All-terrain Hoverboard Junk Pile Build

If you’re anything like us, chances are pretty good you’ve got at least one underused piece of fitness gear cluttering up your place. Rather than admit defeat on that New Year’s Resolution purchase, why not harvest the guts and build an all-terrain hoverboard for a little outdoor fun?

The fitness machine in question for [MakeItExtreme]’s build was a discarded Crazy Fit vibration platform. We’re not sure we see the fitness benefits of the original machine, but there’s no doubt it yielded plenty of goodies. The motor and drive belt look stout, and the control board eventually made it into the hoverboard too. The custom steel frame was fabricated using some of [MakeItExtreme]’s DIY tools, which is what we’re used to seeing them build — check out their sand blaster and spot welder for examples. A couple of knobby tires in the center of the board let the rider balance (there’s no gyro in this version) and power is provided by a couple of 12 volt AGM batteries. Sadly, the motor was a line voltage unit, so an inverter was needed. But it was the only part that had to be purchased, making this a pretty complete junk pile build.

See the video after the break for build details and a few test rides. Looks like it can do 20 mph or so – pretty impressive.

21 thoughts on “All-terrain Hoverboard Junk Pile Build

  1. I know it’s kind of like the drone v quadcopter pedantry but it really bothers me that this is called a hoverboard,
    people have been making these way before “hoverboards” were a thing, and also, THEY DON’T HOVER

    1. Yup, PLEASE stop calling them “hoverboards”. It increases the site’s clickbait factor by a huge amount, instantly.

      Do you think The Douche King in the pic built it himself? Or is he just modelling? Nice “serious” face, mate.

    2. Yeah, I’d been disappointed to see a bunch of “hoverboards” that don’t hover, until I pondered what it would take to build a hoverboard for real. And then I started trying to figure out what it would take to stop a real life hoverboard if I were riding it down a hill. And there’s a lot of long hills where I live. Suddenly, I didn’t want a hoverboard anymore…

  2. The theory behind those vibrating exercise machines is that our muscles naturally resist the vibrations (you can’t really willingly make them not do it), causing them to do work and thus exercise.
    It’s the reason why working with a jackhammer is so tiring despite the tool doing all the work.

    Sadly, it’s nowhere near as an effective way of exercising muscles as sellers of these machines claim (big surprise there…)

    1. Also supposedly repetitive vibrations (up to a point) stimulate bone health. Saw a study some time ago on people who regularly ride motorcycles up into their elderly years having a higher bone density than people who didn’t. They also threw in people who worked in areas/on equipment with platforms that vibrated a lot. It was a while back, and I don’t know how good a study it was either so…. definitely take that with a grain or three of salt.
      (Also, from experience, I don’t think the bone density helps all that much when you crash and break a leg.)

      1. Yea, it is pretty cool how it works. Apparently the piezoelectric discharges from impact of the calcium bone structure stimulates the osteoblasts to spin out more calcium structure. Sitting around doing nothing stimulates withdrawal of calcium by osteoclasts whenever dietary calcium is not sufficient.

    2. I was always skeptical of the calorie read outs on that type of machine. My Chiropractor had me use one to help me tighten muscles (stand in the proper posture, plus some other postures to target muscles.) It always felt like a workout but nothing like running for the equivalent 300 calories.

  3. pretty cool seeing stuff being build out of junk parts. its just itching me that the tools probably cost at least several thousands of dollars. would love to see stuff like this built only with cheap tools or tools made out of scrap.

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