F-S-N Project | Landyachtz Tomahawk Lines Longboard - Santa Cruz Street Creep Reissue - Alva Double Diamond Blue Bruise | DIYEboard Trucks | Dual 90*52mm HUB Motor | 10S5P 36V 10AH | DIYEboard V2.1 ESC

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I planned to use wood inserts to hold the enclosures, but that was a miserable failure. The brass wood inserts that I go would break as I was screwing them in. I know I have super-human strength, but still. Anyway, the battery was pretty heavy anyway, so I just felt better drilling through the deck and making sure things were secure.

Lining up and marking holes

Friends.

Tried to use this strategy to make sure I didn’t drill through the deck. miserable failure. The collar kept slipping and I drilled through the deck. Reverted to the old method of marking the drillbit with a marker and watching depth.

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I ended up just drilling through the deck. I hadn’t planned to, so lucky I had some leftover bolts. I ended up pilfering hardware from my other regular skateboards to finish these builds.

More friends.

Mounting

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I tried to make my son do his own as much as possible.

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We had a lot of problems with the wheels. I got some bad information that the hub motors should work no matter how you hook up the three wires, but you might have to swap two wires to reverse direction.

Not the case. I have a picture of the proper wiring, but basically, on one wheel you want the male/female colors to match, and on one wheel you swap the yellow and blue wires. Lots of testing to get that to work. I thought I had bad ESC, bad motor, etc. Of course I didn’t read any instructions if there were any.

Testing

Supervisor checking in.

Neighbor checking out the progress.

Proper wiring

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It was a pain in the a** trying to get the wires to fit in the case. Probably one of my complaints. There’s really not room for wires.

I had also read that someone had added some padding around the ESC because it made a lot of rattling noise. I can confirm this. I didn’t bother to do it on mine, and it was annoyingly rattly. My son added some strips of foam inside the case around the ESC and it is quiet.

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My son’s board and neighbor’s board were a little curved on the bottom. Not bad, but it was more of a problem than I expected. There’s a gap. It closed most of the way when we tightened bolts down, but not completely. Will need to fill with some extra foam at a later time.

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My son’s board completed.

And a happy boy.

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My neighbor wrapping up his. I thought this was a great pic.

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And the final products … All in fine working order. Will be some follow-ups to replace hardware, add some foam, etc.

We did take them out for a short ride but it was dark. Some points:

The trucks were all dangerously loose. Like not normal. Must be tightened before riding.

My neighbor actually doesn’t like the shorter board with the kick tail. It feels a little unstable to him, and with the kick tail, short wheelbase, and accelerating, he’s doing manuals when he doesn’t want to. Not good. My son and both love ours. I really like the Landyachtz Tomahawk. I think it’s a perfect board for eSk8.

There are 3 modes on these. I tried the first which is ok, but a little slow even for me. The second is way faster than I want to be going. Not touching the third. In the second mode, I charged up a very steep hill with no problem. My son went up it on the third mode and flew past me. These have plenty of power and speed, but I guess that’s a matter of opinion.

Our street is asphalt, so there is a lot of vibration. I really feel it in the board. I like the hub wheels, but would be nice to be able to swap wheels out to something more forgiving, but can’t happen. Should be fine on sidewalk and paved path, which is where I will use it most.

I’ll post some pics when we are able to do a ride to the beach, with my wife on her bike.

Resting and recharging

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I’ve been on a few rides now. Very happy overall. My wife and I rode down to the harbor Friday for lunch. She on her eBike and me on my skateboard. Didn’t take any pics, just wanted to enjoy. Got back fine with plenty of range, so the project mission has been accomplished.

I lost 3 nuts off the Lowe’s hardware that was holding the trucks on. They weren’t nylon locking nuts … I’ve replaced them. Amazing how fast they vibrate off if they are normal nuts. I thought I would be ok for one ride. Nope. Still waiting on the hardware from China.

On certain surfaces the feel is really rough. This is probably mostly due to combination of the Hub motors and the stiff deck. This is my biggest complaint, and I think if I were to do it over I may go with a belt drive so I can get better wheels.

The vibrating of the ESC in the case is really loud and I actually think it’s vibrating enough to contribute to the feel issues. We padded the ESC in my son’s and it is quiet and better feel. Will pad mine when the new hardware comes and I have to open it up.

Today I went on a much longer ride, estimated 8-9 miles, in to downtown Oceanside. Got back with 60% battery still left. Really stoked about the range … that was what I wanted most out of the board. The power and speed is more than I want or need. I still have not put it on the 3rd speed setting. I’m passing bikes on the bike path as is. It climbs very steep hills with no issue.

I am really not happy with the braking, though. I personally have learned how to deal with it, but it is just too severe and touchy and dangerous. My son is afraid to use it which is a good segue to the next.

My son and I went on a ride today. Climbed some nice hills around the neighborhood with no problem. However, on the way down of one of the hills, the speed got away from him and he was afraid to hit the brakes. They are just too twitchy at speed and could launch you. So, he wobbled a bit and lost it. Lots of road rash and a sprained wrist… We ended up in urgent care … I wasn’t sure if the wrist was broken or not. Luckily it wasn’t, since we are traveling for a hockey tourney this week.

I’m going to research whether the brakes can be adjusted. I haven’t researched this ESC at all. Will pad the ESC and put the new hardware on.

Overall very happy man. Very Zen-like on these rides, and loving it more and more.

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I kept losing nuts using the Lowe’s Hardware, without nylon lock nuts. Finally the real hardware arrived. The risers were hard as rocks so kept the ones I had.

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While changing the hardware out, I padded the area around the ESC. This makes a night-and-day difference. The board is almost silent now, and it actually makes a different on feel as well. The vibration was coming through to my feet.

Before: The ESC just sat in hard plastic case.

Used scrap padding that came with the kit:

Padding around ESC … taking care not to cover vents.

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Father’s Day gifts!