I understand there are pros and cons to different types of motors. From researching on the interwebs, I have come to realize we have basically three choices (without getting into geared transmissions, which I believe to be a separate discussion).
Belt drives seem to be sturdier (no loads directly on the motor other than the belt), there seems to be more choices for types of wheels, but you can’t really push like a traditional board if you run out of juice and it seems like belts or chains can be a bottleneck for their own sort of problems.
Hub motors seem to do really well in pairs, but even with certain urethane slippage problems mitigated, it seems they are less sturdy than belt drives since they are in contact with the road. You can also push easily when necessary, and there are less small pieces, like belts, which may break.
Direct drive motors, like the carvon direct drive (v3 i think) motors, seem to be the best of both worlds. They aren’t in direct contact with the ground/don’t carry any vertical load and it seems you could retrofit almost any wheel to them (within reason). I have read lots if good things about carvons direct drive esk8s, which piqued my interest and inspired this post.
So my question is this: has anyone successfully taken a hub motor and converted it to direct drive? I assume it would be a question of adapting the right trucks for the job. If it is possible, it seems really appealing to me.
Carvon did it, and hes selling them like hot buns.
They were normal sk3 motors and caliber trucks before they became “Carvonskates”
You can watch his build on endless sphere forum.
And forum member Zeinstra(here) you can search his build threat. And me, but i wont post my build for now, its like carvon v2,5 with different wheels and instead of alu parts im trying laser sintered pa12 parts. Only time will tell;)
Sure, it would be possible, but it would make more sense to build it from scratch. It will be nearly as much work for a system that wouldn’t be as good.
I kept thinking while reading zeinstra’s thread, “Why not use some type or ceramic or polymer instead of aluminum.” I am intrigued by pa12 in your build. How does it hold up to heat?
This afternoon I watched a bunch of youtube videos of dudes making their own motors from scratch. I feel like this may be my reason to learn more about electrical engineering.
I have used direct drive and belt drive.
Neither of them push like a conventional board.
The drag is caused by the magnets in the motor.
When I flip my boards over and spin the drive wheels, the belt drive spins as well as my Carvon V2.0 did.
The direct drive does have a more positive feel when accelerating and braking.
i actually only did a build on wich i used alu parts, but it’s a completely different design.
getting my pa12 parts this or next week, then starting new build, should be good up to 120°C
^Test part i ordered few weeks ago. It was from an older design i had. Jumped on it and smashed with a hammer. Maybe i’ll bake it just to see how it holds up
ah… PA12 is just a polymer(nylon), like very strong printed parts but more precise.
Printers are expensive but print services not.
search for: SLS (selective laser sintering) or SLM (selective laser melting - alu/steel)
sadly SLM is very expensive
You can push either, but hubs are quite a bit easier since you don’t have the additional gear compression. Neither ride just like a regular board. I don’t ever voluntarily push belt drive boards, but I do all the time on my hubs.
You can watch his build on endless sphere forum.
And forum member Zeinstra(here) you can search his build threat. And me, but i wont post my build for now, its like carvon v2,5 with different wheels and instead of alu parts im trying laser sintered pa12 parts. Only time will tell;)
