I began designing a new composite top access deck. The 10s3p battery pack is just under 1in thick by 5.5 inches wide and approximately 14in long. Using 90mm hub motors and knock off Fly wheels, this deck will have aggressive cut away profile. Pictures to follow.
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Nice please send pics and specs
What you making it out of and how you hollowing the deck?
Here’s the design. I have been playing with the curvature to give the illusion it’s thinner than it will actually be.
Here it is with the battery and electronics compartment. Ghetto pics I know. Snapped right off the screen.
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I have some suggestions.
- Make sure 21700 cells fit, not just 18650 cells.
- 10S3P isn’t very big.
- Make it long. 48"+
- Make it wide. 11"+
- Give yourself more space for wheelbite than you think you need; move the truck bolts further from the foot platform and out to the ends.
- connectors epoxied through the body of the deck so zero wires enter or exit
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I’ll be using foam for the core, triax fiberglass and twill carbon fiber. I plan to 3D carve the foam on my CNC and laminate using a vacuum bag.
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Made some progress with my build.
3d carved the foam. Forgot to take a picture. Sorry. Even though I am cutting foam, the process seems to take FOREVER with .25 inch end mills. I would get better definition with a ball nose, but not patient enough to wait. After a couple of layers of fiberglass, the definition would be lost anyway.
Laminated both sides of the foam with triax fiberglass. Added carbon twill on the bottom because it looks cool. I plan to leave it as a matte finish. Each side takes about 12 hours to fully cure which makes it a multi day process. I did most of the prep during the day and let it cure overnight. Opening the vacuum bag and peeling back the peel ply and plastic is
Also cut the deck profile, power and charging port holes.
Happy with how it’s coming together.
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Incomplete sentence in my post. Meant to say: Opening the vacuum bag and peeling back the peel ply and plastic is satisfying.
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Fun project!
I would be a little scared of the way you are mounting the trucks straight onto the thin composite skins and foam core. I would at the very least put some brackets on the topside to distribute the clamping load of the screws.
edit: the skins looks like they are very thick, so might be fine, but still wouldnt use countersunk screws.
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It is surprisingly rigid. I am 215 and there is Zero flex. The strength increases exponentially as the core gets wider. The skins are pretty thick and I tend to overbuild since I am winging it here. Similar to my other recent design, the lid will be aluminum. Some added rigidity. Of course time will tell.
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im sure the deck is very stiff, however the foam can only handle that much compression and im afraid that the screws will rip through the top skin of carbon and the delicate foam core. a wood/metal/plastic plug is normally inserted instead of the foam to deal with that kind of thing. or a special very wide fastener that you bond to the backside of the laminate. in your case a piece of aluminum/carbon fibre to act as a washer on the topside of the deck would do the trick.
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Looks like concentration of loads where top laminate is narrow near the ends of cutout. Interested to see how the deck goes after some testing.
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yeah I missed that. however he used a lot of plies and a thick core, and having the carbon on the bottom will eat up all the tension. that said the laminate is not very balanced as there is only glass on the topside plus the very large cutouts for the battery compartment. and if you add the aluminum top sheet it might actually be worse as you get a even larger stress concentration in the weak area, so if it fails, the top sheet will compress and buckle.
I would do some jumping exercises on the deck, I would much rather have it break at home than being outside on the road, it might be fine but I for one would do some heavy jumping before stepping on that board.
Also aluminum is real good at blocking out radio signals. again it might be fine, the signals might pass through the glass on the side and definitely put the receiver as far out to one side as possible.
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Big shear load there between the different areas of the deck. Not much laminate to transfer load from deck area across to dropout area
Appreciate the feedback and I agree that the points identified are the points most likely to fail. My next design will have less cutout as it is not necessary. What you cannot see internally are .5 inch rails inlaid into the foam encompassing the perimeter of the deck profile, internal components box and truck mounts. It prevents compression, which is overkill given the amount of triax used. I plan to complete the deck and give it a go. It’s all a learning process.
I’ll post some additional pics soon.
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Finished up the top plate cover and installed the battery and controller. The top plate took several passes to get the fit right.
I took it for a test ride with some friends, one of which was 240lbs. I am happy with how it turned out and how it performed.
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congrats so far. 
Curious about long time skating results.
Maybe you should use anti sinks on this deck to prevent them bolts from getting through this beauty.
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Like an x thingy
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or just big washers 
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