Hello Jean-
I bumped your account level, so go ahead and share those pictures. Thanks for adding your voice to the mix so we can stay informed.
7 Likes
Hey Bill:
We’ve got 4 examples of cracking/failure occuring within 2 - 6 months. That does not count the undersized spokes with no cracks yet.
This thread has 63 participants. 4/63 = 5% defect rate.
But not all 63 own these wheels. I count about 10 who are researching before purchasing.
So that would be an 8% failure rate. All within 6 months. Most within 2 months.
Cracks and failures:
Spokes too thin:
There is a possibility that all these wheels may have come from the same batch where the cores may have been badly molded. Hard to tell without the mfg comparing serial numbers.
2 Likes
Having flashback of covid news right now, the numbers are probably worse but people aren’t getting their cores tested until they start to see symptoms. Basically we should practice social distancing from the cloud wheels to flatten the curve of faulty cloud wheel core incidents. 
4 Likes
Oh dang it cracked and that wasn’t even one of the pulley driven wheels?
No, it’s one of the front. So I would tend to think that the presence of the pulley add some resistance ?
And maybe it could be a smart move to fill your front cores with some kind of pvc resine as some suggested ?
I also checked if the pulley fitted well on my rear wheels : one does fit perfectly, maybe I would even need a little hammer to put it in place, and the other have very little room for play, like maybe a quarter of milimeter of rotation of the extern surface of the wheel ? (sorry for that weird way of explaining it, I’m not a native english speaker)
Here is the serial number on the side if it can help : PJ00261 19030N10003
3 Likes
Yeah I guess that could be part of it but where it cracked on your front wheel wouldn’t be supported by the pulley at all since it’s right on the spoke. It seems like you’d want a thicker bearing retainer or plastic with a higher tensile strength to fix that.
Maybe the pulleys add a little bit of rigidity but I doubt it - especially on the outside of the wheel.
I wonder if re-working the core so the bearings don’t fit so tightly will help. Those bearings fit in there way too tight imo.
It’s difficult to see with the angle of my picture, but there is an angle at the base of each radial part (sorry, I don’t know the word in english, in french it’s a " beam ", is it the same word ?) and I think this angle (it’s the straight line just at the point of the arrow on my pic) is not a very good design for solidity. I am no engineer, so it’s just a thought, but if you look at caguamas in comparison it’s a smooth curve.
I don’t own any original abec so i’m not sure for these ?
1 Like
It is true that with that sharp angle that there is a greater stress concentration. It could be that the sharp angle contributed to the break.
I would probably call those beams “spokes” like on a bike wheel, or on a car wheel.
2 Likes
I’m after two of those wheels, if you have an incomplete set you want to offload, pm me!
Well i hope yall are happy. Now im going to feel really guilty every time I ride these wheels 
Well… Two rides on this same board using six shooters and I really miss the clouds…
I wonder if the concept of battle hardening could work for these wheel cores.
I wonder if the perfect epoxy exists out there to fill the slots in the abec core.
What do you kids think of that?
2 Likes
Use epoxy that bonds to PC and it should be drastically stronger. I would also check how tight the bearing fits too. If it takes more than firm thumb pressure to push the bearing in, scrape some material off the inner bearing seat with a razor blade to take some stress off the core.
1 Like
Like this stuff?
https://smile.amazon.com/Loctite-Plastic-0-85-Fluid-Syringe-1363118/dp/B0044FBB8C/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=policarbonate+epoxy&qid=1585523875&sr=8-1-spell
Yup. That would be the easy way.
If you want to do it the strongest way I can think of, 3D print little wedges that fits into the spokes out of ABS, then glue them in with an MEK base solvent with dissolved ABS (plastruct plastic weld etc). IT will essentially make a near solid core that is chemically bonded.
Just note that MEK is extremely harmful to humans. But the really good stuff usually is.
2 Likes
Also if people are interested, I can make a 3d printable hubcap type of deal with all the spokes. Like a press-fit pulley but no pulley. Print it out of whatever and just jam it into the core for structural support.
3 Likes
It is both the drive wheels and the front boggies that are among the cracked and failed examples on this thread. So there is no reason to suspect that some sort of supporting plug would help. Also, the fractures are in lots of different places including spokes, rim edge and the bearing compartment. So anyone who still intends to ride these should inspect very carefuly for cracks. The bearing compartment crack was really hard to see–almost need a magnifying glass. Inspections might not protect from hidden cracks and sudden failures. I think inspecting for cracks would become difficult or impossible if you stuff some sort of plug or epoxy between the spokes.
Quite a few of the cracks started from the inner ring. Which is why I’m thinking if there was a solid support between the inner and outer rings between the spokes it may help. But idk. I wonder if some of the spoke failure is cracks that propagated from the inner shell. My suspicion is on the overly tight fitting bearing seat
2 Likes