Appalled by expensive electric longboards, [Conor Patrick] still wanted one, and wanted it now. So — naturally — he converted an existing board into a sprightly electric version at a fraction of the cost.
[Patrick] is using a capable 380KV Propdrive motor, capable of pushing him up to 30mp/h! A waterproof 120A speed controller and 6000mAh, 22.2V LiPo battery slim enough to fit under the board give the motor the needed juice. He ended up buying the cheapest RF receiver and remote combo to control the board, but it fit the all-important “want electric long board now” criterion.
Initially, [Patrick] wanted to buy a kit and slap the electronics on his longboard, but since that proved to be a headache to mount, he resorted to 3D printing the motor bracket and pulley. So far so good, as [Patrick] printed the parts out of nylon with 95% infill — solid enough to withstand the loads placed upon them. Unfortunately, the boosted board drive belts he used are designed to slip, so even though this is meant to prevent the rider from falling off if there’s too much torque applied, it also means that [Patrick] could be zipping along that much faster. Hills are also a problem because of this, so a second motor might be his next upgrade.
Heck, even the consumer models sometimes need an upgrade, but few of those can fold up for easy air travel.
i like the way the motor connects to board and wheels, if for some reason it doesn’t work out the board isn’t ruined with small holes. The pistol grip RC controller is a nice touch.
That is a mess underneath, isn’t it. This video is almost worthy of its own blog entry, as it’s a nice step by step guide showing how to make a very neat fibreglass housing for a similar project at home and using pretty much what most of us will either have laying around, or can easily get hold of for not very much money at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_rH7IbPvq8
rollerskating (with real quad skates, not the funny inline skates) is way more fun :)
Electric rollerskating?
not electric (but i have some idea for that) for me it’s not needed, once i go from zero, then i only need to fight a very little rolling resistance, because i’m using ceramic bearings and quality wheels, and some wind resistance, i do it for 2-3 hours, my best moments when i’m after the cyclists :) but if you are brave and want crazy speeds, then go after some hills :) for me the rollerskating is the best possible sport, sometimes i even dream about it :)
Ok but this is hack_a_day, not favorite_sport_of_the_day……
some sort of tensioning mechanism would help with the belt slippage, but that would require a 2 piece motor bracket and would increase printing complexity
Awesome project!
“30mp/h”
What does that mean?
Rate of change of pressure in millipascals per hour obviously.
Just like that parsecs ref in that film we all know. You think its an error but you realise spacetime is curved and so doing it in 15 parsecs vs the usual 22 parsecs (regular great circle spacetime calc nowhere near any black hole distortions) is a signifcant cost savings on time and on wear on the engines.
In this case the ambient air pressure – if reduced to 15millipascals – means much less air resistance. That’s a drag calc which is in Newtons. A regular upright person moving through air on skateboard has a drag coeff of 0.7 at regular 20C Sea level air density (Air_density = 1.225 kg/m3 @ 20C sea level).
So reducing it makes a significant difference. Alas at that much reduced pressure your blood will boil and you’ll die horribly – assuming you can hold your breathe and not suffer massive tissue damage – which is why its mp/hour… so you have time to adjust – or get a spacesuit at least….
See – pretty straightforward really isn’t it…
13,4112 meters/seconds
~$100 not counting the longboard, pretty great!