2022 - Volume #46, Issue #1, Page #29
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Battery-Powered Snow Machine
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“I worked on it for a couple of months before taking it out in 8 in. of snow,” says Risch. “It went really well.”
Risch heard about FARM SHOW from his late friend and co-worker, Bud Schultz. “He used to be a dairy farmer, but we worked together in a machining shop for about 5 yrs.,” says Risch. “He would bring in FARM SHOW issues and books, and we would spend our lunchtime looking them over.”
To build his snow machine, Risch repurposed a variety of parts from an older Polaris snowmobile.
“I used the aluminum suspension frame, drive sprockets, track and several shafts, bearings and bearing holders,” says Risch. “The motor and drive were from a 36-volt golf cart.”
Risch flipped the conventional snowmobile design around, putting the track out front with the motor at the rear. The operator rides on a sled pulled behind.
He drilled holes in an aluminum plate to match the motor mount bolts, leaving an opening for the driveshaft. It was then welded to the aluminum frame. The three 12-volt batteries ride inside the track frame, providing needed weight for traction.
He machined a hexagonal shaft to a round shape for a jackshaft connecting the motor’s drive to the track drive sprockets.
“One of the biggest challenges was to get the right combination of sprockets to reduce rpm’s,” says Risch. “I had to play with a couple of different sprocket sizes to get the speed right.”
Risch found the optimum speed for the articulated snow machine was 5 to 7 mph. He had it up to 10 to 15 mph at one point.
“That was too fast to steer it,” he recalls. “I had to slow it down, which also gave it more torque.”
The handlebars of the rig were fabricated from 2-in. schedule 40 aluminum pipe that pivots on the aluminum frame. The pipes culminate in an aluminum box between the handgrips. It houses a voltage meter and an on/off switch. A twist grip throttle is wired to the motor through a 36-volt controller.
Steering is a matter of leveraging the operator’s weight in the sled against the handlebars. Articulation is provided by a 2-way, greaseable swivel that he machined. It’s bolted to aluminum side panels he fabricated to cover the track and motor.
“The hitch can swivel over, under and side to side as well,” says Risch.
With the batteries and other components, the snow machine weighs in at about 275 lbs. “If the load in the sled is heavier, the machine will spin a little on ice,” says Risch.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Luke Risch, Nelson, Wis.
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