Hi guys and gals, I want to share my first build and see what you think of it. I made a lot of mistakes along the way but have learnt a lot about electronics and the drivetrain. I started research about this time last year, and became obsessed with the idea of building my own DIY board. When the opportunity arised to build one for my DT GCSE I jumped at the chance.
My original plan was to build a bamboo deck, the same shape as the vanguard with split enclosures with a bamboo deck or single inclosure with a rigid Canadian maple deck. . These are the renders I made
In the end decided to use carbon fibre for the deck and build an integrated enclosure to make it stealthy.
I first started with the electronics using a 10s bestech bms and 30 Samsung 30qs from NKON. I had to solder the batteries together as my budget did not allow for a spot welder, I bought a slightly more powerful soldering iron to solder the nickel quickly. After a couple of rides I noticed that when accelerating the BMS would cut off the power, I found that one group of cells voltage were much lower than the others. I bought another 3 batteries and replace the dodgy group of cells and the board has been running fine since.
(TURNS OUT IT WAS A BMS ISSUE)
Then I started on the design of the deck. It ended up being very rushed as we had a support teacher for 4 months that provided no help 
. The deck took about 2 weeks from start to finish in between my other subjects ( hence all the mistakes coming later)
I started by cutting the shape of the deck and cutting the CF into shape as well. I also began making a foam mould that would also act as the core to increase strength.
I used resin to bond the layers together and vaccum pressed the board
The board came out the bag looking like this
And took about 5 hours straight to trim it with a dremel and file the edges, making my workshop look like a bomb site
Then I needed to do a clear coat to give the deck a nice shiny feel
For the drivetrain I started out with a cheap Amazon motor mount and cheep wheel and pulley kit.
Which I came to regret once I shredded a pulley pretty quickly. The motor sprocket also began to wear down and would constantly slip. The wheel sprocket would also nit be centred on the wheel causing more problems (BUY CHEAP BUY TWICE!!)
Furthermore, due to the rush in making the deck I messed up vital measurements with the motor and trucks causing me to have to use a riser and cut into my enclosure. And my motor mount would not let me reverse my motor to face outwards.
Here are some photos of the final product
I have now decided to convert to chain drive , so i dont have to deal with belts lol. Because of the raw power of my motor I also bent the motor mount plate and have ordered one from APS
All in all, I am happy with the end product, there are things I would change like thanking the shape of the deck so that the board was not so high of the ground. I cheaper out on most of the drivetrain to try and keep the cost down, but have learnt it’s not worth it. Whenevrr I build another deck I think I will just go with direct drive to reduce maintenance and more moving parts to go wrong.
The motor is torque galore and conquers massive hills with power to spare. Getting lots of groans from people struggling to pedal up 
Here is the paperwork that I had to do for my project and shows the build in more detail. I’d love to hear all you guys feedback. I now want to build another board already, but have an impossible mission to allow my parents to let me:joy:. Maybe convince my dad he need one to get to the office and he can have my one. 
Here is my coursework PDF
https://1drv.ms/b/s!AsSWYo_lEBcS4WTWTaNLQ4Qh2jNB?e=8wijk6
