Took the board apart today to install a puck remote. I’ve given up on OSRR availability, and I don’t really need a remote with telemetry if I have Davega.
First things first, I wanted to check if I had a loose wire or something that would explain my VX1 FULL disconnecting. Well, it seems like I did an overkill job securing and insulating the receiver wires, so conclusion: not user error, VX1 is just crap. I also had the VX1 in my small board disconnect fully once, so I will be swapping that one out too.
I also wanted to make some space for the 12V buck converter, so I made an extender cable for the battery’s XT-90, that also splits off into a switch → fuse → buck → fuse → external accessory port.
Battery is secured with double sided tape and foam on the sides (it’s not closed cell, but it’s all I had), and then I hot-glued things like the flexibms and buck in place. This is the final enclosure layout: (it’s tight!)
Then I cut up a 12V side-emitting LED strip, and hot-glued it around the enclosure. It doesn’t seem to hold well, so there’s a big chance it’ll fall off. Will have to check up on it while riding. Worst case I’ll use epoxy, but that means it’ll be permanent
Once the threadlocker cures I’ll ride to a more scenic place for final pictures (still have to powder-coat the duck handle too!), but here’s a few pics in the meantime.
The puck color doesn’t quite match, but I might swap it out for a different shell anyway. I also bought the glow-in-the-dark shell, but it’s very underwhelming, like most glow-in-the-dark things are. Thanks for reading!
Welp, I hit one of my motors on a small curb and it seems like a magnet has come loose. I think it’s time to call it quits for these gear drives and switch to a different drivetrain.
I think I should be able to drill through the wheel adapter and manage to salvage these green wheels, so I think I’d like to keep this a urethane setup. (God knows I won’t have enough range for group rides otherwise)
Question is what drivetrain do I go for. I’m currently highly leaning towards Savage’s trucks and mounts for belt drive, but I also should test if my regular surf rodz trucks might work as well.
I could also go for an exotic option like direct drives, or maybe Artem’s 3DS drivetrain on 5" Hoyt tires. Although that will likely have the same clearance issues my current setup has. I’d also like to use bigger motors, because I’m pushing my current ones to their limit.
Any and all recommendations welcome!
P.S. Also the LED strip fell off in most places while the board was sitting at home. Need to figure out how to mount it better, because I need that sexy underglow.
@Savage1 Is that the furthest you can angle the motor mounts on a Switchblade, or can they go even higher? Ideally I’d rather not hit a curb ever again
Yeah I have like 1mm of leeway for belt tensioning if I do this. I think I’ll just decommission this build for a month and get your drivetrain. (So now I need the whole thing, not just a front truck )
You know what’s crazy? My gear drive ratio was 14:36, so to get an equivalent top speed with a 48T pulley I need a 18.6T motor pulley So if I go 18T my top speed will take a small hit. And I’m already at 190kv motors. Maybe I’ll have to switch to high voltage in the future
(Or just go 16:40 for some extra ground clearance.)
In my opinion as long as the builder is absolutely sure they are otherwise in good condition, yes. The arc marks can be removed, if not deep, with a Scotch Brite Heavy Duty scrubber pad.
So this board is going to receive a belt-drive over the winter. I think I might swap from Surf Rodz to Luna trucks as well for some extra width + precision bushing seats. (Or Savage trucks, but I’m currently using them on another build) Question is do I run small motors, or extend the wheelbase so that I can have the motors clear the end of the deck and put some big Radium Reacher motors on.
I know I’ve always argued for increasing gear ratio in the past for optimal motor efficiency, but… If I were to put Radium motors on this build, which would make my Stormcore ESC the bottleneck rather than the motors, how dumb of an idea would it be to go with a very low gear ratio (say 36T : 18T) and a low-kv motor to make up for the torque?
Pros:
Better belt clearance
Better free-roll
Better tooth engagement
Quieter board because the motor does not spin as loud
Cons:
More stress on belts when accelerating and braking
Thoughts? Alternatively I could just get a MakerX D60 and get more out of the motors that way…
I’ve ran 125kv motors on 2.6 and 150mm tires and it felt really good. There was plenty of torque and good speed. I also didn’t have to run a lot of motor amps 70 was plenty for low end torque
)
So if I go 18T my top speed will take a small hit. And I’m already at 190kv motors. Maybe I’ll have to switch to high voltage in the future 
