Automatic kingpin angle adjustment

I use my board for campus commuting, but I also get a little throttle happy on open roadsm I want a board that can make sharp turns, but is very stable at high speeds (30+ mph). I was thinking of how I could solve this. I know I can get good bushings and tune angle wedges, but that wouldn’t give me a super stable ride with extremely sharp turns.

I was thinking about this concept for a while, and Ive been meaning to make a 3d concept model but I’ve never gotten around to it. I thought I’d make a post about this and get your opinion on if it’s a good or bad idea, or if you have any suggestions before I spend time on it.

Basically my idea is to have 2 small motors on the front and the back of a drop through deck, and an Arduino to control them and sense the speed. Obviously I would also need some gearing to give these motors the necessary torque. The concept is to have these motors change the angle of the entire truck (including the kingpin) based on your speed to make it more stable at high speeds, or better turn radius at slower speeds.

I understand this concept has issues, like speeding up and slowing constantly would drain the battery. Also it’s just something else that can break on your board. Although I would like to hear your comments to see if this is a concept worth looking into, or if it’s a waste of time.

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As far as a “failsafe” goes… I’m not sure things would go so well I’d the motors failed or the sensors failed to detect properly. Seems ok in theory but I don’t know if it’s worth it.

The cool thing about esk8 is the Rock solid mechanical build, delicately propelled by carefully installed electronics.

Where mechanical and electronic meet is often the weakest point of the esk8

I feel it would be more hassle than it is worth, but that’s just my opinion

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That’s something I’ve considered, thanks for your input!

I fucking Love this idea!

my current pipe dream build is a Onewheel like device with a larger diameter treaded tire and actuated suspension. (I think this would look beyond badass if designed right) the goal of the vehicle would be to demolish trails even with trees down. It would probably have a remote for suspension height so you could jump at the same time you actuate the suspension to jump over obstacles.

Similar vein to your idea of adding actuators to change how it rides as you ride.

I do think your idea is more approachable to prototype, and possibly more practical.

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One set of bushings at high angles feel hard while those same bushings at low angles will feel really soft. Gotta address this.

I was going to draw something up for this as well, i’d love if someone else would get off their ass and do it for me cause i’m lazy and determined that I will not be designing this. too busy.

But, I love the idea… i’ve been pondering this idea for a while. I don’t know what to do about bushing softness.

Since you posted this idea, maybe an easier solution would be mechanical alteration of the trucks rake. Keep the same angle, but go from neutral (or positive) to negative rake on the rear truck and positive to neutral rake on the front truck as you go from cruising to high speed and keep the same angles.

This way you could setup your truck with one set of bushings you like, have hard carving responsive trucks at low speeds and much more stable and consistent trucks at high speed, and there would be no guesswork trying to find the best angles for certain speeds for both trucks and adjusting bushing hardness simultaneously, just a ride that goes from extremely responsive to very consistent and dampened… that’s the idea right?

Only issue here is the height changes, which would be true of changing angles unless you centered the axis of rotation about the axle (most adjustable plates don’t do this… because if you do it looks funky and isn’t nearly as functional)

positive


negative
neutral

Now that I think about it, having the height lower when rake decreases probably isn’t such a bad thing… lower tends to be more stable and positive rake for turning responsiveness and increased height for better leverage for better turning, this goes hand in hand :slight_smile:

and (off topic a bit but…) adjustable baseplates with the axis of rotation centered about the axle so height doesn’t change:

And whoever made these caliber models, credit to you. It’s been so long since i’ve downloaded, forgot where I got them so if these are your models take credit here. thanks!

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Hight change would be an issue, although I’m not sure if it’s an issue that necessarily needs to be fixed

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what if you made hydraulic bushings with adjustable tension based on fluid pressure?

^stupid idea

those are indeed some good looking resources you got there!

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This is a really neat idea.

What if the front was 50 or 55 degrees but only the back adjusted between 0 and 50 degrees based on speed?

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I think the back has less effective on turning, I would think that changing the front would be more effective, although correct me if im wrong

Evolve supercarves

And get good at them

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After thinking about the situation, I think the motors would be too complicated and cause too many issues. Instead I would like to design something fully mechanical, so it wouldn’t be automatic. Instead I would like to design a board where the ends are locked in place and can be unlocked, adjusted, and locked again to a chosen position

This guy put these unique trucks on the front of his board and his turn radius is absolutely insane. I don’t know if this is something you would want but it is a option so take it for what it’s worth. I don’t think double kingpin trucks come even close to the turn radius of this truck. He said it was very stable at 50kph as well. He shows the turn radius at 4:22 in to the video.

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I don’t think the real potential was even realized…

Needs both trucks and hub motors or a motor mount attached to the pivot arm.

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He has a video where he rides both trucks. Ya it would be cool to have both trucks like this but even just the front truck has insane turn radius.

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LDP…

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A radial steering damper is your best bet. Some motorcycle steering dampers also have variable dampening determined by speed.

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Fabi is a massive shill. He would say anything for a free part.

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Huh?

I’m usually not good with acronyms but
Long distance pumping I believe

Or Let doggy’s pee lol idk

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I thought it was Long Distance Push, but maybe it’s pump. :thinking:

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