NEW - Custom Carbon Fiber Decks

Have you ever wanted to push the limits of electric longboarding (Speed, range, power)? Have you looked at a beautiful, powerful battery or ESC only to realize it would never fit? Do you like carbon fiber and freeride style decks? Have you ever wanted to ride dual-diagonal?

Personal Introduction

I am lifelong lurker on Endless-sphere and have only just begun to post on electric-skateboard.builders. A little bit of background is necessary then – I’m a biology and biomedical engineering student in Medford, MA (two stops from Harvard and an additional two stops from MIT) who rides downhill and is trying to pick up dancing. After I broke my back in another sporting accident in high school (wrestling), I picked up longboarding for back conditioning and balance therapy. Some of my time is spent researching how to better apply longboard motion and physics to children’s Physical Therapy activities. My research experience there has been largely with Silk, but I’ve got time off to pursue my longboard interests.

Carbon Fiber Decks

I have made three boards – Range, Regular, and Slim. The deck shape and size is the same for all models, however the storage capacity and thickness are significantly different. The compartment space is always 610x170mm (height and width) but has a 43mm (range), 27mm (regular), and 15mm(slim). THESE BOARDS ARE CUT SO THAT THEY CAN BE USED IN SINGLE/DUAL/DIAGONAL CONFIGURATIONS

Examples of storage capacity:

  • Range can hold more then 14x Headway 40152S 15Ah Cells capable of 10C (150Amp) continuous discharge. – 14x Headway LiFePO4s equivalent to 12s(15Ah), 6s2p(30Ah), etc.
  • Regular can hold 2x S.P.A.C.E cells or batteries of similar size.
  • Slim can hold disassembled LiPo pouches or DIY polymer pouch batteries for the slimmest board (like Stary, but DIY).

Because Enertion sells a board for his S.P.A.C.E cell and people are moving away from DIY-LiPo solutions, I plan to produce the Range model first.

Production Quotes

50x Boards - Up to $380 per person.

  1. Mold for the Carbon Fiber Compression deck costs ($2,200)
  2. Decks will Cost: $179.7 ($8,985)
  3. CF Lids cost $157.7, Aluminum Lids cost $TBD, Wood Lids cost $TBD ($7,885)

Income , Operating Costs , Net Profit/Loss (380x50)-(180x50)-(160x50)-(2200)= - $200 Debt paid by me. Operating Costs will depend on Aluminum and Wood Lid Costs.

Accessories

I am also finishing a wattmeter and anti-spark switch that will be integrated into the lid of the board so any battery can enjoy safe-switching and measurement. You’ll know how much power you’ve consumed (wattage, amps consumed, and voltage) is going to help you build better boards and maximize your ride, but also give you an accurate estimate of how much power you have left for the journey home.

Size

Renders - RANGE

Renders - REGULAR

Renders - SLIM

##Sign-Up if you’re interested in a deck!##

The above content has been registered in China and is being processed by my lawyer for finalized patenting in the USA.

4 Likes

wasn’t Onloop saying the carbon lid is bad idea because it messes with the signal for controller.

Seems like someone could make a alum cover for a lot less cost.

The range model sounds really good. What would the total watt hours capacity in the range model?

If someone was to run 2 space cells then how would that be configured? each space cell driving 1 esc?

Cool :smile: Very similar to my style as well. I like.

1 Like

Ah - thats good information to have. The lid material is 30% 3K CF & 70% Fiber Glass which shouldn’t cause too much interference, but if it does I’ll know when testing my production sample. If it does interfere I’ll evaluate an aluminum lid solution. Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it.

For example, 14x Headway cells (12s) is about 756 W/hrs. It would also be VERY heavy, but if you’re planning on a day trip somewhere or like to commute long distances, it would be great. You could build even more powerful, lighter batteries from polymer pouch cells used in EV-cars that weigh half as much and are about 30Ah each. Assembling those is very DIY, but would be very rewarding if you chose to pursue it.

Running two S.P.A.C.E cells together in any configuration is not supported by Enertion. Two separate BMSs attempting to balance a combined packs while discharging is a danger. However, you could run four VESCs, (2x per battery) for four separate motors or have a spare battery in your board.

I have a 600Wh battery pack that takes up half the compartment space and can fit a second easily with room for other equipment. The range board really brings out the DIY in you.

2 Likes

I’m interested in the slim deck myself. I like the stealthy look. What are weight differences between the boards?

not sure how these compare to other carbon decks but 400-500 bucks for a deck is way more than id pay IT is really cool tho

2 Likes

If I mill an aluminum lid instead, the prices drop by as much as $100 to 120 (USD) since a lid of the same shape and size in aluminum is likely much cheaper than compression molded CF. If there is enough interest in a 20x board production run, each buyer pays $325 for the CF deck and somewhere between $50 and 75 (USD) for the aluminum lid.

If you’re still interested in the decks as a concept, sign up in the survey so I can keep everyone in the loop.

Will there be an option to have the $180 deck and a regular wood lid? I dont wanna pay more than $200 for a deck honestly.

I like this idea a lot. Cheap carbon fibre decks is awesome. However im not really a fan of the design. I want something with a kick tail.

If you can get a carbon deck cheaper than $200 id buy it for sure. I cant even buy enough material to make my own carbon fibre deck for that price.

@NNGG @lowGuido

I propose a revised model:

Buyer buys a RANGE deck and has the option to select a CF/Wood/Aluminum/Without Lid for an additional fee. I can average the price to $350 a deck for the first production run.

Original post has been modified. I’ll get quotes for the lid in Aluminum and Wood tomorrow. I’m also happy to provide 2D CAD drawings to individuals who buy a deck and want to do the lid their own way.

1 Like

Sorry, thats too much for me, I could buy a cool downhill deck like this:

http://www.threesixdownhill.com/shop/threesix-downhill-deck and look like a total badass for that much cash.

Would you be interested in the REGULAR deck?

There seems to be a lot of resistance to the RANGE deck price wise, so I’ll switch to the thinnest of the boards. I’ll post a quote soon and get quotes on Wood/Aluminum lids.

UPDATE: after simulating every metal and alloy in my Solidworks library, its pretty clear that I would have to double or triple the thickness of the lid to prevent it from collapsing into the interior (4mm increased to 8 or 12mm). Wood lids depend on the quality and processing. When I receive the production samples, I will report on Nyko Kama and Badwolf connectivity.

how deep is the slim version?

Compartment size for the SLIM model would be 15mm deep.

For accessibility purposes (people are more comfortable with 18650 cells than polymer pouches), I’m waiting on a quote of the REGULAR model.

I think that would be a mistake. you will barely fit a vesc inside, also most switches are deeper than that.

yeah i think 20mm would be the slimmest you could realistically go.

yeah, maybe even bigger than that…

I suppose it depends on if these decks are built for the DIY community… if so they need to be made so that many options are available to the end user… When I designed my CF deck I expected that people would buy it separately for their DIY projects, I made it so that 4x 3S 5000mah lipo’s can easily fit inside, I made it so it was compatible with different truck bolt patterns… well the sad truth is Carbon Fiber stuff is fucking expensive, maybe just too expensive and as much as everyone said they wanted a CF deck they didn’t really want it so I didn’t actually sell many separately. At one point, during the early 'pre-sales" stage of making the first batch I had super cheap prices on it, basically cost price… and I only sold 4 or 5 of them. What does this tell you?

Now all my sales of the CF deck are due to the RAPTOR…

@anon94428844 you really need to consider the fact that people might not buy one so don’t overcapitalize.

It looks like the manufacturing quotes didn’t change much between the sizes so a production run is probably not going to happen in the immediate future.

Thanks for the pro-tips.

@onloop As the resident expert, should I wind CF decks down until my hub-motors are production ready?

Honestly, I really thought @onloop’s wood/carbon fiber deck looked like the best balance. It would be less money, but still have a carbon fiber enclosure, enlaid motors wires, and looks pretty sick!

I’ve also heard carbon fiber really amplifies bad road conditions, and I think a combo of wood/carbon would help to reduce that.

Well if carbon fiber isnt a softer ride then I’m getting the fuck outta Dodge