For the past couple of years I've been taking my Locost to the Bay Area Maker Faire in an attempt to inspire the thousands of visitors there to build a car of their own. It's a static display because the Maker Faire people don't let us drive cars around the fairgrounds. They do, however, let other vehicles loose, everything from fire-breathing dragons to giant cupcakes, so long as they look cool and aren't too fast.
So I've started building a half-scale Locost. It's going to look exactly like my full-scale Locost, right down to the wood dash, BRG paint, and yellow stripe. It'll use a scaled-down book frame, although since it has to accommodate a full-scale driver, it'll be a little taller and seat only one medium-sized adult. It likely won't fit me, but it'll fit Kaitlyn so she'll do all the test driving.
The engineering should be pretty simple, mostly go-kart technology, with pushrod steering and a single disc brake on the rear axle. It'll incorporate the standard Locost suspension, but with spring rates high enough to keep the suspension from moving very much. The drivetrain will be something of an experiment, a 900-watt DC motor bolted to a rear axle cage driving a solid axle. So far I've completed the basic frame, and also started making the front spindles, which are sort-of scaled-down copies of the MGB spindles on my Locost.
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I had a wooden prototype of the car on display at last year's Maker Faire, just the frame and suspension, and it was a popular exhibit but also fragile. I hope to get as much done in steel before next year's Maker Faire, and possibly even install the drivetrain, although I'm not expecting to finish the car for at least another year.
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