Figured I’d start my first build thread!
The name: Dive Bomber comes from the German Junkers Ju-87 or “Stuka”, tied to my handle “Steuka” which has it’s own long backstory of why I use it for everything, I wont bore you here, but ultimately holds sentimental value to me.
Aside from that, I don’t necessarily have a cool reason for this name, but still thought it was fitting.
I had been frustrated over issues/ possible roadblocks with various wheel options, so I had been musing over how to use Go-Kart tire’s on Esk8. (I seem to run into lots of issues with other tires I’ve used, or foresee potential issues arising.)
I started with AceDeck 8 in. wheels on my 2023 NYX Z1. I seemed to burn through way too many tubes, I eventually got some Novas, and loved them to bits, but ended up wanting more of a race-board and so followed the example of a local racer here in AZ, Joe, in porting my battery, ESC, and motors over to a Stooge SuperSpine, so put those in a box and used the BRP’s, (this was very fortunate as later my brother would have need of the Nova’s).
Also loved that to no end. Put as many laps down as I could at I2S, until one day smoke started spouting from my front left BRP. Found out that they have a temp threshold I was unaware of. BRP’s were way backordered being a bit before Esk8Con, so I started looking for alternatives. (because of availability and longevity)
Landed on @Tony_Stark SR125’s. Made some custom Spur Gears for them and mounted up on my SuperSpine (possible due to top mount battery and belly pan removal).
But I got worried about if they ever stopped being produced, and still longed for Go-Kart wheels. Then I saw @Dinnye’s build and the hamsters started running in my head.
I was strongly inspired by @Dinnye (RaceBoi & PROJECT ENDGAME)
The main inspiration for this build stemmed from @Dinnye,
I was also inspired by
@Titoxd1000 (AWD “Displacer” suspension board)
I eventually want to figure out a way to do a v2 of this using the Displacer suspension as a height adjuster rather than a suspension system.
I’d like to preface that I really kind of suck at write-ups, and this is my first time, so please be gentle!
I started by making CAD designs of everything
Then I moved into the phase of accumulating everything. Of course, I was trash at getting pictures of this.
The first issue I ran into was that when I ordered from Send Cut Send for my Truck “Towers” I was told they could not bend them like the picture since it was too “deep”
So I had to alter the design to be separate pieces.
I was initially pretty worried about strength on this, but it is pretty solid, so it ended up being a non-issue.
Once I got parts in from SCS and Xometry (wish I would’ve taken a bit more time, and had everything made from SCS (cheaper and faster).
After getting my family to weld some parts for me since I medically can’t anymore (stupid pacemaker), I was able to test fit some stuff.
I Love when things go according to plan or at least close enough.
Then some painting
I personally ran into some issues around the hubs, I feel like some of Stooges stuff wasn’t 100% concentric, maybe it was just me, but I really struggled with getting the centering rings back on flush after swapping bearings to 12mm ID. (This is not a knock on @MoeStooge!! His stuff is amazing and made to order, some small inconsistencies are expected and even appreciated when something is made to order, it means it was all perfectly made to fit piece by piece.)
But I got them all back together, also had to make custom bearing spacers.
Decided on Duality trucks for so many reasons!
Enter new issue… Moving up to 12mm axles from my SRB 3-link 10mm ones meant that the axle nut was nearly right up against the centering ring on the SRB Hubs… No way to get a socket, or anything else in there to tighten…
Not one to be discouraged (especially because I had dumped more money than I had planned at this point into this project, and making custom hubs was going to be very pricey.) I had to resort to some solid red neck engineering:
The result is concerning at best. But it actually works, pretty well.
I think since the “teeth” or whatever of the socket are braced against the inside wall of the hub, flex is prevented and its secure enough to tighted, or loosen this nut.
Got the hubs mounted up onto the wheels with another (not pictured) spacer.
Fitment seems good, and has just enough clearance for my 80t spur gears.
More painting but this time it was powder coating!
Got to mount everything to have a “rolling chassis”
I was personally pretty concerned about the ability to turn when the standing platform was about 2 inches (50mm) below the pivot of the trucks. But the exciting thing about it is it still turns amazing!
I had the chance to take @dskate Snappy build (SNAPPY | 12S6P Barrel on Duality trucks) for some laps and loved it. That was when I truly fell in love with Duality trucks! Thank you @Titoxd1000 for perfection.
Even being so low, this still turns like absolute butter.
My next issue is that my standing platform is fairly small, I didn’t want my board to be super long, so I purposefully designed it that way, kinda good thing too since I personally tend to keep a shorter stance.
However, with a top mount battery, I didn’t have a bunch of places to put the ESC, and I don’t want it mounted on top of the trucks if I could help it. I originally planned on putting it under my back “foot ramp”, but based on mis-measurements it would not fit. In talking to my brother @Smokey4 , He had the genius idea of mounting it under the rear truck / motors. While that normally wouldn’t work, the 10” Go Kart tires allowed me to do it, and still have the ESC higher than the frame.
After a quick design and a couple hour print in PETG on my brand new BambuLab X1C, shameless plug to them for great prints. Unfortunately I only had clear PETG and while it doesn’t look bad, I wish I had black.
I was able to get my ESC mounted, now just to get the battery and do a test ride with power.
I am still working on getting everything mounted up, but wanted to share progress and impressions so far.
I do have some plans in the future to make an aluminum deck, and a quick swap battery setup. Time and money will be the limiting factors here.
