While I’m writing about the legal stuff first, that’s actually the last thing I did.

An Electric Assisted Bicycle must:

• have working pedals * motor of 1000 Watts or less * 20 MPH or less * Can go anywhere a bicycle can go except the sidewalk. No riding on the sidewalk. * Just follow bicycle laws regarding helmets and such * Bike paths (like the Burke Gilman) are OK.The next class of vehicle up is a moped:

Two things conspired in 2010 to finally push me off my bicycle for good.

1. My right hip continues to slide downhill. While I had surgery on it back in 2006, it wasn’t enough and the hip is having arthritis again. Bicycling makes it sore, pop funny, and occasionally stabby.
2. Having my heart rate hit 110 or above for more than 5 minutes kicks in my chronic fatigue syndrome and I feel like crap an hour later for 3-24 hours depending on how long my heart rate is elevated. More here if you are interested: http://www.cfids.org/cfidslink/2007/030704.asp.

But I love two wheeled vehicles. I can’t remember when I rode my first bicycle, but I remember my first moped ride very clearly. It was David (blank)’s moped and it looked a little like this:

I finally finished the lathe conversion. It ended up being a lot more work than I expected as I ran into problems in pretty much every area.

The lathe is a 1995 era Jet 9x20 lathe. It originally had an incredibly heavy 3/4 HP single phase motor.

• The motor was not a drop in replacement. I had to move the motor mount over about 3/4". I had to chop off a chunk from the quick change gearbox mounting plate because the motor hit it. I also had to buy a new longer belt. Phew. In this case a Frame 56 motor was NOT a drop in replacement for the motor that it came with.

Why did I decide that putting a new motor on my lathe was a good idea?

I already have many projects in process; things like figuring out why I can no longer use the heat pump register in my bedroom; landscaping the backyard and getting a tree removed; walking 50 minutes a day. But after I finished the little motor project, I was frustrated at how many times I had to switch belts.

My fried Josh managed to find himself owning two lathes. After helping him resolve that problem I found myself an owner of a Jet 9x20 lathe. Not having used a lathe in about 10 years I decided to start by working on a skills building project. 

After some looking around, I found the EZ Build Engine plans from the folks over at Home Model Engine Machinist board. They basically build a small compressed air engine. Building mine was quite a saga. I managed to get some whiplash with kept me out of the shop for several months. After 4 months of very short increments of work I had a functioning engine and mostly better neck.