How thick the board will be at the thickest section between the top of deck and the outside of the enclosure?
In my opinion LiFePo doesn’t make sense for or use case anymore, when boosted launched is was the only cell capable of producing enough power without getting too bulk and still producing an “ok” range, now with these high power and high capacity cells they are behind, only use case I can see is when cycle life up to the thousands is important and you need to charge quickly, with the 26650 from a123 you can charge them in 20min, discharge heavily and still arrive at 2000 cycles with useful capacity, for most folks that would be 5 years of daily cycling, by that time new tech will have come out and you will probably want them
That’s a good point. I have a boosted clone on the back burner that I think I’ll eventually use the bigger LiFePos in just because the energy density is still pretty good.
On this build though once the material is hogged out, I’ll have about 3.5mm of mostly fiberglass on top, then the battery cavity, then 3.5mm of fiberglass in the battery enclosure. Though I’m considering using carbon fiber for the enclosure because I’ve really removed a ton of material here and could use the extra strength. I only weigh about 165lbs, but I’m still crossing my fingers the board will be strong enough. If it’s flexing I’ll add more material on top.
Just be extra careful with the screw holes, ideally you have to make them clamp with enought pressure so that the friction is what holding everything in place, not the side of the holes or they will wear down over time
Really love this build. The progression is amazing and very patient. I also want you workshop btw.
Mine is a junk yard if I do anything in there that lasts longer than an hour.
Really excited to see the developments. As for the battery choice then with a 3p go with the highest discharge cell you can and lifepo? Theres only one man I know who uses lifepo and that is the indomitable @b264
Maybe he can shed some real world experience on the subject. Once he gets over the fact I didn’t use the correct term twice. LiFePo.
So here’s the update. The jigs for hogging the center bit of bamboo out worked phenomenally - I actually had second thoughts as to whether they would be rigid enough but they held up great.
I printed off a mold for the enclosure cover and it’s currently laid up with 6 layers of 12oz carbon and 2 of 6oz S glass under vacuum. I’ll post pictures of it demolded tomorrow.
That’s a really nice board coming together. I love the darkside. I have the fortune in 34 inch and just everything feels right on this deck. I am curious to see how strong it will be after removing this much of material, if it works out well I will go the same route on my fortune.
I added 2mm of fiberglass across the entire top of the board before routing the battery area out from the same concern for strength. I should have used carbon cause it’s pretty flexy. Because of that I did the enclosure case entirely out of carbon except for the shell layers. I think I’m going to grind away a bunch of the glass on top of the board and replace it with carbon for the added stiffness.
The Fortune is so stiff and the Bamboo core is thick, I guess it should handle this. Since the Darkside has the same Bamboo core with added stiffness from enclosure you should be good. Have you thought about putting one layer under your deck where the cutout is?
I have yeah, but it’s got to be really thin like a 4-6 oz which isn’t going to add much stiffness. I’ll probably end up doing it more just to disguise some of the router artifacts.
I pulled about 9mm of bamboo out, carbon fiber easily has 3-4x the tensile strength of bamboo and I’ve got 3mm+ of it. It should be quite stiff comparatively once mechancially fastened to the deck.
