First build, looking for feedback! (:

Hi there!

First of all, thanks for this amazing forum!
I recently discovered the amazing DIY esk8 community. As I am eager to start my first build, I did want to post my initial plan to this forum to get some feedback for my ideas. I’ve read quite a few posts on these forums and have adequate experience with electronics. My plan is to build a longboard with dual belt drive motors to cruise around in the city (Netherlands) with a minimum of 15 km range. I does not need to have a very beefy battery, as there are basically no hills in the Netherlands.

I’ve selected the following components:

  • 2 x Flipsky Battle Hardened 6374 190KV 3500W motors

  • 2 x Flipsky FSESC 4.12 50A

  • Flipsky VX1 remote

  • Flipsky antispark switch

  • Flipsky Trucks

  • Battery: DIY 18650 Li-ion 10s2p ( instead of 10s4p, since I dont need +25km range) or a couple of 5000mAh 5S lipos in parralel? Will the 10s2p be sufficienct in terms of amps it can supply, or should I go for 10s4p to be safe?

  • Deck: I am not sure, 100cm (38 inch) seems to be the golden standard? In the Netherlands, there are not a lot of really good longboard vendors, and the ones that do sell them charge a minimum of 250 euros for a board. Am a better off just buying a deck (+/- 80 euros) and combine them with the trucks of flipsky? Or do you guys now any good longboard sellers in the Netherlands? And what would be an approriate model?

  • Enclosure: No clue yet. Should I invest into making a mould and enclosure myself, or are there any good off the shelf enclosures to buy in the EU?

  • Wheels What wheel size is considered to be the standard? My initial thought was something around 80-90 mm, like the orangatang kegels. According to the esk8 calculator, this would give me a top speed of 36 km/h, which is plenty. Going any bigger just improves the ride and torque I guess?

This is for the main parts, I hope you guys can give me some feedback. Furthermore, I have some more general questions:

  • Does shaft diameter of the motors matter? 10 mm D shaft vs 8mm rond shaft? I guess when I couple this with the right pulleys it should not matter right?

  • The pulleys themselves are not supplied with the motors or trucks, what’s a good source to get them from? I’ve seen Dickyo’s mount on this forum, these sets seem quite nice: DIY Eskate caliber motor mount and pulleys kit for kegel style wheels | eBay
    Or should I go for the Flipsky trucks and buy the necessary pullies from Dickyo?

Will they fit any trucks when I buy a board? Or do the trucks need to be a specific height, since I need clearance for the motor? Is this something I have to account for when buying a board, or will the motor mounts and motors fit any board I buy?

And am I better off using these mounts with stock trucks from the board I buy instead of the Flipsky trucks?

Furthermore, my plan is to connect the vescs via canbus to run them in parallel in a master/slave configuration instead of a dual VESC, which is much more expensive.

I know quality the quality of Flipsky product can be quite poor, but they are the most readily available options in the EU.

Thanks!

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Yes; I’d need a really damn good reason to use 10mm shafts, probably over 95% of the pulleys on the market won’t fit them. Also D shafts are hard because even in the same bore there are multiple sizes. A 3mm keyway is far, far better in most cases.

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Thanks! I saw this post on the nood thread, but I did want to discuss my build.
I already own a helmet from skateboarding, but I was unsure about the deck because I have no clue what a good size/brand/price is… The next thing was to indeed chose a enclosure to go with it, which are the 2 main things I am unsure about. I started looking into the other components to get a broader view of all the parts I would need, that’s why!

So 8mm shaft with a keyway are the standard nowadays? Then I’ll opt for that!

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There are a handful of 10mm bore pulleys from esk8 vendors but really not much at all, and you don’t want to lock yourself to one vendor

D shafts are even more so like that, typically you can only get the pulley from the motor manufacturer only, and they are almost always aluminum. You really want steel. And to not be appled to one provider only.

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:point_up: good advice by Brian

My thoughts:

  • dual 6374 is overkill for your wheels and battery size. Dual 6355 will suit you well, save a bit of € and kg :slight_smile:

I beg your pardon? You have sickboards! :laughing:

Remember that electric skateboarding is still illegal in the netherlands (:sob:), so maybe you should focus on making your build stealthy / not stand out? And since your battery requirements are so small, maybe a shorter, kick-tail board would suit you well? For example, Big Ben has an enclosure for the Loaded Omakase. That could be a cheap option. Or a Hummie deck and enclosure from nexusboards.

  • Flipsky has a terrible reputation when it comes to ESCs. I highly recommend getting a MakerX ESC or a BKB zenith for a build like this.

  • That AS is unreliable. The one you want is Flipsky’s smart enhanced 200A antispark. Or you could get a Stormcore 60D which already has an antispark built-in. Bit pricier though. (Oh, V2 of the Zenith supposedly has a reliable on/off switch as well! That + a loop-key could be all you need)

  • If you don’t go fast, I think a 10s2p 18650 battery might be enough for 15km of range. But personally I would go either 12s2p or upgrade to 21700 cells to make sure every single one of those 15kms is a fun one :smiley:

  • Netherlands has amazing cycle paths, you don’t need anything better than kegels (or even better, caguamas). You should be able to buy a used set and used pulleys off someone for cheap. Although remember that urethane wheels like that become slippery as soap when it’s wet, so maybe some sort of rubber wheels and a larger battery to compensate is what you want :woman_shrugging:

  • Don’t know much about those trucks, but at low speeds they should be okay. Remote should be fine as well at those speeds.

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P.S. Expensive longboard decks are worth it. I’d rather have a 300€ longboard than a 400€ electric skateboard. Look at the used market, you might be able to find a good Landyachtz deck for cheaper than new :wink:

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Thanks for all the awesome feedback guys! So I will go for 8mm shaft motors for sure!

Remember that electric skateboarding is still illegal in the netherlands (:sob:), so maybe you should focus on making your build stealthy / not stand out? And since your battery requirements are so small, maybe a shorter, kick-tail board would suit you well? For example, Big Ben has an enclosure for the Loaded Omakase. That could be a cheap option. Or a Hummie deck and enclosure from nexusboards.

I know, but I live in a really small town where I think this will not be a problem. But that’s why I also wanted a smaller battery, since I don’t need the range and it makes it more stealthy.

Flipsky has a terrible reputation when it comes to ESCs. I highly recommend getting a MakerX ESC or a BKB zenith for a build like this.

Thanks, I did not know this. I will into the options you mentioned! This seem pricey however, 100 euros for the Flipsky VESCs vs 250 euros for the other options!

I opted for 10s instead of 12s because I don’t need insane speed, and the Flipsky VESC’s seem to have a bad reputation running at 12s. So you would prefer 12s2p to get less voltage sag?

Yes indeed, that is why I went with the orangatang 80mm wheels. Is this wheel size sufficient for such a build?

What options would you then suggest from sickboards with a size of 80-100cm? I find it very hard to choose a nice deck to base my build upon.

And thanks for this headsup, I will buy the enhanced version for sure!

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One last thing, will I still have sufficient torque with 6355 motors? I saw some comparisons between 6355 and 6374 and most people prefer the 6374 because you get a lot more torque, regardless of wheel size.

I prefer the 85mm caguamas on an electric board, but 80mm will be fine if that saves you some money. The light blue urethane formula is prone to chunking, so I’d recommend the orange ones.

If you want to go as cheap as possible, then the MakerX DV4 is ~130€: The most Affordable ------ E-board dual ESCs Go-FOC DV4 base on VESC4 - MakerX

Oh wow, the vesc 6 based models went up in price. I got 2 of the mini focs for 85$ each just a while back :sweat_smile:

Anyway, there’s a saying around here that goes “buy cheap, buy twice”. No point in comparing to the flipsky if it’s going to die on you after a few rides.

Personally I try to only buy decks that I can buy a ready-made enclosure for. The hummie deck from nexus boards or the loaded omakase form sickboards + an enclosure from BigBen are probably the cheapest options.

Here’s a good deal on a loaded vanguared + enclosure set:

Or browse Eboosted’s website and see which of those decks you can find on sickboards. https://www.eboardsperu.com/product-category/enclosures/

If he hurries up and finally finishes the 38" switchblade enclosure, then I would for sure recommend that.

That is true, but consider this:

  • You’re buying a cheap ESC. You’ll hardly be able to push the 6374 motors any more than you could 6355 ones.
  • You’re going to have a small battery. Let’s say, 10s2p of 30Q cells. That’s good for around 40A battery. Let’s say you really needed torque for going up hills, and you set each motor at 50A. At max speed, your board would need 100A to maintain that torque. Your battery can only do 40A. So basically, once you pass 40% of your top speed, your torque will already get limited by your battery. Is it really worth buying heavier, more powerful motors just for a bit more torque from 0 to 40%? Probably not.
  • My first build was a dual drive 6355 on Caguamas. I had a 12s battery capable of 60A. The battery started becoming my limit once I changed my gearing to hit 58km/h. Before that, when I was geared for 48km/h, I even LIMITED my motor current because it was TOO MUCH for me to safely handle :laughing: Just trust me, you’ll be better off with dual 6355 :slight_smile:
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:smiling_face_with_three_hearts: Rusins :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

Thanks! I got in contact with someone who can make any custom enclosure that I want for a reasonable price. I was browsing the sickboards website, and came across this board:

Tsunami 36

This board already has a set of 90mm Cloud Ride Cruisers wheels and trucks. However, the trucks are drop through mounted and I am afraid that I will not have enough clearance for the battery and motors.

But I would still be able to convert this from a drop through mounted board to a ‘normal’ mounted board where the trucks attach to the bottom of the deck, right?

The other thing that I am worried about is the length of the truck between the 2 wheels, will this be sufficient to mount 2 6355 motors + motor mount? How much length is needed for that? Since the trucks seem to be pretty short, I am not sure if this will fit.

Furthermore, would this work with the dickyo motor mounts:
caliber style mounts
paris style mounts

How do I know if the trucks on the board are paris or cailber style trucks?

And I saw the eboardperu shop as well, but I think they’re located outside of the EU so shipping would be a hassle for such big items, right?

Thanks for all the great feedback and help, I really appreciate it!

The mounts you listed will not work with the trucks that are on the board you linked.

The trucks are 149mm Atlas Street trucks, to my knowledge there are no mounts that work with these without modification.

The Paris trucks have a round profile, caliber trucks have a D shaped profile:

Paris trucks:

Caliber II trucks:

Different setups need different hanger widths if you plan on mounting both motors next to each other (as opposed to one in front of the hanger and one behind)
For a dual 6355 setup, you want a hanger width of 180+mm
For a dual 6374 setup, you want a hanger width of 218+mm

Another thing to consider is the wheel pulleys.
If the pulleys have additional support bearings you will need longer axles on the trucks.
If they are bolt on it can work with normal mounts, but it’s harder to get the pulley to be concentric with the axle so it’s more likely it will wobble a bit, causing the belt and pulley to wear out faster.

If you just want something quick and easy then one option is to get a single e-Caliber truck for the back and use a standard caliber truck in the front. The e-Caliber trucks are the standard Caliber II trucks but with longer axles. There has however been reports of these trucks bending so do your research before deciding.

@EboardSolutions has them available here Caliber E-TRUCK with extended axle – ElectricBoardSolutions

I would suggest getting @Boardnamics trucks (184 or 220), they are milled (not cast) and compatible with the Caliber mounts: Truck Parts |

Keep in mind you will most likely need to add shpping+VAT+customs to the prices if ordering from outside EU

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It’s 40$ for shipping + Import fees and tax. So yeah, it’s definitely on the pricey side. Wish there were more vendors. Maybe this enclosure would work for you?

As bollen said, those trucks are useless. Looks like the wheels would work with abec clone pulleys though, so that’s cool. Won’t be as good as Caguamas, but maybe cheaper when you buy it all together like that?

At low speeds I would recommend the e-caliber trucks. At high speeds when hitting obstacles they bend really easily though. But yeah, push-fit pulleys with a dedicated bearing are a must imo. Worth the price difference.

Thanks for the detailed answers! I am considering the loaded vanguard deck as my best option with the caliber e-trucks. Paired with some better escs and 6355 my setup will be very nice, thanks to you guys! You gave me really insightfull thoughts I would’ve never thought about myself, so thank you very much!

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Just a thought but if I were you I’d skip the e-calibers and grab a set of 184mm Boardnamics trucks. They’re are light years ahead of the e-caliburs and I believe cheaper from everything I’ve seen. I have been running a set on my build and they’re solid as a rock.

Edit- @bollen beat me to it.

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I am using just normal 184mm 10" Caliber trucks like you can find here, with dual Flipsky 6355 motors, Whooshboards mounts and 12mm belts. It is a perfect tight fit.

And as other said don’t worry about power with dual 6355. It is plenty and your board is 1kg lighter.

For a 10s2p build P42A is a good choice with big capacity and high discharge current.

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