Electric Skateboard Project

This project is a WIP (work in progress), but I started working on it, so I'm going to start writing stuff down so I don't forget.

This page will read more like a story than a project synopsis, as I wrote most of it as I was working on the project, one part at a time.

I started by mocking up my big carbon sheet, because it's an abnormal shape (perfect for a skateboard, but a few extra steps to model).

This is "the snowman", as it's called, it's a chunk of curved 7mm carbon fiber that was cut off of an F35.

Sidenote: I didn't sign an NDA, I don't think anything that I'm saying is classified or problematic, but I'm still going to be a little vague.

The snowman comes from the company I worked at in the summer of 24, which did carbon fiber manufacturing for the F35 program.

The snowman is a cutaway piece, which is replaced by sensors (I think) in the final, complete F35, so it's just scrap carbon, and the company usually keeps them to use for testing, but they had enough of them they let me have one.

This is a photo of an F35 I just grabbed off of the internet (baller photo), but the circled area is where the snowman would go, I worked on the machines that made a bunch of those carbon sheets.

Anyway, with that chunk of carbon fiber picked out as the deck, I had to choose the rest of the parts with which to complete the skateboard.

I did a lot of research over the summer, and I had a number of good options, the option I ended up going with was a good compromise of the different factors I was looking at.

One of the most important things was the battery and charging. While I think I could build a battery myself, it sounds like an inordinate amount of work, so I wanted to find a system that could provide a battery and charger. The only other real requirement was that the remote be set up by someone other than me, because I wouldn't really trust a remote system that I built myself. I also also didn't like the idea of a direct-drive system, honestly on vibes, I just didn't think they were cool, and I didn't like how locked-down and proprietary they seemed to be.

I looked around for a while, on a few different websites, but ended up deciding to go with a kit from buildkitboards.com, because of their modular rail system that bolts onto the bottom of the board. This made my life a lot easier, because I didn't have to worry about designing or making an enclosure for the bottom of the board, and in the long-term, replacing (or upgrading) the batteries will be as simple as taking off the current modules and adding on new ones, which is really nice for a piece of tech I intend to keep with me for a very long time.

Build Kit Boards also had a big sale going on, so I got like 25% off on the kit, which was lovely. They are actively going out of business as I write this, I imagine custom electric longboards aren't a very large market, and the economy is kind of in shambles right now, so I got the parts for cheap, but it's likely that they won't still be operating in the future.

I underestimated the amount of time it would take me to get my composites certification from the shops, not because it's hard or time-consuming, simply because the first training that's available is slated for October 21st, and I'm writing this at the end of September (when I had originally planned to be working on the project). In the meantime, though, I reached out to Build Kit Boards to see if I could purchase from them just a deck, so I would have an electric skateboard to ride in the meantime. I've purchased the deck, but at the time of writing it isn't here yet, so I'm still just sitting on a box of esk8 parts.

I'm now writing this after the BKB deck arrived, though it took like two weeks (something happened with UPS, but it did finally get delivered), so I put the board together, and it is a freaking rocket. I have a couple of minor gripes, and I think I gave myself a little bit of carpel tunnel yesterday putting it together, because the bolts are very long and very tight, which is good in the long-term, but when you put it together wrong multiple times (which I definitely did), it gets annoying to do and re-do all of those bolts over and over again. I did also have to 3D-print some spacers for the front and rear trucks, because at full steer the wheels would catch the edge of the board, which happened a couple of times; luckily only at slow speed, so it didn't throw me on my face, but it definitely caught me off guard the first time.

The range appears to be quite good, I charged it when I put it together on October 15th, roughly 24 hours ago as I write this, and I've since ridden it to every class, as well as to Cosmic Heroes to play Magic: The Gathering last night, and it's still at full charge. The Odometer on the remote says 4 miles, and this battery is only supposed to do 12, but I guess I've been riding slow enough that it's only drained a little bit.

The board will go 30 MPH at the maximum, but I'm definitely not confident or skilled enough to go that fast yet, so I've been going roughly 16 MPH, which is plenty fast for now, especially up hills (it's totally cheating, I love it).

I still don't have my composites tag, but I am trying to get all of the design work done before then, so I can hopefully speedrun the new deck as soon as I can.

I finished up the design in Fusion today, Sunday the 19th, and I think it looks pretty cool.

There are too many holes in the top right now, because I haven't fully decided where to put the batteries and controller, but I'll try to get them centered enough that the board is balanced well and the handles I design (haven't done that yet either) for the sides are along the center of gravity. I do also have some light mounts, mostly a gopro mount that I printed for the front trucks, which holds a flashlight (or whatever else I want to put there, I'll probably put a handle there in the near future, and a hood ornament style piece would be kind of fun too).

I'm on the fence about whether I maintain the cool shape (above), or shape it into the more traditional longboard shape. I don't think I'll have any trouble with the wheels hitting, but it's one of the few things I'm unsure about, especially if I upgrade to larger wheels (which I almost definitely will).

Here's the two next to each other, at almost the same angle. The top one is marginally thinner, but I sized it to match the temporary board I have, so that width isn't a problem.

I didn't think I would, but I honestly really like the normal shape version. It looks like a fish, and I think would be epic, made from fiber, and it thoroughly clears the problems I may have had with the wheels. It'll also make the board lighter, because this thing is going to be kinda heavy. (the normal shaped one is ~25% smaller)

It also, and this is the kicker, would be WAY harder to make. I'm not actually sure I have access to a band saw for carbon, if that's even a thing, much less if I could actually pull off the build. The straight lines are easy, and that's a big part of why I wanted to do that design initially.

I just tried the more accurate version with straight lines, and it's nowhere near as nice-looking without the curves, which is too bad. I hope there's a band saw, now that I think about it, because I think I could pull off the curves with one, and I don't want to run this with the straight lines.

A band saw might be perfect, actually, because the part is curved, so I could have the part being actively cut against the cutting surface, which might give cleaner lines than the straight-edge part.

It's Monday the 20th as I'm writing this, so I get my certification (and therefore access to the room) tomorrow, so we're just going to have to wait and see.

It's now the 21st, the training this morning was very chill, and I now have access to the facilities I need! It turns out that the guidance for working with finished/cured carbon fiber is essentially just checking out a special vacuum, and working on it outside (which is fine with me). The shops don't officially open until week 7 though, which is the first week of November, so I will be employing the aid of a good friend of mine who's a shop tech, as she can "tech for me", which just means give me the tools and study nearby while I'm working. It's not what you know, it's who you know 😉. I didn't find out much in terms of available tooling, but my shop tech friend said that the shop should have carbon fiber rated jigsaw blades and drill bits, she'll just have to check specifically the next time she's at the Hangar, and then we can roll from there.

I also got the opinions of some of my residents on the two design possibilities (above), and the large consensus was that the curved / normal shape board is far better. We toyed with giving the board a "tail", where it curved back out to the same width as the rest of the body, but it just made the board look even more like a fish, which was frowned upon by the arranged masses. I actually quite like the small point and split at the front and back, it denotes direction, and gives it "speed lines", almost, without being large, or interfering with the functionality of the piece. The split tail will actually be a boon, because it will allow me to easily stand the board on its end, in my room or in class.

I'm writing this Saturday the 25th, after starting work on the board this afternoon! Liv (good friend & shop tech) and I got started at ~3:45. Liv checked me out a bunch of stuff from the shops, because they're not technically open, so I could get to work (she just sat to the side and worked on homework). I decided to cut the edges first, and used a jig-saw for that. The jig-saw blade I started with was intended for metal, and it just... crapped out. I made it probably about a foot, cutting through one of the corners of what is going to become scrap parts, and I could actively feel it failing. Once I got that cut done, I took the blade out, and the teeth on it were fully just dull. We went and looked, and there was one (1) composites blade in the drawer, but it actually got me through the whole part!

The cuts took a couple hours, cutting through bulletproof carbon fiber is hard, after all, and we couldn't stay any more after it started to get dark, as the place where composites processing happens is outside. I literally clamped the piece to what is essentially a picnic table (with a blanket as backing) and just sawed off the edge of the table. It actually worked remarkably well, for two hours worth of work, and I'm willing to bet that with another 2-4 hours, I can have it done.

I got the shape down to the level where I'll be sanding the rest, a jig-saw isn't exactly a precise instrument, but it did a pretty good job today. I don't know when the next time Liv can tech for me will be, but hopefully sometime this week.

I'm writing this section on November 21st, because it's been an eventful couple weeks. On November 5th, I rode the board back home from Cosmic Heroes (card game store where I play Magic: The Gathering on Wednesday nights) in the rain, and it make it home with no issues, I set the board next to my door like I always do, but then the next morning when I tried to ride it to class, one of the motors was freewheeling; no acceleration or braking. I hurriedly put the board back and switched to my manual board, because I had to get to class, but I knew that the motor controller was probably broken or damaged.

It was! I spent probably 30 or 40 hours over the following two weeks trying to save the original ESC, and then to try and get an alternative ESC that I had working, but both of those efforts were for naught.

I contacted BKB again and ordered a replacement, which should just drop-in, as well as some silicone that the CEO recommended I apply, to waterproof the system for the future. That package should be arriving sometime this week, so I'll hopefully get back up and running.

I haven't gotten to work on the carbon deck at all in that time, all of my spare esk8-applicable hours have gone to the ESC. I'm going to try to work on it tomorrow (Saturday the 22nd), but it'll be the first time in a long while.

I may not get to work on it at all though, as the functionality of a respirator (think gas mask, but for particulate) changes with facial hair, and my No-Shave-November participation could get in the way. If that ends up being the case, I won't be able to work on it again until December, at which point it may not get finished in time for winter break. We'll see.

I'm writing this section over Winter Break, there are a few updates.

I didn't get the carbon board done, but it's close! I got the edges all cut, shaped, and sanded, and then I taped some big paper to the top of it so that I could mark out where the holes go, but I haven't actually marked it out yet.

I was planning on getting it done during finals week, because I had substantial free time Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, which are the days that the Hangar is usually open, but it was closed during finals. I should have maybe seen that coming, to be honest, but I didn't check until the time came, so I didn't get the board finished. The shops open back up during week 2 (January 12th), so I'll get it done then, hopefully.

I did do something else, though, in that I'm writing this from home (Salt Lake), and I have the board with me. I did the research, and the batteries are just barely within the allowed size for carrying them on, and I was able to completely disassemble the board and get it all through in a checked bag + carry on.

I didn't have a big enough bag to fit the actual deck, so I just put it on top of my duffel bag and carried it on with that, even though it's definitely too big to be allowed, I got away with it on the two flights , and was able to just throw it in the overhead bin with the duffel.

Salt Lake is a terrible place to ride one of these, comparatively, but it's still a fun way to get around, and some of the roads are smooth enough to be enjoyable.

I wanted to try its prowess in the snow, because I think it would be fun to get good at sliding and drifting the board, but there's been no snow. I fully sealed every single component with the silicone that BKB included with the replacement ESC, so the board should be properly and fully waterproof now, which is great, but it isn't that cool if I don't get to use it. Global warming moment.