Heya! I picked up this Powell Flight Deck out of a feeling of nostalgia but decided I really prefer the newer style decks for street skating. So I stripped it back down and thought, wtf, lets make it into my first electric.
I know I’m kinda doing it bass-ackward with deck selection first, but looking at @b264’s builds I feel like I have a good foundation to steal from. I’m a 48 yr old skater so I have a helmet and pads already (learned I’m not indestructible a long time ago). With the shape of the deck I knew I’d have to suck it up and make a custom enclosure as well. Luckily I have a bunch of kydex and carbon fiber floating around from other hobbies so…
I know with a carbon fiber lined deck and a carbon fiber enclosure I would be screwed on RF signals, but I am planning on running about 4cm of antenna to the top of the deck under the grip tape (in a tube). Figure this way I would get little noise interference to the esc while having the receiver antenna closer to the controller sitting in my hand.
Now I get to play the waiting game while everything arrives and I am probably forgetting a shit ton of stuff, so here’s what is going on my board (lovingly named “My Deadly Sin”):
Surf-Rodz TKP 149 hangar, 10mmx80mm axles (hoping to drop down to 70mm, but its easier to add a spacer than to wait for new axles)
Dual Maytech 6355 170KV (currently backordered until Julyish)
Maytech MTSKR2005WF remote (receiver antenna will be ran to top of the deck)
Focbox Unity (don’t judge) 10s2p mboards battery (ok, you can judge)
10s3p 21700 @A13XR3 battery
Whooshboards Surfrodz TKP Hex clamp motor mounts
Boardnamics 36T kegel pulleys
Boardnamics 16T motor pulleys
AHMYO AKASHA FR 76mm wheels (these wheels just look sweet. I have Orangatang Caguama 85mm as well if the AHMYO’s give too rough a ride)
Metr Pro Unity (I’ll be running the antenna to the top of the deck for this as well)
TelTail Lights (TTL) - Interactive eSkate Lighting System
And Amazon had the Tractive LTE GPS Dog Tracker on sales for Prime days so am going that route for GPS tracking.
What I forget?
I’ll add pictures and update as parts continue arriving and I continue building.
I made a new enclosure, just a hair narrower but 10mm deeper to give me the room needed for a 10s3p battery and random components. Also added in the Janux heatsink.
Tried out the SR TKP mounts with AHMYO wheels to check for wheel bite and feel. Going to change up the bushings a bit, softer (93A) on the front (barrel and cone) and swapping from a barrel to cone streetside on the rear (sticking with 96A). I’ll probably have to play around with it a bit as I’ve never ridden SR TKPs before, but so far like the feel.
Tested with 5/8" in risers (1/8" for light riser plus 1/2" riptide wire mgt). With this deck and complete lean I wind up with over 1/2" of gap. Obviously subject to change as the bushings break in a bit, but I think I will be dropping it down to 1/4" or 3/8" total riser height.
Tested out different motor mounts and had to stick with the Whooshboards ones. They’re just a little complicated for my tastes, but they’re the only ones that fit with my enclosure (probably because I made the enclosure based off their dimensions as a factor, duh).
I went with old school sex bolt/rat nutz jbwelded into place for all the through holes. Also got the tubes in place to house the rf antennas for metr and receiver. And yes, I bolted on a Powell tail bone.
Last piece will be to replace the shoulder bolts that SR TKPs use with the Boardnamics axles before aligning and fastening down the mounts. Then wait for my new battery to arrive so I can bolt on the enclosure.
I felt a bit dirty covering up the Ripper with the enclosure, so had to add a sticker.
Everything is working smoothly although I will have to be completely insane to ever reopen the enclosure. Overall, couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. So last piece is the deck’s link to the name…
You look like you have a very good base, besides some of the part choices which are a bit questionable most of them look really good and you look like you know quite a bit! The carbon is a great look and many people on here love it so its very smart you did your research and figured out your signals ahead of time. It’s also very smart to have already made your own enclosure which I’m assuming you already tested the sizing for the battery and such to fit. Seems like your well on your way, I would recommend changing that battery, yes a custom one is more but if your board catches fire due to a crap mboards one then your really gonna be out a lump sum of money. All the other parts look good to me, just make sure your battery is large enough to power the lights you want to ads as well as running the board. I dont know enough about that so someone like @Battery_Mooch or @ZachTetra might be able to help a bit more on that front. I’m sure there are many different opinions than mine, but otherwise it looks good so far!
Thanks. I’ll probably go with a custom pack once I have everything mounted to the enclosure and see what kind of space I have. I measured it out to be able to fit 10s3p, but then with loop key, power plug, etc I won’t know until its assembled.
Hey dude.
I’m not sure what the exact specs are on your maytech motors.
But long time ago when I got 6355s from them they were wider and I could not fit them on caliber 180 hangers… No extended axles.
I’m working on a similar build.
And I wanted to use 145 hangers and make it dual so I’m using tiny motors.
I started down the caliber truck rabbit role but ran into three problems:
I really like the idea of having a bearing in the wheel pulley for stability,which meant an after market caliberesque hangar
I ran the numbers for widths and I didn’t think I’d be able to squeeze 6355s on 180 hangars, so either after market with longer axels for a bearing pulley or wider hangars with a bolt on pulley.
RKP feels weird on a street deck to me
Profit
I have a pair of 5045 140kv leftover from another project. If the 6355s don’t squeeze onto the tkps with 80mm axels than I’ll flip to the 5045s. But I think I’ll end up with a couple mms between when all is said and done.
Actually if my battery gets finished before the motors arrive I will probably throw on the 5045s for a bit anyway.
A quick post-mortem on the build (or “things I have learned”):
Surf-Rodz TKP trucks are incredible. Great ride, fluid turns.
SR TKP truck hardware (axle & kingpin) are crap for Esk8. Pretty much have to take apart the entire build to change anything.
Being able to order something on a website does not equal in-stock.
Have backup plans for the small, “inconsequential” things that you won’t have when the build is 99% done, such as the 290mm belts you have been waiting a month on (see #3)
15mph on a street deck is scary, especially while fine-tuning everything to reduce speed wobbles.
22mph on the street deck is exhilarating, even while fine-tuning everything to reduce speed wobbles
(edit) UF campus sidewalks are crap. I’ll be putting on the Caguamas to compensate despite how smooth the AHMYOs were in general.
I was hitting speed wobbles around 12-15mph initially, but I knew I would be playing with the bushings to get this right. I still managed to get it up to 22mph after I settled in and started autocorrecting for the wobbles. Still need a bit more stability in the bushings though. Going to try barrel/barrel setup (currently barrel/cone).
I have a bunch of odds and ends coming to replace the hardware on the SR trucks and throughout the board. Most notably the kingpins, so I don’t have to dismantle the entire board to replace bushings and the axles (if they ever arrive). I am also moving the rear truck back about 1/2". This will give me a little more room for the motors with the enclosure as well as make the ride a little more stable as my back foot will be closer to the nutz. The only drawback is I won’t get as much bounce from the kicktail, but this build was never going to ollie anyway.
The worst part is having ridden it and now having to wait.
