The Blue One
12S 5.5Ah LiFePO4 43.8V | 170kv Miami Electric Boards (sealed Maytech) 6374 170Kv @torqueboards 6380 | Caliber2 trucks - 50° | @Boardnamics 184mm hanger | 30.43" Powell-Peralta Bones Brigade Mike McGill Skull & Snake Series 10 Reissue | FOCBOX 1.6 | 15/40 275-5M-15mm belt | 107mm SuperFly wheels (rear) & 107mm Electric Flywheels (front) @torqueboards TB110 wheels | enertion clone mount | Metroboard 2W riser lights | @RipTideSports tunnel risers | @3DServisas wheel pulley
My eighth esk8 and fifth DIY-esk8 has been born. This is a commuter board for moving around town, going to work, grocery shopping, and is friendly to trains and shopping carts and hauling cargo. It’s lightweight and has a handle on the nose. It has lights so I can be seen.
edit December 2019: Added some TB110: Arctic Blue wheels
edit November 2019: Some current photos with a BN184 hanger on the front. Right after a brief ride in light rain, which it has no problems with. It’s a rain-or-shine commuter, ice-cold or sweltering hot.
right after the last tuneup, before it got dirty
edit September 2019: looks like this now with TB110 wheels and TB 6380 motor
original post resumes
It has a @BuildKitBoards bluetooth and a @3DServisas FOCBOX case inside an old Metroboard enclosure.
You can see how much sealant I put on the controller for water resistance, everywhere except the USB port has meticulously been excluded. The FETs got a single coat as thin as possible on the top surface and everywhere else is very thick. It’s basically able to be submerged in water… the unused headers are coated as well and essentially permanently ruined. It can be soldered through though if needed. It’s MG Chemicals #419D conformal coating very meticulously and carefully applied in many coats.
The battery is salvaged from an old esk8 that was ridden once for 5 miles and sold. It’s a 12S LiFePO4. I worked on it a little bit, but mostly it’s as-is
That’s MG Chemicals #4223
I opted for an XT90S loopkey since it’s still the most reliable way, and used JB Weld 8265-S to secure it.
edit: this failed and the new procedure I use involves no fishpaper, and the male part MUST not be flush and needs to stick out like 5mm from the enclosure to give leverage to the epoxy so it won’t break.
It was nice and flat and smooth and beautiful, then I drilled out the epoxy and put more epoxy in it, to have pillars of strength that penetrate the fishpaper I used as a mold. It’s a shame because it looked much better before, but this is stronger.
The charge port is a GX16-3 so I don’t mix it up with my 42.0V chargers, and it has a 58V 7.5A fuse on it
The first version didn’t have a FOCBOX, it had a VESC4.12 but I accidentally ripped the USB port off it so I swapped it for a FOCBOX I had laying around
The loopkey works great
It doesn’t have a battery gauge on the board, because that’s one more place water can get in, and one more thing that can fail. I use these things that I can carry in my pocket:
It’s got a Mini Remote
Has some lights, the so-other-folks-can-see-me kind of lights, not ones that light up the entire roadway so-I-can-see kind. Yes, it has a total of 30mm of riser (1.18 inches). There is no wheelbite.
Everything is waterproofed as best as possible. When it breaks due to water and brine, I will find what broke and fix it so it doesn’t happen again. edit 2019 Nov: it didn’t break so far, and has been submerged in water once and rode in the rain/snow many times
It’s likely going to be the motor sensor board first. Which is okay, because I want to find a motor with a lower kv anyway. edit 2019 Nov: 170Kv is perfect, and the @torqueboards 6380 motor is amazing, to say the least
Top speed seems to be about 26.5mph (42.6km/h) running in BLDC mode.
Cost: around $1210-ish USD
Deck: $125
Battery: $150
Motor: $120
Enclosure: $25
ESC: $145
Heatsink: $60
Wire, etc: $15
Wheels: $170
Pulley: $40
Belt: $7
Bearings: $20
Trucks: $40
Lights: $50
Connectors, etc: $25
Voltage gauge parts: $15
Supplies: $35
Tailbone: $10
Motor mount: $38
Handle: $5
Foam(4 kinds): $30
Conformal Coating: $20
Grip Tape: $10
Hardware: $10
Tunnel Risers: $40