A few weeks ago, I received these 10mm aluminum motor spacers that I had custom made for my Fatboy Nano gear-drive. I previously used plastic ones, but they deformed pretty quickly under the heat and squishing force of the motors, and they also prevented the heat transfer from the motors to the gear drive. Aluminum solves this problem.
They are made to fit seamlessly with the 55mm tapered edge of a TB63xx motor, but should be able to fit any 50xx-63xx motor size. They should also fit on any gear drive/pulley drive/chain drive that features a standard 63xx bolt pattern
Since I had them made, a few people have reached out, asking if I had some on-hand for sale. I do not, BUT I am planning to make a bunch and sell them if they are popular enough.
I should be able to do this a little cheaper in the future if I am able to successfully finish making my mill, but with machining costs increasing seemingly every day, I would need to price it around $40USD for a pair. that will require some volume purchasing (at least about 100 pairs). I want to see if there is roughly enough interest to have a run of these motor spacers created.
I plan to anodize in the most popular colours, and will also have the option of inserting a 608 bearing in the center. I will create a some poles below. Obviously no commitment at this stage.
In short, the benefits are:
Allows for more heat sinking, rigidity, and lifespan than a plastic spacer will provide
Allows you to save 10mm of additional motor shaft from being cut down to fit certain drives (crucial if you ever plan to use the motors on another build)
Allows for the attachment of smaller motors (50xx) to drive systems designed for 63xx. It may require extra 3D printed parts to keep a gear drive sealed with 50xx motor, open pulleys and chain drives should be fine.
Allows for adjustable motor angle for phase wire accommodation.
Designed to accommodate 608 support bearing for motor shafts. 6800 bearings are also theoretically possible, but will need testing.
Honestly they just look
Approximate quantity to order
Click here if you’re interested in a set
0voters
What colour do you want?
Blue
Red
Green
Purple
Yellow
Orange
Pink
Raw
Black
0voters
Do you want 608 bearings inserted? (+$3/set)
Insert bearings for me
I will use my own bearings
I don’t use bearings
0voters
Also I am located in Toronto(ish) Canada, so take shipping costs into account.
Since you seem to have lots of experience can I throw this crazy idea I had to make some water block motor spacers to hook up to a water-cooling loop? Or maybe just copper spacers with tons of fins.
Hmm seems like something that should be metal 3d printed…
I like the idea, sounds like it would definitely get expensive though. I would be worried about developing a leak though, especially with all the stones and debris that is thrown at them by the front wheels. We also usually have tight spatial constraints on our boards and would have to make tradeoffs for the cooling loop (where does the water go? Is the system active and requires a pump motor? Would you rather a 10s with a cooling loop or a 12s?) You probably wouldn’t want the cooling loop running through your battery enclosure.
Copper is a good idea, but it is anywhere between 25% and 50% more expensive to produce.
I’m slapping myself for not considering this option. I spent weeks designing a custom cable riser, creating an extension harness for motor phase wires and sensor wires, and routing cables through the enclosure.
All to solve the problem of the only available motor angle forcing the phase wires parallel to the ground. Jesus…
This is brilliant. I might buy a set so i can mount them on the wall and stare at my failure of imagination.
But its so satisfying when you get it all working properly just the way you planned! I still need a cable riser for my longboard because the dropdown deck forces the wires a little too close to the motors for my liking. Its printing as I type this
Yeah assuming there is at least 22mm of clearance already in the geardrive, it should be fine.
I think I might actually make them 10.5mm or 11mm wide because the step on the motor shaft of TB motors does slightly get in the way. Not enough to cause a problem, but enough that I notice it and it annoys me.
i thought tb motor also has 34mm shaft sticking out? i know flipsky is either 34 or 26mm. 12mm thick version should work for both on M1GD, but i don’t know how wide the ATGD pinion is, or what’s the max length it allows, probably anything that works for M1GD should work for ATGD as well
I’ll have to measure to see if I can make it any wider, but they already do eat up a lot of space between the motors and the truck baseplate, so I don’t want to make them too wide.
I was actually talking about the 10mm wide section of the motor shaft after the circlip and before The 8mm section. You might still have to cut down the motor shaft a little because 34mm is ludicrously long, but it will allow you to preserve enough of the shaft that you could reuse the motors on other systems.
I’ll look around at prices again tonight for a batch. There wasn’t quite enough interest before to justify the amount that each pair would cost with how crazy prices are right now.
I planned on picking up a small CNC to do it myself, but I had to move into a small condo and I doubt the neighbours would appreciate it . I still really want one though so I’m going to try to find a workaround. Here’s hoping that AMC goes to the moon and speeds up the process a little
@Adstars don’t 3d print this, you don’t want plastic transferring motor heat or taking critical loads.
(excuse the random colors)
10mm thick x 55mm dia
18°/36°/54°/72° angle options
44mm dia bolt pattern for 63xx motors
30mm dia bolt pattern for 50xx motors
608-2RS sealed bearing (12mm OD, 8mm bore, 7mm wide)
M4 x 8mm zinc plated steel fasteners
A couple notes:
How do you keep the inner bearing race from potentially touching the motor mounting plate? If all motor mounts have a shaft hole dia larger than the OD of the bearing inner race (13.7mm), than this is not a problem. Otherwise the bearing pocket needs to recessed. (I recessed to 7.2mm)
A 608 bearing is not able to be used with any motors that have the 10mm portion of the shaft protruding ≥3mm from the mount face (BN6384, Flipsky 6374, Flipsky 6454 long shaft, etc)
Keyway shaft motors may have interference between a motor spacer and the key itself - room is tight, unless shorter keys are used. Flipsky 6374 has 11mm room exactly, Flipsky 6384 has 12mm exactly. Flipsky 6354 has only 6mm room. @frame most likely 12mm spacer is a no go for keys.
I was able to find pricing at ~$20 ea spacer ($40 for a set) when ordering at least qty 20, anodized black, via china. But everyone else quoted $80-90 ea, from all the tapped holes.
No worries, its fair game since I hadn’t made a move on this in a while. If I don’t like the quotes that come back, I will probably just open-source the design and hopefully its easy enough for people to get if they have or know someone with a CNC.
The bearing seat is 7.25mm deep, so there should be no contact with the motor mounting plate. There is a 1mm groove cut into the back to avoid contact with circlips. The problem with my TB motors is that the 10mm step of motor shaft is just SLIGHTLY too long and would push on the 608 bearing. To avoid this, I was going to make the whole spacer 10.5mm. If the 10mm section of the shaft is any longer than 3mm, I would say that it would be better to use a 6800 bearing in the middle with an insert to hold it in place. There is a lot of variation in motors, so it is really difficult to find solutions for all of them.
Tbh I haven’t been using the 608 in mine at this time because I have been having so much trouble with the nano gear drive staying on the hanger and I didn’t want to add more complexity if I have to keep disassembling it. I probably just need stronger loctite. My motors have held up well though even without the 608. I figured that the motors are fine on my kaly setup with a 10mm mounting plate, they should be fine on the nano+spacer which is not that much wider (I cant remember what I measured it at exactly at the time.) The support bearings are just extra assurance. I would imagine that they also come in handy for helical setups so that you don’t have to remove your motor circlip, but I don’t have anything helical to test it on.
Keyways are something that I am not as worried about. I’ve destroyed enough of them with lockups to know that they can be easily “modified” when necessary
I would be able to some custom spacers for people if my CNC plan didn’t hit a couple major setbacks, but here we are…
. I still really want one though so I’m going to try to find a workaround. Here’s hoping that AMC goes to the moon and speeds up the process a little 
