WARNING: Noob Alert. Prepare for some cringe in case I chose totally incompatible parts or too overpowered/underpowered solutions.
Hello! First time posting here after lots and lots of reading around for research. I am now starting to plan my first build!
I didn’t want to be that one guy that just blatantly never uses the search function and just straight up asks questions about every single detail of basics to how to build my first esk8. I tried my very best to research everything I need for my first board and I think I came up with a decent plan, but I am posting this just to clear out any mistakes I am not aware of or even better suggestions from you all. Think of this post as an assignment report from a student for all you expert teachers to evaluate and give feedback!
My Design Specifications
I started planning my build by just listing all the features and functions I wanted my first board to have. This is what I came up with.
Budget Range $350 ~ $400
This budget was decided without any knowledge of how the parts were priced. The budget was solely based on one YouTube video I watched when I first learned about DIY esk8s. So if my specifications require a higher budget, it may be arranged.
Top speed 30 km/h (18 mph) with 100 kg load (myself + extra weight)
I live in a hilly area, so better torque is a priority over top speed
Range 16 km (10 miles)
Max weight 120 kg (265 pounds) in case I carry a lot
Charging solution plug and play style portable solution (BMS for LiPo)
Portable, reliable, and small remote (like boosted board remote)
Would prefer VESC unless there is a ESC that is reliable enough for my needs and significantly cheaper than VESC solution
Other specifications (These features don’t have to be included with budget)
Battery indicator
ON/OFF button
Optional specifications (Just to be a bit unique, but not needed)
Speed indicator
Lights (with its own on/off switch?) for visibility for others to see me, not necessarily for me to able to see around me. (I’ll just use a headlight for that)
USB charging port for phones (According to my really shitty searching ability I couldn’t find much information about that. I need a bit of help to learn how to do this)
Terrain friendly airless wheels (Just like these but airless, I just found them a bit expensive to me but if there is a product that is reliable and similarly priced to good 90mm wheels please let me know!)
What I’m still not sure of
Single or Dual? (Since I weigh about 95 kg, I first thought that I definitely needed a dual setup, but you might prove me wrong)
Slightly flexing deck or sturdy as possible deck? (I would obviously want comfort over bumpiness, but I’m also aware of the risks of getting flexed decks for setups that have electronics built on the middle of the board. Are sturdy decks that bad?)
Basically the math behind picking the right motors and batteries. (I am aware of the website http://calc.esk8.it and also learned the basics of battery numbers and whatnot, but I can’t really find people that are as heavy as me that found the perfect combination for a 30 km/h 16 km range board for 100 kg loads. Halp)
Gearing ratio for a powerful torque board that can climb hills like a boss (Help)
My Plan!
This is the list of parts I am planning to get. Note that I didn’t pick a deck yet because I wanted to pick my parts first and get the needed area later to pick the right deck afterwards. Also keep in mind it is my first draft! Mess it all up if you need to! I want to learn! (Or should I plan it the other way?)
The list doesn’t include all the small parts like serial adapters or tools just yet, I just want to make sure my base parts are solid and ready to go!
Man, writing this post took me a while, it’s bed time already (awww) I won’t be answering questions for the next 8 hours and if I do come back I want to have a very solid discussion with you all! This is so much fun so far!
This won’t be a complete set of recommendations, but I’ll give you a couple pointers.
With that budget, you probably won’t be able to go dual, and you’ll probably be limited to lipo batteries for the same reason.
A single 6374 will have plenty of torque as long as you go with a 10s or 12s setup.
A speed indicator won’t be that useful, since you really don’t want to be looking down at the deck at speed.
Pneumatic wheels are awesome. They’re expensive, but it’s great not to have to worry about rough terrain.
oh i forgot to edit it later damn…
yeah i realized my budget isnt that good for duals, but i think the setup i put on the google sheet has good enough torque? i just need a good gear combo and stuff i think
I would recommend spending some money on decent bearings, I doubt the bearings supplied with your wheels are going to be good… Also a bigger motor like the 6374 would probably suit your needs more.
Other than that, this is a pretty tight budget if you want such a system imho… I’d say you will probably end up spending around 500-600$+ in the end
I’ve been riding a stiff non-powered board for years. They’re not as bad as some people say and I like feedback from the road. Plus if you’re going to run with all-terrain wheels, your ride should be plenty comfortable almost anywhere you go. Since you weight about 95kg I’d say go for a stiffer board. If you place your electronics right a flexible board isn’t going to hurt anything, but the stiffer the board the more space you have to place everything.
UPDATE: I decided to buy the non electronic parts just to get used to longboards before I got into electric skating (The parts list got updated with darker colors for bought parts). I didn’t buy a deck yet though
I found decent looking decks on Amazon but I want to take a bit of extra time to research more about better decks for me. With @maxhost4’s suggestion I decided to look for stiff boards so that it holds my weight enough plus more space to put the electronics underneath. Do you guys have any good website suggestions to buy decks with the price range of around $80 and below? I’d prefer a design looking similar to this. If you have any other suggestions that you think I should consider, let me know as well!
How are you planning on charging your board? Gotta add the cost of a charger which is like $50 if you don’t build one yourself. Overall you’ll probably end up spending about $600 and that’s about the minimum for a decent board. Alsos a link to a cheaper battery monitor that’s also smaller.
Oh I thought I included that in my parts list, but as I mentioned above on the post, I’m planning to get a BMS for a plug and play type of charging using this guide
Yeah I get that though in that video he didn’t address the PSU at all. For $50 on AliExpress you can get a charger that will fully charge your board in an hour at 5A. LINK
if you want more torque, that 260kv motor and 16:36 gearing wont do you much, id go for a much lower kv and a gearing ratio thats around 16:40
The vesc: I wouldnt trust the hobbyking vesc at all
That’ll probably work. You might have to mount the trucks as standard trucks, not drop-through trucks, because space under the board is limited. You’ll also have to grip the deck yourself, but that gives you a chance to do some cool artwork on the top. Nice pick man.
I’ve got a few more thoughts looking through your parts list. First, you’re gonna need an enclosure of some kind to keep everything on the board. I don’t know what you wanna do for it, but most people go with vacuum-formed enclosure/3D printed parts.
Second, I’m not an expert on batteries (if anyone has more experience, please correct me) but I think you can increase your capacity relatively easily by using these batteries. By my math you’ll get a full Ah more and it’ll still cost you about the same.
Third, if you want to save a little money, look into a loop key instead of an antispark switch. More involved, yeah, but also about 90% less money.
Fourth, you might wanna think about supplies you might not have laying around. A sautering iron, loctite red, and wiring hardware aren’t gonna be THAT expensive, but it’s something to think about.
Finally, I agree with @ARetardedPillow on motor and VESC comments. A nicer VESC from OllinBoard Co or even Torqueboards is gonna go farther than a HobbyKing VESC.
Im sorry I might have linked the wrong video but in this other video from the same guy he addressed which charging port and charger he was using, im currently outside but I updated my parts list with the same parts. Would those work or would the ones you recommended work way better?
Thank you very much for the recommendations! I will update it with better parts later today! All I considered when I picked hobbykings vesc was price but as i checked through the forum a lot of people seemed to regret choosing cheap vescs. I will pick better ones later today!
