Evan's 1st Mountainboard | The Apex Croix - 4wd atrocity

Usually when the KV of the motor goes up the amps it can handle goes up proportionally see reacher spec page for example. (higher kv motor, less winds of thicker wire). but you’re holding it the same in the calc. maybe that’s ok if you’re limited by the ESC or battery to the same values and not the motor. but it’s interesting to consider.

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Adding some notes here on 4wd setup for d100s.

  • make sure to never plug in or unplug a d100s while can is connected. Can chips will explode.
  • Detection wizard sets bad (very low) absolute max current values. After running wizard, set to 250a per side. (believe this is the setting that hitting default value provides).
  • master side (switch side) = off after 30 min
  • slave side = always on
  • on off shit resets after input wizard. Check on/off settings after doing input.
  • known d100s bug - bad low speed brakes. Solution - run full current mode with reverse erpm limit to -10k erpm.
  • fault time to 80ms
  • only one esc should be set to “current control”, other escs need to be set to “off”

4wd setup (after both escs are plugged in)

  • connect can h and can l between d100s’s
  • run switch, ground, 5v from momentary button to ESC 1
  • split switch wire and run only that that to ESC 2.
  • remember not to unplug one of these while can is connected or you’ll blow up the ESC. @YUTW123 please fix this.

One more known bug for 4wd

  • long power button press (0.5s) is required to turn on both escs. A short press will only turn on one of the escs. Only a short press is required to turn one or both of them off.
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Nice summary. Should throw it in the D100S thread too

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I can’t believe you didn’t think of the Gravel Flux dude…
Breaks my heart.
Same-ish deck . Box on top. Niners on there.

I don’t rock bindings…
I like being able to move my feet around the giant deck. And step on and off easily.

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Haha, dude, you are an endless inspiration on all of my builds!

The gravel flux has gotta be the first off-road street cruiser hybrid. I had contemplated running the phase wires underneath the deck like you did, but I couldn’t think of way to preserve maximum flex and protect all the wires sufficiently.

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Parts are arriving for the build.

Next steps:

  • Gotta pick up Apex Airs and Jump drives from @poastoast
  • Battery order has been placed from @Skyart . I said I’ve got 80 p45b cells, and he knew 20s4p was the way without me even saying it. :grin:
  • On the way - Pelican 1200 snagged on Mercari for $40.

I need to order a bunch of stuff from Jeffery Bezos.

  • 26awg 6 conductor sensor extension cable
  • 12awg silicone wire
  • 1/8" solid neoprene rubber mat
  • 3m neoprene glue 1300
  • standoffs to run phase wires under anti-sink plates
  • techflex insultherm tru-fit. This stuff looks awesome as a phase wire cover.

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Gear drives in the house and assembled tonight. It’s the Poast special oil slick jump drives.


@poastoast ran these for a couple thousand miles. This angle shows the only visible wear.

Basically looks brand new viewed from the top.

Lubed and ready for next steps.

The new seals feel like there is a lot of resistance and I’m expecting some not so good freeroll until the seals wear in a bit. We’ll see. I’m kinda worried about it. I love freeroll. I may end up popping the spring off seal to see if it loosens things up a bit.

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Testing out some ideas for phase and sensor routing. 6x phase wires fits perfect under the anti sink (with 1/4” standoffs), but not so much with the sensor cables in there too. I might ditch this idea. Not 100% sure yet. I do really like the phase wires going through the anti sink plate, so I might pick up 8mm standoffs and stack the wires.

I saw @ducktaperules made a sweet 3dp parts for routing wires near/with the deck screws. Q, any chance you would share that file?

Other than that I discovered my neoprene kind of sucks for sticking to grip tape. It’s OK, but it ain’t enough. I’m ditching it. Gonna do something else… TBD.

A few ideas:

  • @poastoast wire cover stomp pad.
  • layering up vicious grip to contour with the phase+sensor wires.
  • 1/8” eva foam adhesive mat instead of the rubber (with 1/16 to cover the phases?). Might be good. Might be too thick.
  • @zero_ads hooked me up with some foam backed grip tape to try out. I need to check if vicious grips the top of that or if I could stick the foam grip on top of vicious.




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I wonder if the outside two phase wires hypothetically wore down and made contact with the screws if it would conduct all the way through the anti sink and cause some sort of weirdness. Other than that, I love it.

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Definitely possible. I think it would be like other phase shorts - likely resulting in a nuked esc.

Speaking of phase shorts, my SRB motor mounts shifted on the first ride of my race board, when they were mounted forward, and this happened.

I got real lucky because only one phase wire was rubbed to the wire, and the wire was uncut somehow.



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Back on topic, I saw this in a kamijun’s video. I think I’m going to get a pair of these antisinks from trampa.

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Those look clean

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@ApexBoards jump drive assembly continues.

I discovered that if you use maytech motors, you’re left with some extra space between the pinion and the retaining clip. No worries - off to the garage esk8 bin for 8mm shims.

2 of the motors took 1.1mm of shims. 2 of the motors took 1.2mm of shims. I did the shims so that there is no play, but the retaining clips can still rotate relatively smoothly.

The pinions do have a little back and forth (rotational) wiggle on the axle. I’m not sure if I’ll notice this in riding, but we will see. If it bothers me I might end up needing to use a dab of retaining compound on the motor keys to fill the tiny gap that creates the tolerance.

I put a light coating of superlube synthetic ptfe grease on all the gears. I want max freeroll and maximum noise. It’s still NLGI-2 grease so it should protect but it’s a bit lighter than Lucas red n tacky

The jump drives have very nice fit and finish. I’m looking forward to riding them. The push fit wheel system is superb, and the @poastoast hubba hub adapters are :100:. Poasty knocked it out of the park with those.



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Obviously the washers don’t cover the grooves in the gear right? I love and respect you, just double checking.

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I thought its now suggested to use retaining compound as a few have eaten circlips without it.
Could be wrong, but swear I’ve seen that.
Personally I wouldn’t run without

I’ve not seen or heard of any eaten circlips, buuut I do personally put retaining fluid on them for belt and braces. The idea was to be able to change ratio quickly. But in reality I just don’t. If I did I’d just easily torch it and be done.

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I got no retaining compound on mine, only just over 500km but no issues so far

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It’s a good question. I think there is a tiny amount of overlap into the gear groove, but maybe not enough to touch the whee gear with the backlash set normally.

I just checked and it actually makes more sense to put the shims on the inside of the pinion, so even if there is overlap it won’t impact the gear mesh at all.

This kind of surprised me, but you’ll notice the mesh of the pinion to the wheel gear is quite off center with the stock thrust washer setup. The spacing doesn’t appear to take into account the width of the wheel gear case.

This isn’t really an issue - just an observation. I guess I’ll just get 1.2mm more engagement on the gears compared to using flipsky motors with no shims.


This board will hit 45 mph on the 5.5 ratio with 200mm tire so I don’t think I’ll ever be going to 4.4 ratio. I’ll probably put some 638 on there even if it’s not really required.

Even on 165mm tires it would be absurdly fast.

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I was wrong, it was play in the key gradually getting worse from wear.
Id link the issue, but it was from a semi-private chat and no need to bring screencaps from there here.

Point stands though, retaining compound + circlip seems best unless you have a use for hot swapping ratios

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