Last time I welded it was in school. It didn't go too well so I've been not doing it since. Couple of months ago I finally bought a welding machine to make new battery boxes for the kWsaki electric motorcycle. Haven't got around to that yet, but I did put the machine into use now.
I had adapters that fit the motors on one end and presumably a Subaru flywheel at the other (motors were prototypes for the Elcat). Having decided to drop the clutch for now I went on to take one adapter and mate it to the insides of the clutch disc assembly that fits the transmission.
Turns out I could put a bolt into the shaft and the nuts that fit the bolt will just fit inside the piece from the clutch disc assembly, so if I tighten everything up they should align pretty well. In the picture you can see my first attempt, which didn't come out straight and I had to take apart. In the second attempt, which then was the second time I'd weld in 20 years, I put just four small welds and let it cool. Then I filled the spaces between them. It seems straight now.
I have no idea whether it will last, but at least if the breaks there shouldn't be any damage.
In other news I found out that the laptop PSU which I use as a DC/DC converter in the kWsaki had drained the 12 V battery down to 3,5 volts. I had nothing else connected. Looks like I'll have to add a switch to disconnect everything from the 12 V battery too when the bike is not in use.
I did get the battery back though. The 12 V charger wouldn't start charging the battery since the voltage was so low, but then I first connected the other motorcycle's battery in parallel, started the charger and disconnected the other battery. Next morning the battery was happily at 12.8 volts.
