Making use of the Spiral Gear Drives

Static · July 30, 2020, 4:54pm

I’d like to share with you my adaptation of these drives for Surf Rodz RKP. The spiral gear drives have been out for a while following the development (@MorrisHsu) and group buy last year. Though I haven’t really seen anyone using them on the regular. Owning the kit myself there are a few obvious reasons why.

On the original assembly this part (in red) was one of the weakest links. Too much play and not a great fit, with cast Calibers you can only expect so much. This setup didn’t really lend itself to much confidence and is only really due to using Calibers to start.

I opted to adapt these to Surf Rodz using this press fit design as the basis.

After a bit of prototyping this was the result:

The wheel gear is now supported by an extra bearing that fits perfectly within it and has a 10mm ID. (NSK Bearing for Ford 6G 10x27x11)

This setup also allows for a very tight package with 6380s on an Evo. Still get full lean without touching:

I’ve put about 200 miles on these drives and they’ve been great so far. No issues. The goal sort of evolved into building the most bad-ass looking Evo once I realized how well everything could come together. (12s4p 40T, Dual Escapes, TB 6380s)

If you are interested here’s the file (you’ll also need that bearing that I linked above):

Linny · July 30, 2020, 5:19pm

That looks fucking beautiful. Now I want a set of these gear drives

Static · July 30, 2020, 5:27pm

This board turned out pretty sick:

Just waiting for a proper remote to be released. Wand almost killed me on this board, too much power for that janky thumb control.

Linny · July 30, 2020, 5:38pm

Get a Hoyt Puck, or a modded mini remote. Both are solid

Static · July 30, 2020, 6:31pm

I have it on a loaned VX2 which is alright. Great form factor but sketchy build quality. I have heavily considered the Puck for what appears to be an excellent thumbwheel. Really like telemetry though.

Grozniy · July 30, 2020, 6:42pm

Gorgeous

rpasichnyk · July 30, 2020, 6:55pm

Awesome looking board!

Static · July 30, 2020, 6:56pm

Thanks, this kind of quick development was only really possible because others were willing to share their work which is why I’m always willing to share back. Thanks @LR-designs and @MorrisHsu

LR-designs · July 30, 2020, 11:30pm

Looks frighten amazing. I think they easily the coolest looking mounts! Thanks for the shoutout

Tamatoa · July 31, 2020, 4:17am

How can one get his hands on those drives?

b264 · July 31, 2020, 4:21am

There was a group buy a while back

leadBreather · July 31, 2020, 4:42am

Perfect adaptation. I hate the idea of something like this sitting in someones closet because of the issues you mentioned- you saved them!

I don’t have much experience with Surf Rodz- do they actually come with those red spacers, and what appears to be internally threaded axles?

leadBreather · July 31, 2020, 4:43am

Love the look of this build, beautiful and unique. Love the way the cans stick out the back.

Skyart · July 31, 2020, 4:49am

Wow that looks soooooo nice! beautiful work! What a clean build, now I really want a set of those! If anyone is selling hit me up!

Tamatoa · July 31, 2020, 5:45am

Yeah but apparently that was a one off chance to get them.

b264 · July 31, 2020, 6:23am

Yep

Bavioze · July 31, 2020, 7:55am

Ill see if i can make a bevel gear drive after i do my batch of wheels. It was one of the first things i worked on but i abandoned it a bit bc i thought his were 100x better.

You can see it in my banner still.

magharees · July 31, 2020, 10:59am

This is a really sweet project and thanks for sharing that mod, out of interest what did the mod cost you monetary wise?

magharees · July 31, 2020, 11:11am

This is probably the best bit, I was going to use Boardnamics hangers, the stock adapter fits the 220 fine. I’m wondering now if there is room for a bearing inside the wheel pulley using the stock adapter? Guessing no

Static · July 31, 2020, 1:17pm

Not too bad if you have access to CNC as the bearings are around $30usd. I actually paid for a service this time since I didn’t want to bother my CNC colleague with the tolerances of a press fit. Xeometry was sending me discount codes for a while following a small job we did with them so I used that. They were made in China as the cheapest option (shameful, but right around $150 for both, instead of $650 from the US). Their prices fluctuate a bit but you can upload a model and get an instant quote.