Ditch the Paddle DIY electric skateboard

Nice work!!!

Thats pretty cool, reminds me of old scalextrix controllers :)

Ben 86 was my inspiration for thinking that I could build a Stick that could be powered and used on any longboard. I copied all the components as per Ben 86 except for the batteries and wheel drives. The concept worked but in the end my power source and speed control were too bulky and it was too hard to put the power to the ground.




I ditched the power stick idea and decided to make a longboard and use the components for it. Board was made with 4 sheets of 3mm ply and 2 layers of carbon pressed up in my LDP jig to produce 6mm of concave across the deck and abound 7mm of camber lenghtwise.
Wheels are 97mm Abec fly wheels, for the trucks I used Caliber 44's (acid melon for something different). Sprockets are 40 tooth wheel and 16 tooth motor to suit 5mm x 15mm HTD timing belts.
Motor bracket was made out of alloy using a hacksaw and a file for the first one and a milling machine the second. The battery box is 2 layers of glass with a layer of carbon over the top (just for looks really).







One motor set up worked well but I could not help myself and fitted a second motor. When I was ordering the electric gear I noticed some RC high power LED lights that could be triggered off the spare channel of the remote control so for 20 bucks it was a done deal.















Initial short runs have been scary. Acceleration and torque are impressive (I am 110 kegs). I have not been game enough to find top speed yet but chickened out at 34 km/hr and the board was doing it easy. It can pull 3 other people on longboards no worries. Have done a run over 10 klms distance, started with 25.14 volts and ended the night with 22.68 volts (batteries can go down to 18 volts before cut-off). I would be confident to do 20 klms but have not tried it yet.
Awesome fun and a great project, thanks to Ben 86 for the inspiration.

You two blokes are awesome..... I so.wish I had the ability to make one,it would have been done yesterday if could. Thanks so much for making me jealous

The 2 motors work better than expected. They both run with heaps less loading and close to the same power consumption (0.14V less than a similar run). Just tidied the lights up with a custom mount.









Also made a boo boo with the motor speed controller. I installed 120A ESC's that were only rated for 4S batteries and i am using 6S batteries. Found out because i could only get a top speed of 36 klm/hr while a mate with lower gearing and smaller wheels could reach 34 klm/hr. Purchased an optical tacho and checked my motors top revs of around 5100 rpm. My mate could get about 6400 rpm with his set up so we looked closer at the differences and then noticed the specs of my ESC (Dough). You live and learn I guess. Anyway 2 150 A ESC's are on the way. I will keep you posted and maybe add some video next time.

The thing here is... Large Scale Radio Control Electric Cars...

Electronically, they were mentioning 2 x 150 Amp ESC's (Electronic Speed Controllers)...
You need about 6+ Cells of LiPo Power.... Lithium Polimer.... Each "Cell" is 4.2 Volts. Commonly purchased in either 2 Cells or 3 Cells ... As in 2 Cell Packs, or 3 Cells Packs... You need a Transmitter (hand held controller), and a Receiver. The receiver plus into the ESC, and the battery packs need to be correctly wired into the ESC. The Motor / Motors are also plugged into / wired into the ESC...

Go to your local Radio Control Car Retailer, and watch them have a laugh at this thread! ... But they will help you with the ordering, and wiring configuration... It's not hard to do...

I prefer to drive this though!

Hey sandman, look at the pictures and you will see enough details to get it all. I ordered all my gear through Hobby King and copied the components in Ben's original post. Make sure you get 2 x 5000 mAh 6S LiPo batteries, at least a 150A ESC and your choice of motor (my NTM's are still working). The hard part is mounting the motor to the truck, fixing the pulley to the wheel and getting the right size belt (ebay has pulleys and stuff but i used stuff from NAISMITH). There is heaps of info on the web you just start with a proto type in wood or HDPE and see if it works before going with some aluminium. Like i said the first one i built was with a hacksaw and file, but i would have been screwed without a lathe for the wheel drive. I was lucky that the "Old Man's Shed" group in Cairns had a lathe and for a $30 buck/year mebership it was a life saver (of course you can buy the drive kits but they are expensive). Good luck with your build and let us know how you go. PM me if you have any questions.

Hi there finally found a guy who has designed a chip-board so you can use a wireless wii controller to drive your electric longboard. Cost me $100 (chip and controller) and got here inside of 7 days. Worked straight away, just plugged it in. Has variable cruise control and full on raw control, you can save money and build the components yourself if you are handy at electronics. Check out the thread on endless sphere forum for all the history. You can also adjust and adapt all the settings if you know Arduino. Arduino program is all open source and out there if you want to play but it works perfectly as it is. Have fun.


http://www.homanndesigns.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=51&products_id=277

Man you guys are awesome! Building an electric skateboard is on my bucket list of things to do! May I know how much you spent on this?

Thanks,
Michael

These boards look awesome! when do they go on sale?