Hello everyone,
So after some thought and consideration, I’m going to build my build my own board. I was thinking of getting an Acton Blink board, but I figure if I build my own it would be easier to service/upgrade in the future. I’m on a budget so I’m looking to only spend about $500 to $600 max for the time being. Does anyone have any suggestions in regards to what I should be buying/ investing in?
Thanks!
Happy to hear you didn’t buy a crap production board!
You need to increase your budget I would reccomend at least 800 for a quality reliable board
I would also say that it depends on if you’re including tool costs into that as well, or if that’s straight materials, and if you already have anything (like a deck and trucks), but it is definitely much harder on a 500-600 budget than 800. I think you’ll be much more satisfied with 800, but you could build a relatively low power single drive for probably 500-600.
We would need more info to be able to help you. Like your weight, are you planning to go up hills, what’s your target top speed? Are you able to solder, machine stuff like motor mounts?
I don’t have access to a CNC, so I’m thinking of getting enertion’s motor mount instead. I also have a basic/solid understanding of electronics/soldering. I’m about 200 pounds(250 with a backpack) and live in a moderately hilly area. I live in Toronto so I just need something to get me from point A to point B, so speed isn’t one of my priorities but would be good to have just in case.
There’s a local shop here that sells decent quality decks that seem pretty affordable along with 181mm trucks that don’t seem too bad either. Here are the links:
Deck: http://www.longboardliving.com/collections/decks/products/36merkawind2016skateanddiy
Trucks: http://www.longboardliving.com/collections/trucks/products/beargrizzlygen5181mm52charcoaltruckset
What do you think?
You need trucks that will fit a motor mount. Most likely Caliber II.
You’re about my weight. Depending on the size of those hills, I think you’ll have a tough time with a budget under 800.
Yep, most motor mounts sold are for caliber trucks, so you might wanna get caliber trucks. And your weight and hills. Probably duals. And also, what range are you looking at?
Alright, but i checked their website and they don’t ship to Canada (actually, a lot of the online suppliers I’ve looked at don’t ship to Canada). I know I should be going dual, but given my budget, I don’t know if that could fit within it! 
I’m probably looking for 15km range ( ~9.32 miles).
I don’t live in a very hilly city, just a few slight inclines. I feel like a single drive should do the trick, especially if i get an R-spec from Enertion. What would you say a budget of $800 CAD would include?
This is not true. As he said, he doesn’t care about speed, so a high gearing ratio would do the trick for him.
I honestly just need something that can take the weight of me plus a backpack. In regards to the gearing ratio, having a higher ratio would mean a bit more torque, right?
Big single motor
I was looking into that one, but I don’t know if they’ll ship to Canada 
they do, i have the exact same one from hobby king. They have warehouses in the US too, so make sure to get your order from as close as possible. Also, if using HK, make sure you pack your order into 1, shipping is quite expensive otherwise.
Yeah, if you’re looking for low speed and not too much range, you could do it with that. I just worry that you’ll want more later on and wish you’d done more, but that’s just me 
We’re here to help either way!
I just built a single motor for $900 CAD, but I spent $210 on the board alone. You can spend a lot less for the board. I shipped a bunch of stuff to the US and picked up through a “ship-to-the-border” service and payed maybe $20 to the US service that accepts the packages for a TON of stuff from eBay and Amazon.com. It definitely saved a lot of brokerage, international shipping and duty fees and the person at the border was nice too! Message me if you have any questions or I can tell you what I bought and where I bought stuff! Good luck!
Well, the beauty of it all is that if I do want more, it should be simple enough too add more in. That’s the main reason I chose DIY over a pre-built. It’s probably gonna take a few months though, I’m a full time student so freetime is limited! I really do appreciate the help, though!