Sup Folks,
Figured I’d put some words and pictures together of my first esk8 build, the challenges I’ve had, and how it’s all going.
During COVID lockdown in Melbourne Australia, I needed to keep busy, so I started skateboarding again. Mind you I’m 42 now and the last time I was at a skate park I was 16. For the most part, it was fun learning again although falling consistently has its toll.
Someone mentioned that I should look into electric skateboards, WOW my mind was blow. Over the years I’d amassed a collection of RC cars and trucks and from a technical / build perspective it seemed like it would be an easy transition to get an esk8 build up and running…. Boy I was wrong….
Deck: Sector 9 Downhill Division – I like the look and the concave, the only limitation is the wheel size. I have no risers and am using 83mm ABEC 11’s. I did try 97mm although wheel bite got me, I might be able to get away with 90mm and some small risers though.
ESC:– Flipsky Mini FSESC 4.20 50A 4.12 with Heat Sink. Good entry-level ESC, I had issues with the capacitors bending and disconnected (Almost sending me flying off the board), this required me to solder them back on and add a bunch of hot glue to stop them from moving. This seemed to have fixed things.
Battery: Alien Power 10S3P (Samsung 29E Cells) This was a wakeup call for me, while I could have plugged in a few LIPO packs to get going I wanted a more elegant solution. This is where my mind went into overdrive as I’d never had to think about wiring a BMS, Laptop charger, Spot welding, Insulating P groups, Buying the right nickel strips ETC. I did look into various battery builders and got scared quickly there were just too many things to think about.
This being the case I decided it would be easier to go for an off the shelve solution that’s more plug and play, this would allow me to get my board working and give me time to learn the ins and outs of esk8 battery building.
Enclosure: FOOOOK, another headache I need to overcome. I made various attempts at using Kydex although was not satisfied with the outcome as it just looked janky. Seems as though if you want the absolute best results using Kydex you need a vacuum bench to get the shape Micky Mouse. I settled on using my limited metal fabrication skills and crafting one out of sheet metal. While this seemed to work it was not ideal, more on this later on.
Wheels: ABEC Flywheels 83mm
Bearings: Bones Ceramic
Trucks: Torque boards caliber II style
Motor mount: Torque boards
Pullies and gears: Torque boards 16 and 36
Motor: 1 X Torque boards 6374 190KV
End Result
