Hackaday Prize Entry: An Electric Longboard

The Hackaday Prize is in full swing, and that means we’re starting to see all the builds a few select people have been saving up for the past few months. [yowhwui] has been working on a 3D printed electric longboard for a while now, and this build is really solid. He already has over 150km on the odometer, and the 3D printed parts are still holding up.

The power for this motor comes from a 6374 brushless motor running at 192 kV. This, plus two 4S 30C 5000mAh LiPo batteries propel this longboard to speeds up to 42 km/h (2.18 Saxon leagues per quarter hour), all while weighing about 8kg.

Since [yowhwui] is using the motor for power and braking (electric motors are neat), this longboard needs to be designed with belt skipping in mind. To that end, he’s designed a drive system with an idler, and nearly every single part is 3D printed. The first revision of the hardware was printed in PETG. While PETG was more than strong enough, it was also too brittle. This led to a few cracks. After printing the parts out again in ABS, [yowhwui] put a few more kilometers on this longboard, and there are no immediate signs of wear.

15 thoughts on “Hackaday Prize Entry: An Electric Longboard

  1. Anyone know of an alternative to the RC controller? I’ve been searching with the plan of making a scooter version of these but no Search so far has turned up anything. Had been thinking around using the throttle control system from a kids electric toy bike.

    1. i think your on the right track for the scooter, at the base level throttle control is really just a potentiometer and a twist grip from a child’s toy should provide what you need in the mechanical package you need.

      RC, just works better on a long board as a tether would be rather cumbersome. Controllers can be broken down into two ideas; control method and communications. RC is the simplest to implement but can have its draw backs such as inteference or the possibility of being taken over, there are modules that you can buy that will connect to a Wii nunchuck as well.

      1. Honestly, I would recommend against a nunchuck. every bump can cause spikes to your throttle inputs. In my experience, using a rotary pot helps decouple the inputs from the enviroment.

        Also, Cords can be useful as they provide an easy way to create a hardwired deadman switch. Whatever you do, just make sure you include one so that if you go tumbling your board doesn’t get run over or hit someone

    1. Yeah, it’s just Brian not knowing even the basics of what he’s writing about. I mean the answer is literally in the very next sentence: 4S (ie <17V). KV is the rpm the motor will spin with no load with 1V applied.

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