hey man,
i have run some basic classes like this for students in 8th- 10 th grade here in Spain both with public and private school students. i ran it as a hands on course, allowed students to bring in their boards and take them apart just to get into the fundamentals. i bought a few soldering irons and some hex keys…it makes for a good time and can seriously connect the content.
im now in a great school with access to Vex systems, 3 d printers and ive convinced them this year to purchase a small CNC so hoping to expand my programming a bit maybe next year.
plan it out would be my recommendation…put in the hours before hand and they can be supper successful.
hey hey, i’m in my final year of high school (year 12) and i’m building an electric longboard for my final project
I also did a STEM course back when i was in year 9 and we experimented with drones (parrot minidrones to be exact). I dont know if it helps but i think it would be a cool idea if the students were given a baseline (such as it must be able to push x amount of weight, should be able to travel up steep hills etc). I think this is an awesome idea and i’m totally behind it! All the best to you!!!
Separate them into group, have them collaborate on a part design, ie enclosure, deck, pulley cover, pulleys, motor mount,… You’ll be surprise what they can come up with.
I designed and machined different parts for esk8 and customized many different mounts for folks on this forum. Check out my website, Janux-esk8.com for pre-build drive trains for ideas or individual parts / kit they could put together.
I might be able to help machining their final part design.
Which part of California are you in? I am in San Diego.
Holy shit, this sounds awesome, I had to wait until uni until I could incorporate building something fun into my bachelor thesis…I think its important to keep a fundamental level(depending of age, of course) but also have a deeper learning for those few that might be curious about how things actually work, besides the building of the actual board. Something worth thinking about.
Maybe discuss different manufacturing techniques and materials. Where you would use them, how you could use them, maybe a demonstration or something. i.e. using fiberglass, carbon fiber, vacuum formed abs, wood, aluminum for parts like the deck, enclosure, and motor mounts. That would be really interesting. I just finished my first year of college and I haven’t seen or heard of any manufacturing courses in highschool or college which talk about designing around abstract materials outside of metal. I just made my first fiberglass enclosure and it came out well but was a completely different part than I expected.
I’m already thinking about having students vacuum form their own enclosure. Fiberglass would be interesting for sure though. I intend to have some sort of cnc process, likely 3d printing because it’s readily accessable. Not sure what parts I would print though possibly wheel pulleys?
Idk how well wheel pulleys would hold up but maybe custom controller designs. I had one of my friends make a 3D printed mount for electronics that would go inside the enclosure so I could stack some parts. I think what you are doing is the coolest thing. The only thing better than building and riding an electric skateboard is having friends that also have electric skateboards so you can ride together. Idk how deep into engineering you want to get but you could have them do experiments to see how fiberglass and carbon fiber affect how a deck rides and its durability. Fiberglass wasn’t too expensive. Especially if you buy in bulk. For my enclosure I spent about $35ish on fiberglass equipment and foam for the mold. I did not use any vacuum bags though.
Have them design a part on fusion 360 or any other CAD program, 3d printed them for proof of concept, then cnc and install them as their final build. I can help with the cnc process.
@Chrisfl I have used a 3d printed motor pulley before, it actually worked suprisingly well! I will say it was nylon though, and that material was made for that application. Controller enclosures would be a good idea!
@marcmt88 the problem is cost. How much would you charge for materials and stuff like that?
@Saturn_Corp I will, I promise I am in the middle of moving though, so printers are down until probably monday or tuesday. I have another customer that I am going to print for first as well, although I can probably use two printers.
Maybe try and organize some experiments so instead of just building the electric skateboard, the students get experience developing a product and applying data to develop their end product. They do not need to be huge or expensive experiments but maybe do some motor testing, destructive testing with the electrical load different style connectors can hold, materials testing or maybe some durability stuff. Idk how much you can pack into a semester but a few experiments would be cool and probably go over well with the school administration. Have them write lab reports and share the data with the esk8 community. I’m sure people could benefit from some data based decisions.
I feel like it’s important to make sure they have some freedom with this, rather than provide all the parts for them and let them build it themselves. Motor/ESC/battery are things that should probably stay stock, however dividing them into small groups and allowing them to come up with solutions for motor mounting/enclosures/board type would allow them to learn loads about the design process rather than having everything handed to them. You could always have stock enclosures/motor mounts on hand in case their designs end up not being viable, but this way they would get the true engineering freedom so many of us love.
Side note: Will you have access to CNC/3D printing/etc.? Otherwise the whole “hands on freedom” thing gets really difficult
Keep us posted!! This sounds like it’s going to be an amazing experience
That’s what I was thinking. At the very least, they will have complete aesthetic freedoms. We will have 3d printing for sure, cnc I’m not entirely sure about but it looks like @marcmt88 wants to help with that!
Excellent idea and interesting approach. Has any thought of getting the cities involve on an eco level. It is growing and I know Germany has clamped down on esk8 due to lack of education.
Please have a set budget to contain costs. You might as well just make it an engineering class using Fusion 360. People I talk to would say Solidworks at the University I went to. PTC Creo 4.0 is free to student but it’s much more advance in features compared to Solidworks. Fusion 360 will work for your needs not to mention the static simulation required for some analysis.
Edit: props to you @TheFluffiest because you can now slap this on your resume for the leadership category
This is awesome. Lots of great ideas above.
Additionally, I highly recommend the roarrockit kit for building decks as well as housings and other veneer or composite parts.
We build decks and wheels under the Loaded and Orangatang brands and would be happy to discuss this further with you and possibly supply you with wheels or other components as appropriate. (Also, if anyone else is doing a similar college or stem program please hit us up.)
possibly wheel pulleys?