Thanks everyone for the help and advice thus far.
My project is to convert one of my Hamboards into a powered carving machine.
For reference, here’s a clip of my son carving it up (non powered). The board is the closest thing to surfing that I’ve ever ridden.
Anyway - the secret sauce for these boards is a unique truck system (HST) that was invented by NASA engineer.
These are like the Bentley of Carving Trucks. High Quality/ Lightweight / Strong, and sleek. Once you ride these - it is like riding First Class - you don’t want to go back to Coach.
Problem #1: the HST trucks have a unique hanger profile, which would not work with standard motor mounts. enter @marcmt88 with his custom made setup. I sent him the truck and few weeks and later these arrive at my house! Boom! Super tight fit and finish on these. Last minute he added the stabilizer bars to ensure these would be rock solid.
Next step has been figuring out what to do regards motors, (v)esc and batteries…
After spending hours on the forum and looking around, I decided to pull the trigger on a used Torqueboards 12s2p pack from @Dmaxx.
Lastly, been debating on motors, but marcmt88 recommended 6355s due to size, so I just pulled the trigger on this setup from TB.
Can’t wait, and will post more photos as the build progresses… thanks everyone for the help!
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cool idea - how wide are those trucks?
EDIT: nvm just looked it up: 200mm
They look interesting - i wonder how they will handle high speeds
Yeah - I’m a little concerned about that - I’m not really needing to go fast per se… but want the torque to take me uphill - marcmt88 made the pulley ratio 14/38t - more torque less speed.
I’m currently working on making different wavecam profiles that might help them handle speed better.
I think there’s some real possibilities here.
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I’ve had some decent speed on my Hamboards downhill (w/o power) and never seem to wobble…
but I’m definitely concerned… I’ve probably only hit like 15mph… 20+mph would be a different story I think.
Please keep me posted on what you are working on… I was also thinking that a harder spring might help…
currently my boards all have the “medium” spring (red), though i have some Black (advanced) and Silver (“professional”)… I haven’t tried them… they would just be looser though…
Stoked on this. I want to help. As you have questions, I’ll do my best to answer. There’s things we can do inside the design envelope… e.g., different wave cam profiles and different spring k-values.
Even though I designed the Hamboards HST Truck for Surfskate and SUP Skateboards, I have imagined its potential for e-skate. The linear compressive load response of springs is not exponential like the compressive load response of elastomers. If springs can be made to work, it could be superior to elastomers.
Over the last several years, I’ve ridden lots of e-longboards around factory warehouses in China, and I’ve broken them all. Notwithstanding the power curve shortcomings and dubious drivetrains, none of them ever turned enough for a rider trying to navigate city streets without having to ollie-over stuff. The key thing about our HST trucks, as the driven wheels (not just the steering wheels) is that when you make a hard turn, all four wheels stay on the ground. RKP trucks don’t keep all four on the deck… One of the wheels always lifts off and it can get ugly. With the Hamboards HST, all four wheels track the road with massive of board lean.
Speed wobble… Every rotating system has resonant frequencies. Just need to eliminate them one by one. Speed wobble can be managed, but may require a “test pilot” or two. (Not me.)
Let me know how I can help move this along.
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what sort of things would you do to manage speed wobble on these trucks? id be happy to be a test pilot
i love the idea of a tiny turning radius like that, especially on extra carvey trucks that are on the longer side so they could fit larger motors
my 218mm torque board trucks literally have a larger turning radius than many cars
I’m sorry, but what did you just proclaim? I fear knowing the designer who says such things…you should know better…care to rephrase? Or learn how to tune bushings maybe?
I’m not an engineer and not wanting to get into an engineer battle as I’m just a guy trying to make a fun board. The whole reason I’m doing this build is because I have never had so much fun on a longboard and as mentioned I mentioned above, the trucks are the reason… but I think what @Hamgineer is referring to is the ability to keep the wheels on the ground with the spring loaded HST trucks… IDK, maybe you have figured out a way to do that kind of turn with the right bushings?
Start at 29 seconds in for demo:
Hamboards Classic | Touch and Feel from Hamboards on Vimeo.
Sure… I’ll try. I’m an OK engineer, but admittedly new to this craft, so please be kind. With RKP trucks with elastomeric cone/barrels, in general, during a deep carve, if your weight is a little too far forward of the board CG, the back far wheel lifts. If your weight is a little too far back off the CG of the board the far front wheel lifts up. Either way you have 3 wheels gripping the ground. The Hamboards HST trucks are far far more forgiving because the resistive forces are linear rather than exponential as in an elastomer RKP. It’s possible to lift a wheel with the Hamboards HST’s but by that point, you’ve probably ground the deck on the ground and have bigger problems. I’m not claiming anything, just trying to add to the conversation. This is awesome… Thanks for asking.
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Gosh… this is a bit of Baptism by fire. We never intended the HST’s to be anything but a rad surfskate. But I love product so much… I’m happy to test the waters in such a challenging and honest forum. We at Hamboards can only afford so much. Making a viable business of this is still a huge challenge… I love gear so I just keep innovating for the sake of the pursuit. You only live once! We welcome people trying our admittedly imperfect gear and innovating. I have 10 US Patents and will continue to invent 'till the day I die! If you want to sample the Hamboards HST trucks, send me an email at: [email protected]. I’ll hook you up with a pro deal… But I’m no fool so you better have your shit together. LOL!!!
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Oops… I’m a bit clumsy and answered below… Shucks man… See my post below.
Its worth pointing out that the length of hamboards exasperates this.
The problem doesn’t exist to the same extent on a normal 32’-40" deck because you never move that much weight off the front or off the rear.
On slalom boards and some DH setups you actually often see boards set up so that you’re just on the cusp of raising the outside wheels when in a turn, and the inside wheel is really just digging into the asphalt with everything its got.
That makes sense. Thanks for clarifying. Like I said, I’m not a skateboard expert. What little I do know has to do with surfskate and SUPskate which are designed for deep plunging carves. I hardly ever get over 15mph on Hammy’s. Notwithstanding, I do love to ride e-skateboards and I’m delighted to help push forward the critical thinking. This will eventually revolutionize personal transportation and I am happy to contribute.
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Well said dude, grace under fire!! Lol I applaud you and I like your style!
I can see the weighting issue with a giant deck, but I cannot blaim the mechanics or configuration of the truck itself. I’ve ridden the torson style trucks before and the linear feel is exactly what I didnt like. Its alien to a skateboarder, and also unnessissary. Theres some nice new large trucks out there with tall bushings that lean for days, they carve fine, as in they are not broke, there are no issues to fix. Implying there is something solved with these spring loaded trucks is nieve. The feel of a spring over a bushing is very different, the feel of the torsion pivot is of no consequence, except a spring is needed to make it function, I get it…its different, not better, its novel and clever, but I cannot agree they solve a problem we are plaqued with, that just isnt true…slalom riders still jam on Bennett vectors, why? It seems everything has been tried and tested before we have been down these novel roads before and not much has really come from it. While developing precision and improved versions of what works seems like a way better idea that reinventing the wheel…I have a set of the original torsion trucks (springs) and a set from early eskates (bushings), I didnt like either one, I prefer non-linear and surfy feeling trucks, with progress amounts or rake… if you add rake to these what happens?
I was looking at my 107mm wheels mounted to a typical downhill deck (Prism theoryv2) and with the 218mm trucks the setup makes the deck look all mickey mouse…The combo of 1 inch risers, 218mm trucks and 107mm wheels oversized and scales everything up, making the deck itself seem too small now. this is where the Hamboards can fill an existing gap, I have already discovered a perfectly flat giant deck is the ideal long ranch solution, bar none. The niche is there for you to grab, but we are talking giant batteries on finely tuned efficient power systems designed to run for 60+ miles with ease. With everyone so wrapped up in top speed at the moment, and hill climbing being introduced, long range is sort of an afterthought, but to me it’s the pinnacle of technology display for this industry. If you can show off, like ride and display a skateboard which has the ability to take over other forms of transportation in both range and energy consumption then mainstream visibility has to be acknowledged. The skateboard is a toy, the pinnacle of it’s operation has been stunts, in some ways, Ham decks have a head start on changing the way we think of skateboards, making them viable long range and dependable commuting transportation or simply beer getters. It changes the use model, no, in opens doors to endless new use models…I would invest in that direction if I were you…all the technology exists already, simple off the shelf, just throw it together, lower the price and market it correctly…right now you guys have an overpriced barefoot beach cruiser, and I can get those at Walmart for half the price and the learning curve is lower…and embrace “skateboarding” instead of trying to change it…it’s already rad, we have great trucks, add some suspension to this design (maybe talk to Avenue) and it could be a dream machine! and California as hell…
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@squishy654 Suspension would be really cool! Fully agree - would love to see that especially for long distance application.
Not sure though what beach cruiser you can get at Walmart (or anywhere else) for that matter that rides and carves like a Hamboard… Personally having skated since maybe 1980… I’ve never ridden anything like them… for me it truly feels like you are surfing or snowboarding powder… and that is the whole idea - it is not meant to be a skateboard or longboard in the common sense of the word… they are similar, but a totally different ride… read the reviews from landlocked surfers on their website… then again maybe I just got sucked into the hype - I have 4 of them lol
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You should really really try out a Carver skateboard then, they are the ultimate surf for the landlocked…tons of rake, completely non linear trucks that swivel like mad and you can go short or longboard…would be easy to convert to electric, but there’s really actually not a need they already propel themselves through pumping… there’s nothing else like them…the split geometry of the trucks is key…I don’t see the Ham guys doing anything like that, or engineering a system to do the same thing so all I see is uniform carving trucks, not surfing pump type trucks…I do wish to try one out, but I cannot justify the cost, I will most likely just get a “board” and make my own, I had something similar in the past we called it the “titanic” as it rode like boat, lol I would use it often to ride in tandem with my daughter…worked great for cruising around town and checking out things on event nights, here we are taking in some live street music on a giant piece of scrape wood I had on the side yard…lol When you don’t need to press them or shape them in complex 3d ways to add concave and such the cost should go down considerably…
I’m originally from Sacto - next time we do a cross country RV trip home, I’ll bring a couple Hamboards and would love to ride some of your creations.
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I’m totally down dude, let’s do it!
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