I see you put fishpaper rings on the cells to prevent both sides from shorting with one another, but that still looks pretty sketch to me. Sometimes the fishpaper rings fall off. I would highly suggest you try to heatshrink both sides separately, or try to put some non-conductive barrier in the middle.
Love the detailed progress report! 
This may be in the thread somewhere so sorry if I’m asking twice but why did you go with the MakerX Retro rather than one of their offerings with hardware v6?
This is a great point. I also have a full layer of fishpaper on the inside of each set, so currently two layers of fishpaper separate the two sides. However, I do have some yellow hardboard stuff that I intend to put between the two, the full length.
Originally I wanted to use heatshrink but I got the wrong size and I don’t wanna wait 3 weeks to finish this now.
1: Price, 2: Size, 3: I’ve heard the SV6 has had some weird issues. Mostly those reasons
It feels like I say this every day but I’m seriously getting so close to finishing.
First things first, I took @rusins suggestion and put non-conductive material between all of the series group joints in the middle. I don’t think anything would happen, but it’s preventative and I’d rather not have to open this pack any time soon.
I finished up all of the miscellaneous soldering and wiring today as well, plugged in my BMS, got my app configured, etc.
Made this nice little split for the charge port positive. I know 12AWG is way excessive for the 10a the charge port will ever see, but it’s what I had. I’ll put a fuse into this line before I close it up.
Stuck an XT-90 on the pack main negative and ran the positive lead to the output of the loop key
I like having heatshrink, but sometimes the wires are too short and it will shrink before you can finish soldering, and in those cases, the XT-90 wire covers just kinda feel right. Had to switch the XT-60 on the MakerX to XT-90
Got the other wire soldered up to the receiving end of the loop key port. I soldered both of these at 90 degrees since I decided to go with the drop-through-hole-mounted XT-90S.
Did a quick test power on with all of the wires finished up and it worked! No real surprise but it’s always reassuring to see.
Went on a little CAD journey to make the drop through mount. I originally printed @mmaners’s design but it was gonna be too big, so V1 I printed to fit-check, almost nailed dimensions first try but not quite.
V2 and V3 are basically the same except V3 has the final dimensions (increased hole size like 0.5mm) to fit the connector and hole better.
V3 with a test fit into the hole on the board
I have to say, this does look pretty clean. Next, since it fit alright, it was time to glue it up. I noticed that the connector did get a little bit deformed from the kingpin bolt, but it only got deformed at the bottom so not really a big deal. I used CA glue to affix the connector into the 3D printed part, and then a combination of CA glue and “The Last Glue” to affix the combination into the hole on the board.
After that, I covered the connections with silicon to prevent water and gunk from getting in.
I do kind of wish I had made the wires black instead of red, but it’s not that awful because most of it will be covered. If it ends up bothering me that much I’ll sharpie them or something.
This should be pretty close to the final wire layout, and I’m happy everything fits pretty well.
The enclosure is lifted quite a bit here because of the MR-60s and phase wire placement. I think this will sort out once I get the padding on and start making the mounting holes. Not really too worried about it
Did a re-setup on the MakerX GoFoc Retro with the 12S battery and switched the motors over to BLDC. Not sure if I want to run FOC or BLDC yet… Anyway, I took @YUTW123 advice from before and updated the bootloaders, and I was able to update to FW5.1 on both sides. Had to do it individually but motor detection worked across CAN.
I have a bit of blue and black nylon tubing that I’ll probably put the phase wires into to keep them tidy. Other than that, I have to drill and set all of the inserts and then skin the enclosure, and I’ll be pretty much done! Can’t wait to hop on this
Ran into a bit of a temporary roadblock tonight, but I’ll report progress anyway.
First thing I did tonight was the enclosure skin with the vinyl that I bought - it went pretty well but maybe not as well as I would have hoped. The result is a subtle touch of carbon fiber that you’ve gotta really look at to understand.
I searched for a little while to find an SR-71 graphic, and found a top down silhouette, then threw it into Photoshop on a canvas about the size of my enclosure, then printed it out on two sheets of paper and cut it out.
This photo is the printout taped onto the back of the vinyl, which is taped to a board so I could cut it out with my exacto.
After about 10 minutes of meticulous cutting, I got the design cut out.
In order to adhere properly, I cleaned all my work hands fingerprints off with some alcohol
After installing, I had my first real look at my work. The install was actually quite easy, but it took a little while to get it straight.
I still have a ton of vinyl left, and I felt like it could use a little more, so I added a straight strip at the top and I quite like it. This was much more difficult to put on because I had to go around the corners at the top. This was my first time skinning anything so I was obviously a bit inexperienced and didn’t have an application squigee.
There’s still some ripples in the front one but I did my best to get them out. I think it looks pretty awesome
I wonder if maybe a clearcoat of some protective polyurethane or something would help protect the vinyl from being damaged - might consider adding that in the future.
Next thing was installing the threaded inserts, again something I haven’t bothered doing up until this point. Screws through the deck aren’t really an eyesore to me so I’ve just always done that - they can’t fall out or anything either.
I read through most of the threaded inserts thread, and because I didn’t want to mess up my deck, I did a test one. It seems like they’re gonna be decently hard to install but not too bad. I understand now why people were saying the brass ones strip occasionally, I tried installing this one with a big flathead and it kinda skipped off and broke.
In order to prepare for the inserts anyway, I drilled all of the holes through the enclosure and tapped them into the deck so I could then open them up to the 17/64 size required for the inserts. I used a 5/32 bit to do this since I’m using M4 bolts and it’s about the right size for their through-hole installation.
As I was sitting on the ground reading the threaded inserts thread, I found @longhairedboy’s video on installing a threaded insert on instagram with a washer and a regular screw, which is a much better way than using a big flathead. I’ll be using that method to install them tomorrow, however, I also read in that thread that it’s a good idea to use epoxy on the threads to make sure they don’t come loose.
@b264 recommended JBWeld 8265-s original formula so I’m gonna pick up some of that from Home Depot tomorrow along with some M4 setscrews for my motor pulleys if I can find them. If anyone has any other recommendations on threaded insert installation, throw them my way, I’m all ears.
One final shot of the board as it is right now, all of the threaded insert holes are drilled out to 17/64 and ready for installation.
the LHB method in that video is the way.
The slot in the insert should be downwards into the deck, because it helps cut threads into the timber. With a flathead in the slot like your test would be difficult.
I thought on these that it was a slot for the tool lol
So I was putting it in upside down? I guess that could have been why it was so hard
I think the slot Is supposed to help it cut threads when it is being installed. Shouldn’t be that hard. If you do it with a power drill it’s super easy.
Thx for that, the two nuts is a good idea
Yes it locks it in place and I can see when I get it flush.
Edit : I used no epoxy or glue they are in good.
Short post for tonight because the build is about to wrap up! On the way home from work today, I picked up some setscrews (thx @Boardnamics for the other option) and JBweld from Home Depot.
Also got some R clips (they’re usually called P clips, idk why these are R clips) from Amazon Vine, hopefully I can manage the phase wires and stuff at the back a little better with these.
The @longhairedboy method worked perfectly for installing the threaded inserts and after I mixed my epoxy up, it only took about 10 minutes to put them all in. @rosco
Since I’m getting so close to the end, I also went ahead and put loctite on all of the drivetrain screws since I knew I had to let my jbweld and silicon (see later) dry overnight anyway.
I went ahead and drilled the hole for the charge port as well and soldered some wires onto it along with the fuse on the negative wire (doesn’t really matter negative or positive) thanks @b264 for the 10A fuse
Got some silicon on the charge port to keep the nut on tight and keep any moisture out and put the cap on it.
I think the charge port looks pretty good, I like that it’s the only cutout in the enclosure as well.
All that’s really left is to solder the charge port into the two leads in the base, pad the battery with neoprene, and run the neoprene seal around the outside of the enclosure. As I do that, I’ll have to figure out the wire routing in the back, but I think the seal will help with that.
Don’t even want to know how fast that grows. Probably like six seconds.
This turned into a great guide on how to wrap up a build especially on a hummie or similar deck!
I got the m4 zinc inserts to try out but the brass ones seem to be slightly higher quality and the price reflects such. I think I will at least buy the brass ones to check out. Or steel if they are finally in stock.
Lol I just got accepted to Amazon Vine a week or so ago
Thanks! I’ve just wanted to sho yall how I finished it off, there’s so many more little steps to things than people usually see haha
The brass inserts went in just fine with the drill and none of them pulled up the wood, I drilled the hole size the inserts requested as well. Put them in the way rosco said with the slot on the bottom and it was pretty easy
It sure is going to be cool to ride this BlueBIRD! 
My buddys build is damn similar to this one, so I’ll be showing him this as a preview.
Excited to see range numbers and all that.
Yeah bro me tooooo! @ahrav penguin man is sending me the Artic Blues that are meant to go on this build. The black ones were a placeholder.
I am considering glass frit but I kinda just want to ride this soon so I’ll probably go with some griptape for now. Glass frit seems like a more expensive and time consuming option. Obviously the build deserves it but idk if I wanna go there yet
Sent 
griptape seems to work for a lot of people hahaha
Mostly removable as well, wonder how to get the adhesive off tho 
Ah smooth top would help I see.
Lol true especially on the hummie, should come off without leaving too much adhesive due to the smooth top.
