E-Freeboard Freebord Open source Electric Caster

Insanely slow and more. But if they have them already poured maybe not a problem.

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Good day
Im new here, but I have been following this group for over a year now all the while trying to build a diy summerboard. May I ask why did you guys move away from a centre mount drive wheel, was there any specific down side? And by downside, I mean design, but also mainly in ride ability and performance.

Regards Jon

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Okay, so no reply, I did hope that someone could offer some advise, but it seems its not going to happen, any hoo, maybe Iā€™ll try another forum or blog or something, maybe there is someone out there that is interested in what Im tryjng to došŸ˜š

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I was considering it as one of the many choices. Compared to the normal two powered castors it is extra weight complexity and something to get caught up on when doing any tricks. The advantage is because your foot isnā€™t over it you can much more room to make the design robust.

Iā€™ve been not working on this for no good reason. Sorry donā€™t know what to say, I think waiting for the Freebords I ordered so I could actually have a quality board to convert is the reason Iā€™d give.

That build you got there is different from nearly everything so far! Great regards for putting that together and sharing here.

You and @alexincorsica both are doing very good in my books.

This is where I mostly stopped on the central caster design, over a year ago not testing that design out yet still.


Cheers mate, thank you for your reply, It has been a long time working now, I can check my drawings for exact dates, but jaā€¦I was ready to give upā˜ŗ, so I tried allot of different combos before this one, although to be honest the centre wheel was what I done first then also moved away from it as I thought it was wrong. My biggest problem still now is I have never owned a summer; Leiftech; or Freeboard, so if you are trying to make something you have never tried, it is very difficult to know if your design is bad or you are just a crap rideršŸ˜Š.
I have skateboarded my whole lifeā€¦not that Iā€™m any good at it but ja, I have 3 or 4 mountain boards that I mainly have used for kite landboarding, and the one you see in the pic, is a mbs scout that I originally bought for my only childā€¦girl child when I was still in the phase of trying to turn her into a boy, that could do and enjoy the crap that I likeā€¦needless to say it did not work.
Any Hoo, I first put on the little narrow caster wheels that you buy at a hardware type store, just to get the feel for how a free board feels to rideā€¦horrible, but I stuck with itā€¦did I mention cost. ā€¦that and still is a big problem for meā€¦everything I do has been done on the cheapā€¦if you think you know scratch patchā€¦you have not yet seen me in action, I really wanted to go the way you guys went with the sliprings, but could not get my hands on oneā€¦so the next best was a guy selling a used made in China one wheel drive hub wheel skateboard. Ripped it apart and the process of getting it to work without a slipping startedā€¦again nearly chucked it in, but I had no other option but go get it to work kindvešŸ˜€
Then I tried them all, centre drive with thin caster wheels back and front, rear wheel drive with thin caster in front, front wheel drive with caster in the back, I remember even trying with the front wheel on the outrriger left sideā€¦horrible horrible failures all of them.
Then I started with the wheels that came with the China board wheels as castersā€¦this made a huge difference to stability, but I could only slide the board if I put plenty effort in.
The problem was my caster swivel bearings were really small so I tried again.
What I have now is what you see, the bearings, I am now using has made the board very very looseā€¦and easy to slide, actually for me it seems way to loose, but before I mod anything, I have learnt that again somtimes you have to learn how to ride a different setup, before you try to mod it again.
As mentioned I have skateboarded, mountain boarded, kite land boarded, surfed one weekend and had three days at a resort, snow boardingā€¦I often will tell anybody I meet that the feeling of been able to slide a board around on the snowā€¦even though I never got good at itā€¦was by far the best fun I have ever had in my lifeā€¦so it is with this yearning that I will continue to try and get back to that using this board, I will say that I am not there yet, but every now and again I do a side ways slideā€¦and recover and continue in a lineā€¦and find my self screening in my headā€¦THATS ITā€¦THATā€™S WHAT I WANT TO DO :joy:
I will state that I have no wish to make any money from doing what I am doing and will happily and freely share all that I have done, with anybody that is interestedā€¦although it is not much and by far not finished, it is available to all and everyone that has a passion to diyšŸ˜†
Kind regards Jon

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What it is like for people like @Mistreetsurf and @freebord Bob must be wild.

Lots of questions.

Lol at the risers :crazy_face:

Are the outer two castors mounted out of parallel axis? or shimmed?

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The outer casters are shimmed, the board has plenty of flex, so I did not use spring suspension on the centre, I really would have liked to, but It seems to keep traction really well, even when the ground is not level, so for now it seems to work, it was not that difficult to shim it up or down to find the sweet spot.

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I will say, Your centre caster design for me is brilliant, I reackon it will really work well, I just always have to try and keep it simple due to cost, sometimes I get lucky and it works but if I could, I would seriously do it your way. But it needs to be tried on the road, and that is why I asked why you guys moved away from centre drive, because maybe it will work maybe it wont, but just make it and try. Then we know. Me and my big mouthšŸ˜²

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Oh yes the risersā€¦no lets not ho therešŸ˜†

Caster swivel damping or not. So as mentioned my board is now nice and loose with the bearing upgrade. Why do the free boards damp there casters with that spring? Why if I am not mistaken does summerboard not damp, Am I correct wirh this assumption, from vid clips, it looks like summerboard caster swings free, but what Iā€™ve seen here from the drawings, freeboard has that spring that if Im correct damps that swivel motion a bit.
Any thoughts or corrections welcome.
Jon

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There should probably be a parallelogram sorta suspension instead of a single pivot for the castor, needs the bumpers cut and more ideal spacing. Currently only like 7in distance between the centers.

The edge wheel independent hanger mounting on the BANG Bumper might be ok, shrunk down a bit to fit.

I am wondering what effect a super-wide castor wheel would have. More stable on the rocker and less effect from holes in the road surface. If the profile is flat enough the contact of the wheel moves to the side unlike the skinnier Boro inline wheels, that then affecting the weight distribution on edges and how the rocker progresses.

More weight, easier to catch on stuff.
Could maybe 5050 a round rail then.

Hey E-Free board people.
I would like to askā€¦how many boards have been built by members on this forum? And what setup was used
Why do I ask? I really would be keen to know what problems were found with that first ride.

Okay. ā€¦Iā€™ll go firstā€¦umā€¦for me the big thing was and still is stability.
Okay then a few things brokeā€¦mainly 3d printed parts, I made them thicker and used a better setting, and so far that has worked, but the board always seemed unstable as shitā€¦it is better now, but still very hard to go in a line or go where I want it to go.
I put this down to:
The board wheels and trucks I am using were designed to be used as a mountain board.
The design is my own and not very good.
Maybe I suck at rideing a freeboard.

So tell me people how goes it on the other side of the pond?

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Okay i think I figured it out maybeā€¦Balance balance balanceā€¦it took a while but I think it finally clickedā€¦But hey I would still like some feedbackā€¦maybe just someoneā€¦Are there still people interested in building this board?

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I have some fresh-ish Cookin A Design to drope on this topic.

Riding Freeboards much like Skateboards is subjective. Really depends on your goals and the conditions how you could improve.

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Iā€™m always exited to see updates from you!!

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Perfectā€¦glad to hear some of us are still on track, my track is not yet straight. ā€¦but how freakin awsome is it to ride somthing you madeā€¦and feel that slideā€¦whooo hooo :rofl:

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Hey
Iā€™m trying to make one of these cool boards Iā€™ve had my eye on it for a while and have all the stuff I need except for the wheel in in the middle. I need to know if it is just a regular caster wheel or a specific 360 mechanizm like a lazy susan. so I just need to know where you got the caster from or if you guys made it in which case what would be the best caster for me to get.
Thank you

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I went with what I had, and what I could make.
The wheel is a cheap china skateboard hub wheel, I then printed a pu sleave that fits over it to give it a bit of shape and traction, I only done this because the cheap wheel really was wearing down badly.
The caster fork I drew up in sketchup and printed it out.
the bearing flange is from a Diesel pump end plate :rofl:
My electrics are all mounted very badly around the wheel and held in with a velcro strap.
Please consider, this was my first board and a real proto, so very ugly and crude :scream:
But it works and it is still going.and if somthing brakes ā€¦I just make a new one without having to spend big money.
But I would go with what the guys are doing here on this forum, those are proper designs that will definatly work.
Hope you come rite mate.
Just go for it :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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