Seoul City Cruiser | EU Build | Dual Maytech 6355 190Kv | SPACE Cell Pro 3 | esk8.de VESC | Olson&Hekmati Deck

ESK8 Builds
1

Hey awesome People!

After what feels like ages my build is finally (almost) complete! :sunglasses:

Its rideable, but I am missing some bullet connectors to get the second motor running as well. In Korea some stuff is more difficult to get than you would think.

I will try to make this as comprehensive as possible, because these build threads helped me the most in doing my own build.

This is an EU build (even though the board is now in Korea), so all the major parts I got are actually available through european vendors.

First things first, pre assembly picture:

20170325_112007.jpg1344×2390 775 KB

Now the parts list (with links where possible):

This brings the total cost to about 1395€

Comments about part acquisition process:

  • Best experience with purchase from electric builders users, they were helpful, had good prices and shipped fast or let me know if there was a delay.
  • “Normal” experience with most of the big name shops, protoboards, evolve, esk8.de they all shipped on time and prices are what they are here in europe.
  • Worst experience with enertion, I bought the space cell because it was a good value in the sale, considering that it already comes with an enclosure, battery management system and switch. But the shipping was awful, it took them 3 weeks just to get the item shipped and then one more week for it to actually arrive, ridiculous if you ask me. Considering they are an actual company doing this they just were not up to handle this in a timely manner. If we would be talking about anything else than e-skate parts people would never order there again…
  • Special shoutout to @elkick from esk8.de, Service has been exceptional here, he even prepared some cables for me free of charge.

Problems in the building phase:

  • The drivetrain has given me the most grief, it felt like a million different little parts, washers, circlips, loctide etc, were needed that I didnt anticipate. Now this might have been not such a big problem in europe, but here in Korea its actually kind of a challenge to get some of these parts.
  • I never soldered before and I didn’t want to start now with parts that are this expensive, so I actually found an RC store here in Korea that did the soldering job on the motors (bullet connectors to motor wires) I paid like 3€ for 3 connectors and I am pretty happy with that.
  • The RC store only had these three bullet connectors and told me it takes a month to order new ones from china, thats why I am currently only running a single motor setup. Still waiting for the bullet connectors, which so far I didn’t find anywhere else (not even online lol).
  • This might be a minor problem for most but it was super inconvenient for me: Mini USB connection on the VESC. Why on earth would you put a MINI USB connector on that thing instead of a MICRO or even USB C connection?? I probably have like 6 of these cables lying around at home, but didn’t bring any to Korea (why would I, nothing uses it anymore). So I actually spend the better part of the afternoon trying to find a MINI USB cable, none of the stores had them because it is an old format. Baffled me.

Learnings:

  • So i choose the “traditional” drive train over hub motors because I just can’t imagine how the thin urethane around these hubs can actually deliver a similar ride experience as a full blown longboard wheel. There is just no way. Now after the whole assembly process, I would probably consider it. Just for ease of use, it seems like the nicest thing to just plug in the motors and go, without any of that lengthy assembly and making sure everything is secured with loctide, bringing it in the right position, all that. If you’ve got the coin Carvon seem like an amazing solution, hubs with normal wheels, perfect! I actually considered the V2.5, but the price (including the ridiculous import tax into europe) is just too damn high. I hope Jerry can get his stuff so popular that he gets an distributor for europe. That would make things waaaay easier.
  • A single motor setup is great if you are not planning on going up ANY sort of hill. Now I am actually a man grown and bring 200lbs on the scale, so maybe if you’re 15 or don’t lift you can also manage to get up some slight hills with a single motor setup. Maybe with 12s it gets a bit better, but with the 10s SPACE Cell I am really only going up slight inclines if I have a long way to gain some speed beforehand. Now Seoul is pretty hilly, so I hope the new bullet connectors are coming in fast so I can actually get the second motor running.
  • As a last thing I would like to bring up the potential of buying a premade board. I think there is more and more premade solutions popping up that are actually decent, and considering the amount of work I put into this project, including massive amounts of research, I would probably not built a second one. That might be an unpopular opinion, but really if your goal is just to ride an electric skateboard, it doesnt really make sense to built it yourself. If you are looking for a challenge or just love to built stuff than great, go for it. But here is why I wouldn’t built it myself again:
  • Price is about the same as premade boards, but you’re getting none of the warranty or customer service (repairs etc.)
  • It takes a LOOONG time to get all the parts and then you actually have to take significant time out of your busy schedule to built that thing
  • Getting to choose parts from all kinds of different suppliers is great because you can customise your board, but you really have to pay attention that all parts fit together well. Just because parts actually fit together doesn’t mean they run in a nice kind of “harmony”. If you look at companies like boosted boards, they actually spend a lot of time figuring out which parts harmonise together well.
  • I just want to ride RIGHT NOW and don’t worry about any setup, break intensity or stuff breaking.

This is in no way supposed to weaken the accomplishments of this amazing community. It is more a personal learning for me. I enjoyed building my board for the most part but I am probably just not “that kind of guy” that would do this more than once.

Now that this is said, I am actually still having problems with my built and hope you can help me. I have an alignment issue with my belt. I made a little video explaining what is happening and hope somebody has a solution. Here it goes.

Thanks for sharing you knowledge and help so openly without this community I couldn’t have done it. Stay awesome!

All of you have a wonderful day!

4 Likes
2

Glad to see another O&H deck here. I´m riding the fd98 francer deck with almost the same shape.

Could you provide some pictures of the finished build?

3

Maybe your motor pulley is the problem. You slid it too far in.

If you pull it out 1mm or smth like that, I think your motor pulley will align with the wheel pulley and this problem will disappear.

4

You´re right, if you´re in EU, you´ll have some problems getting things cheaper in total, than buying one complete. You have to have patience and order some things from china, sometimes US and group buys.

To your alignment problem. If you can´t get your mount closer to the wheel, try to get your wheel pulley a bit more out.

5

@kampfhahn I will make some pictures later today and upload, totally missed that haha

@TarzanHBK and @jujet actually the motor pulley sits flush with the outer circlip, the only way I can pull it out more would be to remove that circlip and have nothing there anymore but air.

I actually used red loctide to make sure the pulley doesn’t move anymore, If you guys think its safe to remove the circlip and move the pulley farther out I could find a heat gun somewhere to loosen the loctide and move it further out.

Another Idea I had was moving screws that have less pronounced head, if that even exists…

6

It should be ok if you move the motor pulley a bit towards the outside. As long as 95% of it is in contact with the motor shaft, you should be ok

7

You can move mount even closer.

8

I had a similar problem when I installed TB’s V4 mount. As long as nothing is wobbling you can move the mount closer. I also used washers under the screws the first time then removed them as they weren’t needed with loctite. Then I could move the mount even closer. Good luck and nice build btw :+1:

9

First of all sorry for not including any pictures of the finished built up until now, I wanted to install the second motor before taking pictures.

I habe removed the washers from the screws (while using loctide to secure them) and moved the mount as close as possible to the wheel pulley. Now the belt doesn’t scratch on the screw anymore, thanks for the help!

But now I have another (maybe more major) issue: I attached the second motor, configured everything, tested both wheels turned at the same time ~nice. Then I disconnected the Vesc, removed the USB Cable, turned of the Space Cell (in that order). Next i disconnected both VESCs from the power source for rearrangement inside the space cell enclosure. Got everything in place, connected the Vescs to the power source again aaaaaand…

Both Vescs don’t turn on anymore!! Oh no!

First I thought the Space Cell Fuse had blown, but I checked (and changed) and that wasn’t it. I tried every imaginable setup, with/without receiver, with/without canbus, single, dual but both of the vescs don’t turn on anymore.

What is especially strange is, that the receiver led is turning on while the Vesc LED will not turn on.

Any ideas what the issue could be? I really, really hope i didn’t fry both Vesc in one go. Also I thought the Space Cell Fuse should prevent that??

Help would be ver much appreciated! Thanks!!

10

why dont u just remove the spacers, that will give u an extra 5mm