to replace the rear inner tube, but otherwise she is as I found her. I have upgraded to a pair of modern [onboard] battery chagers that automaticly top off the batteries with out overcharging them.

Whats really cool is that it is a road legal motorcycle! all I need to do is update the tags so I can drive her around. It's only good for about 30 mph, so intown use only. The only noise is the chain and tires rolling on the road.

Wooden Boat with Twin Jet Drive

This was my attempt to power a small skiff with simple & cheap Jet propulsion. The boat is a Bolger / Payson designed 15" Diablo. I built the hull in about two month working weekends and evenings. Boat was built close to original plans, only minor changes to suit my drive setup.

Power is from a pair of Pacer Trash pumps. Engines are 5.5hp Briggs & Stratton. The pumps are direct driven from the motors and made of some near indestructible black plastic and uses 2" pipe fittings.

The output from the pumps is from the top of the housings. Looking at the pic you can see a Blue handle, centered on each engine. This is my forward -neutral- reverse control, I have full independent of each pump. Opposite side of the Tee from the control valves is for hookup to a fire hose or a pair of fire nozzles I added later that would shoot water almost straight up about 50' (just for fun;-). Forward thrust goes through the clear hose you see going forward, it then goes under the engines and exits through a pair of modified antique fire hose nozzles that have an opening of about 1". Reverse jet is a simple 90 degree 1" copper fitting that faces forward. Intake is from a 2" floor flange fastened to the bottom of the hull. Steering is from a sailboat style tiller.

I put a lot of though, money and work into the jet drive only to end up removing all of it a couple of years later. The tiller steering and separate control of each jet worked great, at full throttle I could instantly reverse one drive and make the boat turn within its own length. The main problem was lack of forward movement. Measured with a handheld GPS I could only get about 6 mph ! The pumps were not designed for pressure, so I was just pumping tons of water out the back. Tried reducing the nozzel diameter, but no help.

After a couple of years I removed and sold the pumps in favor of an 18hp 1957 Evinrude outboard.

The Projects of a [insane] Mechanic

Hello all. This is my first attempt at a public blog, so please for give some mispelllings, poor grammar [victim of public edumacation] and any other odd ways of communicating my ideas.

I plan to use this space to show off some of the mechanical creations I have come up with and show them in all their glory and failings.

Dan