Best value? | Loaded deck | 10S4P | Dual Maytech DRV cookers | JLabs 6355 | 97mm bananas 🍌

My goal from the start was simple. What is THE best value board you can build for under $650?

Behold…

Most of you would have seen Baz_L’s CHINESE build by now. If not, have a look since it sheds some light on how versatile and misunderstood the DIY chinese market is.

Now best value may be subjective to some. But for me I wanted a flexible deck, dual motor setup and a 10S4P pack. Most would think that this is simply not achievable for under $650. But whats more is the $650 price tag (USD by the way) includes all the carbon fibre materials and resin to make vacuum formed CF enclosures!

In terms of aesthetic goals I plan to lay carbon fibre on roadside @mastercho style and make CF enclosures to match. Combined with black trucks, black 90mm flywheel (clones) and black vicious grip tape it will hopefully yield really cool results!

The heart of this budget build and the reason it can be done for $650 comes down to the choice of deck and the dual motor mechanical kit. The deck is a clone of the Vanguard and for only 30 bucks it’s definitely not a full bamboo deck but it is still an amazing deck considering the price.

https://gd4.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i4/736292005/TB2eonLuXXXXXcWXpXXXXXXXXXX_!!736292005.jpg_600x600.jpg

The second piece to the puzzle is the dual motor mechanical kit. For $84 you get an entire dual motor mechanical kit which includes everything you need; motor mounts, pulleys, belts, trucks and wheels!!! This is the main price breakthrough, how they can possibly sell something like this and make money is beyond me :fearful:

https://gd3.alicdn.com/bao/uploaded/i3/736292005/TB2giR.rVXXXXcUXXXXXXXXXXXX_!!736292005.jpg_600x600.jpg

What the price tag doesn’t include is a spot welder. So for some that might be an additional cost if you don’t already have one.

Enough of the intro. Here’s the breakdown of cost and links for parts where applicable. What you’ll notice is that most of these parts are the same parts used in @Baz_L’s build.

Boosted board clone deck $30USD: https://world.taobao.com/item/536855694383.htm?fromsite=main&spm=a312a.7700824.w4004-14838118875.2.l7tyh8

Dual motor mechanical kit $85USD:https://world.taobao.com/item/528942351980.htm?fromsite=main&spm=a312a.7700824.w4002-8431072093.46.pxndcc

40XSamsung 25R Li-ion BEST price $2.62USD each: https://ru.nkon.nl/samsung-18650-inr18650-25r.html

GT2B remote $23USD: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbykingr-tmhk-gt2b-3ch-2-4ghz-transmitter-and-receiver-w-rechargable-li-ion-battery-1.html

Maytech VESC $75USD each: https://world.taobao.com/item/536720652464.htm?spm=a312a.7700714.0.0.skowvc#detail

JLabs Sealed, Sensored 6355 motors $75USD each: https://electric-skateboard.market/product/190kv-sealed-motor/

Carbon fibre cloth, fibre glass, resin, vacuum bags ~$80USD: Prices may vary. I bought mine locally on ebay since they were all reasonably priced and hard to find overseas.

Wire, XT90’s, Battery Display ect ~$20USD: prices may vary. I bought mine locally on ebay since they were relatively cheap

Now the obvious question is how can I buy from Taobao. It’s actually very easy. You don’t need an agent and you can buy directly and most sellers will ship directly to your address. You can also pay with a credit card. Now in my case I actually used an agent (superbuy) for the simple fact that I could pay via paypal.

So far I’ve ordered everything and will now have to endure a very painful waiting game…

Will update when things start arriving!

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How much did they charge you on shipping for the deck? Or did I read somewhere that you bought it through superbuy?

I would also warn that the trucks are most likely not genuine, along with poor quality motor mounts and wheels.

I do understand your pain with being in Australia and not having easy access to parts.

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Curious to know if nickel is included? Or its going to be like a soldering type of pack?

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The seller on Taobao charged ¥15 which is about 4 bucks for shipping to Superbuy’s warehouse. From there the warehouse said that shipping to Australia shouldn’t be any more than $20AUD.

True I doubt that the trucks are genuine and if it weren’t for Baz_L’s thread where he discusses his impressions on these parts I would never even consider buying them. His impressions were fairly positive regarding the mechanical kit as well as the deck so I’m mostly trusting in his judgement. Obviously chinese sellers can be unpredictable and quality may vary considerably. It certainly is a gamble and if it doesn’t work out then it will cost me much more in the long rung. But I am certainly hopeful :slight_smile:

If I wanted to use genuine paris, caliber or ronin trucks then the price would be considerably more and I would certainly have to make my own motor mounts to keep costs similar. In my case I simply don’t have the tools nor the space to make motor mounts. Living in college presents significant restraints on space for projects :frowning:

@Alextech Nickel is not included with the batteries from Nkon although they certainly have that option. The nickel I bought was around 5 bucks for 3m of pure nickel strips 10mm wide 0.15mm thick.

So you haven’t tried out these parts? Or its like a group buy :blush:

hooray~~ another boosted clone deck coming~ looking forward your completion. are you making two enclosure boosted style?

@Alextech I haven’t tried out these parts in person of course. In the thread I linked to in this thread you can find @Baz_L’s impression on the parts I’ve purchased.

@benwong Yep making two separated enclosures :slight_smile: Ideally I’ll make them @whitepony style as shown in his latest build!

Re-building Loaded Vanguard with Bamboo/Fibreglass/Carbon

Using the electrical components themselves as a mould should ensure a better fit and eliminates the step of making a mould for the enclosures! Simon also shows you the exact layers of GFK and CF used along with the weight per m^2 for each layer!

I’m so grateful for him for showing us such detailed steps about his builds, members like him who are coming up with new ideas, pushing the envelope and sharing their findings and knowledge really sets this forum at the forefront of innovation! Innovation at the hobbyists end! :smiley:

look great~~ i want to redo my enclosure design too. maybe using kydex plus carbon fiber wrap.

@whitepony make a awesome enclosure for his board. i don have have any space and tools. haha.

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Really looking forward to seeing how this plays out! So far the cheap drive kit is doing me really well. I upgraded the motor pulley from 12T to 15T. Since you’re running dual motors, I don’t know if that’s necessary. Anybody with some more experience on this willing to shed some light? :wink:

That’s a crazy price for a dual mechanical kit

But the real steal here is the skateboard batarang, for just 14¢ (?)

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Dual motors will obviously provide plenty of torque, which means switching to a higher gear motor pulley makes even more sense. I’m already pretty light at only 63kg so lack of torque certainly won’t be an issue. Ideally I’ll switch both motor pulleys to 16T for a higher top speed.

you missunderstanding the price. that thread just to show what their customer build. Not a selling thread.

I’ll preface by saying that I’m sorry for the lack of updates. First year uni has proven to be extremely busy especially these past two weeks! Most of the parts I ordered have arrived.

The entire process through the taobao agent was reasonably speedy. It took approximately two days to ship from the seller to the superbuy agent and then a few days to sort out packaging, Once sent the items took about a week to arrive in Australia! The only thing I wasn’t expecting was how high the shipping costs were… It’s calculated by weight so some of the packages where easily 35USD for shipping. All up shipping was about $100 AUD for everything from Taobao.

So the verdict on parts:

Pictures are way better then words but those will have to wait until I have more time to upload them.

The Deck: The vanguard clone is very good considering the price. As Baz and others have noted only the top and bottom layers are bamboo. The flex is very substantial, almost too much (I only weigh 63kg). It should be noted that the board has no concave at all, so it’s a bit like standing on a flat plank of wood… Although I’ve never ridden a real Vanguard so my impressions so far of pushing on it for a few weeks are very positive!

The dual motor mechanical kit: Even though the motor mounts are quite thin they are both made of steel so I think they will have no issues at all in terms of durability. Be mindful that the mechanical kit doesn’t come with risers or bearings so you’ll need to buy them separately. I ordered yellow 90mm flywheels but they turned out to be 97’s instead.

Maytech VESC’s: Can’t see any visibly cold solder joints and all the wires and connections look solid. They both came with USB cables and CAN bus cables. Haven’t bench tested them yet since I’m still waiting for batteries.

All the parts have arrived except the batteries. Once they get here I’ll begin the whole build.

So far the parts from Taobao look really solid and after pushing the Vanguard clone with the 97’s for a few weeks it feels really carvy and easy to control at high speeds without speed wobbles, even with the stock bushings. Can’t wait to start electrifying it :slight_smile:

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really great to you get all the part smoothly from taobao. if the clone deck have concave, i will be wonderful to me.

looking forward your build.

BTW, how was your enclosure style? front back light boosted or make it one compartment under the deck?

Well for the amount of money it was for shipping it better be fast.

Enclosure will be boosted style, with two separated enclosures. The flex of the deck dictates that fact.

A few pics from yesterdays ride, been pumping this for a few weeks and can say it feels great under the feet! Even without grip tape :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Since I only weigh 63kg with the amount of flex this has I’d say that it would be too much for the majority of people. Something to keep in mind if you’re considering this deck.

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I brought a boosted clone deck, didn’t like it. Went back to drop deck. The one I have has a concave on it. Through taobao agent, and yes shipping was the most expensive part as well!

Hmm, interesting. Personally I love the deck I bought! I don’t really notice the lack of concave since I haven’t ridden a genuine vanguard and can’t really say how the two would compare.

Well all the main components have arrived and have just been sitting here for weeks. Instead of the GT2B I’ve opted for the much cheaper and smaller form factor mini remote, purchased on ebay for $17 2.4GHz Radio Remote Controller Receiver :slight_smile:

Just waiting on the copper wire and copper braid to show up in order to finish the battery pack. I’ve decided to forego the spot welder, mainly due to the fact that I can’t justify spending $100+ on a piece of equipment that I don’t expect to use more than once. Following @Norco’s build I’ll hand solder the connections using either 12AWG equivalent copper rod or 11mm copper braid, still unsure which one is more suitable :sleepy: Any ideas?

Hey man - your build sounds good. Will be interesting to see how the parts hold up. I’m going to do a total at the end so will be interesting to see how that match up.

Just a quick note. While I still think that soldering a pack is a good way connect them up I have plans to break my 10s4p down in the near future to 2 x 5s4p. The main reason for this is that I think I have a cold solder joint in one parallel pack which is causing a slight drift. Not a huge amount and certainly not enough for me to worry about battery damage (esp due to reserved battery cut offs on the vesc). But by doing this I will be able to occasionally balance charge the pack using my iMax 6b - cheaper and easier to fit in than a BMS.

Then when in the board I can just use the 41v cutoff brick charger. Just a thought.