Tach Mount, Splash Guard and POR-15

It's still pretty cold in the garage, but I motivated myself to get out to TAP plastics (10 blocks away) and pick up some ABS plastic for the improved splash guard.


Here's the 3/16" thick piece of ABS lying on top of the existing splash guard. I got a piece 36" x 18" which is way too big, but I didn't know what would be needed. In the final directions, I'll probably list a smaller piece to acquire. This one cost me $22.25. I'm going to figure out how to cover under the motor vents to prevent grit from getting in there while still allowing adequate airflow for cooling.


Since I cut off the tailshaft on the Warp9, the Warp9 mounting ring for the Zolox tach sensor was too thick. I took that to TAP plastics as well and had them cut it to the proper thickness while keeping all the proper mounting holes for the sensor. The original donut was 1 1/2" thick. After cutting the tailshaft, I had 3/4" left over. If I cut the mounting donut down to 1/2" thick, it would leave 1/4" plus the spinning magnet (another 1/4") to protrude inside the tach sensor sleeve.


I wanted to make sure the spinning magnet sat in the center of the tailshaft. With the full tail shaft, there would be a 1/4" threaded hole to mount it into. Without the hole, I chose to drill a 1/4" hole in the center of the shaft about 3/8" deep to match the 1/4" hole on the spinning magnet. This will allow a short 1/4" bolt to keep the spinning magnet centered while I epoxy it on. Ideally I would have used a tap tap to make a threaded hole, but I didn't have one and this was quick and easy. Note that I used masking tape to cover up the tail bearing to prevent metal shavings from getting into the motor.

Since the mounting hardware that came with the donut above was meant for a 1 1/2" thick donut, I'll get the proper hardware tomorrow to install the donut and Zolox sensor.



Another nice surprise! The POR-15 starter kit arrived today as well. There were three battery hold-down pieces I didn't finish before sending all the metal pieces off for powder-coating, so I'll have to coat them myself. POR-15 is really tough stuff and this $20 starter kit will have everything I need. (no, this isn't an ad for POR-15)


For those who are curious, the starter kit contains metal cleaner, surface preparer, the POR-15 paint itself, rubber gloves and application brushes. I'll have to find a slightly warmer day to apply this stuff since I don't want to inhale fumes in my closed garage.

I'll be going snow-shoeing tomorrow, so maybe I'll get to installing the sensor on Sunday.