It is with great sorrow that I report to you all this latest build of mine, since it is regretfully not fueled by unbridled fucking insanity. Yes, this will be…
…a practical commuter.
It takes half the batteries, the motors, trucks, and wheels from the wreck of the TÜÜB, basically everything that was behind the crumple zone made it out intact.
It’s a fairly standard build but there’s a couple points of interest:
Modular battery - The TÜÜB modules are already a convenient 80Wh, so I’ll be trying to preserve that functionality.
Fast to build - I’ll be trying to get this done before the holiday season so I can travel with it. I’m experimenting with a moldless enclosure technique. Essentially, I’ll build the enclosure out of cardboard first, then vacuum bag fiberglass over both sides and get the cardboard saturated to solidify it.
LegStick™ controller - A stick, on my leg, for controlling it.
Unsolicited Deck Pics
Attempt #3 ( ) at pressing this deck, I had to get a more durable bag, cover the corners with builder’s board, and relax the rear foot pocket from my original plans
Not my best work. The builder’s board wetted out fully like I hoped, making them super strong, but the tight weave fiberglass was a misstep. It doesn’t allow bubbles to escape through it, even under vacuum.
As I write this, I’ve been working for 3 months but now it’s the last weekend I have to build before I need to be ready to travel. I’ll need the rest of the week to shake out the bugs, so the board needs to be running today. Fuck it. Panel mounting everything with epoxy putty.
Reusing this battery sounded like a good idea in my head, but the board really needs a clean-sheet design. The front enclosure is as tight as I can possibly make it, and it’s still overhanging the deck. This is bullshit, I’m ashamed to show this in public.
Thanks! The leg throttle is super chill, actually. The acceleration always comes at the same time you lean into it, so you’re always secure. Become one with the board, namaste
I don’t even know what would count as practical anymore. My board has been very practical for my own use but also could be called a death trap if anyone on here rode it.
I’ve had problems with even wide weave fiber glass trapping bubbles if the epoxy used with it is too thick. Didn’t even realize it until I had done most of the bulk for the enclosure sides since I made it opaque black. I have since made sure to heat the shit out of my thicker epoxy to make sure it fills in all the gaps and doesn’t leave voids just to be safe. The other pieces were structurally sound enough for their use before I filled in the holes so they really only caused an issue when sanding it down to get the shape I wanted.
one day I will have the space to make my idea of a perfect enclosure using a form and save a ton of time compared to building it up in layers or with disposable “forms” aka wooden sticks wrapped in tape and glued in place.
For me it means easy to take on a train, and has enough range for a round trip to work +50%. Low enough speed that i feel comfortable leaving the body armor suit at home and just wearing my rollerblading gear.
Definitely get “laminating” epoxy, or even “infusion” grade. Put the epoxy down before each layer of glass and work it up with a squeegee.
The cardboard form method has been great so far, you should try it
So my build only half counts then. it can be carried onto a bus (no trains to try it on ) but it is a bit of a pain to deal with. Not impossible though
I only buy epoxy resin which is compatible with fiber glass and as far as I know counts as laminating epoxy. The way I have had to build stuff up required me to glue the fiberglass in place before the pour to get it to stay where I wanted it, but that meant if I didn’t heat the epoxy sometimes it couldn’t make its way through all the gaps.
Fully wetting the fiber glass by dipping it into epoxy works better and should avoid that. Probably should have mentioned that originally. I just kept having problems with the fiber glass I’m using floating to the top of the epoxy which is not good if you want the fiberglass in the middle of the epoxy but want it fully covered in one pour.
Also worth mentioning that I didn’t like any of the standard fiber glass sheet options (for my use with altering existing enclosures) so I’m using fiber glass “tape” as my added structure. I’m adding onto or altering existing structures so it is strong enough.
I don’t even have the space for it if I used cardboard. My current apartment lacks a kitchen and also the sink is behind my back when I sit at my desk.
For reference here is a nice photo of my “form” I used to make this existing hole smaller ft the placed fiber glass
I did end up mixing too much epoxy so I ended up adding more fiberglass into it by just shoving it into the epoxy. I used a new epoxy that didn’t have volume markers on the bottle and the cups they came with had the first marker at too large a volume. I did find smaller marked cups so I don’t get stuck wasting epoxy by having to mix too much
The enclosure will start off with an origami box for each segment, a tracing of the underside of the deck, and wooden panels to put on the bottom face of the enclosure because I’m fancy like that.
) at pressing this deck, I had to get a more durable bag, cover the corners with builder’s board, and relax the rear foot pocket from my original plans
) but it is a bit of a pain to deal with. Not impossible though
I did find smaller marked cups so I don’t get stuck wasting epoxy by having to mix too much 
since the tape kept it contained to the enclosure anyway
time to clean up the mess from crunch time
you should have opened with your deck pics