Annnnnd after a long hiatus, we’re back! Life got in the way of working on this for a while. I’ll bring more updates soon. Just shared some battery updates in the BBC
A few pictures. New deck layers. New deck. New plan.
Got excited yesterday and rode it too soon, forgot the loctite. Broke my own rules about test rides.
Got bucked by a motor plate bolt that came out and wedged between the wheel pulley and plate. A little road rash lesson on my ass for that one. All okay and got back on.
Took another ride today after a proper cure interval. Board rides great. TKPs are unbelievably maneuverable and making me anxious about cranking up the speed. Even on rough shitty Philly roads the board sounds quiet and muted thanks to all the rubber
So on the first ride, it injuries me and I injured it. I’m just a little sore and have a 3 inch diameter spot of road rash the LR jacket didn’t catch. And I put scrates on my new motors with some deck bite as well I overlooked. I guess it’s broken in now 
never ride without your helmet kids
I’ve got lots to add so I’ll be back to fill in and add more.
Alright so finally an update!
Bustin is complete, waiting on some hardware and new grip tape.
Still have to finish the top of the deck, thinking about having something airbrushed in the center, fresh stain and frit or just grip tape similar to stock
So we left off in september here…
I got a new deck from Bustin, which ironically cost me $10 more than the first one. As mentioned above, the new deck was different from the year prior one I had before. It was significantly stiffer. I had a few conversations with the owner at roarockit and got some advice before attacking this again with what I had learned from the first go around.
This time, I used a few pieces of paper taped together to lay over and create a template of the deck on the bottom. I added 10mm around the entire edge and used that as the template for my new maple layers. This time, I was pre-cutting the shape before glue-up.
I need to track down some photos, but the pocket was significantly different this time. Last time, I glued up entire panels to the deck. This required me to use the router to remove the entire volume of that pocket. Lots of heat, lots of work. This time, I stacked the precut layers together on a flat surface and aligned them. I used the paper template of the deck again which I had located and drawn the battery pocket on too. I attached the template to the stack of panels. Then, using an oscillating multi-tool, I made a few cuts along each edge by plunging straight through all of the layers. Think of it as a very widely spaced dashed outline. There was a single cut at the top and bottom, 3 on each side an inch wide.
I needed to leave the structure of the center or the layers became too fragile. When gluing up, I only applied glue about 1/8" into the pocket along the line. This let the entire volume of material where the pocket will be essentially fall out after the perimeter cut.
Glueup went much better this time with no issues getting the layers commpressed well. Pocket clear out was fantastic. The multitool simply chipped through most of it and I cleaned up the rest with a chisel and finally gave the edge a round off with the router. 1% of the work I did the first time and 1% of the mess.
What I have now is 7.5mm of added layers to the bottom of the deck. The center of the pocket is the bottom of the original deck the entire length and its untouched. Im not cutting the extra 4-5mm into the rear area I had before, So I had to figure that out
The battery came out amazing. So when I poured the urethane, I made sure to get above the centerline of the cells. This moon shape on either side really locked in the buck I created to make the pockets. Securing the P groups was as easy as setting each edge in and pushing them down at the center. The P groups fit snuggly into the pocket and want to pop up from flush in the center. Pushing them down flush and then bridging across them with fiberglass reinforcement tape locks them in place. If they cant come up in the center, they cant come out. I can flip the board upside down and shake it, these wont move even before the series connections. Absolutely love how this retention was achieved
14awg series connections, 2x 14awg per side main leads. Monitoring temps on them. I think its gonna be plenty. 18 awg 5.5 x 2.1 charger for now.
I removed the GX16 two pin I was planning to use for high amp charging and filled the hole. Im done looking at high amp chargers now that Ive found now reason why dual charging isnt appropriate when needed.
Adhesive fish-paper connect the BMS to a a strip that runs down the center of the battery. The strip is broken and overlaps in two sections where the larger humps exist in the BMS wiring and they are un-taped in that region. The fish-paper runs along a smooth area, all the series connections were kept outside of that region. The charge wires extend from the front of the enclosure to the rear, between the balance leads. They pass between fish-paper layers as they go underneath the balance leads. Foam beneath the BMS keeps it from crushing the sensor wires that must plug in beneath. All series connections just kiss the top foam when things are back together. There’s extra foam in the center applying gentle pressure to the balance leads as well.
On one side, the XT90S connection to the Unity and the short antennae for the METR are secured. I poured rubber here but did not like the outcome and removed it. On the other side, rubber was poured around some 3D printed plugs for the power button, Hoyt puck receiver and the unity itself. The Hoyt Puck receiver, BT BMS receiver and the power button sit on that side.
Without the additional cutaway over the BMS, space was tight as expected. I wound up adding a 1/8" foam gasket to the rear of the enclosure to provide more clearance. The deck has a 1/4" foam gasket around the perimeter and a 1/8" gasket along the inside of the pocket. This gives me 3/8" gasket in the rear which is just under 1/4 in when compressed and the BMS leaving a slight indent in the top foam. Its super tight
In hindsight, I shouldve bought the MK2 model from @eBoosted … The MK3 did not work out with the TKPs and I opted to re-FG the rear and nose of the enclosure. The the rear, 3D printed plugs were again used to mold in press fit and removeable slots for the MR60s. They snap in, dont pull out but got glued up behind anyways. They were a ton of work, came out a little lower (further from the deck) than I wanted, but it looks nice.
Ive got more to dig out of my phone, and more to add. Duplicolor truck bed coating for the enclosure and I opted to do the edge and entire bottom of the deck that way. The edge and bottom looked good, but I could only realistically see 5% of the bottom of the deck anyway. Just wasnt worth going through prep and color or a fancier finish.
Waiting on some new hardware for a few locations. Currently on 15/40 with plans to move to 16.
Back to school work for me today.
A few thoughts:
- If youre considering 12S4P 21700 for this deck, think long and hard about it. Its very doable, but the space is very tight. Make compromises around the BMS. Dont add a heatsink
On space being really tight. As mentioned above, the unity and cells had roughly 4-5mm before the addition of gasket - lets call that 5-6mm. D140 BMS is 7mm thick +2mm at the corner bolt heads on some. BT BMS units are 10mm thick +2mm at the corner bolt heads. Unity heat sink brings the bottom of the unity up 4mm.
So I started with 5 mm, lost 4 to the heat sink which left me with 1 mm. + 7.5mm of deck addition, +5mm of gasket = 14mm to clear a BMS thats 12mm thick and has wires under it, fishpaper and foam.
Dont do this – if you want to build a bustin, its a great 10S build. Its a tough 12S build you will probably make some compromises for, even more so for 12S 21700 build. Its a moronic idea to try to put a heatsink and anything but the smallest BMS on if doing 12S. Theres just not enough vertical room at all. You get 25mm + a gasket, thats it. I did all the above, and while im happy, it wasnt easy getting here.
- battery pcbs are just for looks
- psychotillers clamps and mounts are garbage. Searching for something better still. Might have to give my money to @IDEA
- wont buy anything but hoyt from now on for remotes
- thank you to the METR team for the BT BMS integration!
The TKPs are awesome! Final board weight is 31 lbs. Its heavy, feels solid, is totally muted and makes hardly any noise. Theres no rattles and rocks hitting the enclosure from the road sound muted. Rattle free, quiet, stable and smooth. Loving it.
