Oof that would be a nightmare!
Darn thing is saying 66km/h (41mph) on the bench. No clue what it will do loaded but considering the size of the pennyboard I’ll have to do a bit of limiting and tune things down VESC side. My intention still is limiting it to 25km/h and keep it “street legal” here in Finland.
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That’s a fancy UI, what is it?
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Maybe it’s that mythical esc monitor app that we dreamed about last year and never came out lol
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Damn she’s a dense one, impressive
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Also flashed a tiny NRF52 Bluetooth module and wired it up for testing while I wait for my custom Bluetooth PCBs. I know, it’s an eyesore.
The darn thing is smaller than an XT60 connector, fits inside the VESCs heatshrink so it’s not rattling among other electronics and costs like 5€. I say “hell naw” to overpriced 30€ Bluetooth modules and assemble my own.
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How would one go about assembling something similar too this module. Also, I’m jealous of the build
Well, since Benjamin Vedder updated the VESC Tool to work as a Blackmagic SWD programmer a few months ago, it can now be used to flash other VESCs and NRF51/NRF52 modules with custom firmware.
There are larger modules on the market that come with bootloaders and clearly labeled header pins on PCBs that are aimed at DIY community. However, you can save some space by getting a blank SOC and clearing the write protection on it with a NRF devkit or J-Link (recommended if you’re on a budget and not serious about developing your own code) and then following Benjamins guide. He has also released the NRF firmware source on GitHub and I’m currently fiddling with it as we speak.
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Deck and enclosure painted!
Just need to pick up my M4 screws and charge port fuse and I’m pretty much done.
3D printed a stencil and kept it in place with a dab of superglue for the duration of painting, but regardless of my efforts one of the letters (V) suffered a slight leakage. Hoping the clear griptape will somewhat hide my errors.
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This is a cool build with lots of awesome custom shit.
Cant wait to see it finished
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What’s the finished weight?
5.2kg
10char
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Okay, sweet. You’ve inspired me to make a small penny board and I’m trying to make it a little lighter (under 10lbs total), since it’s a single motor I thing that’s reasonable
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Just did a 20km maiden voyage and drained the battery.
You can imagine my shock when I’ve been riding an Evo with penumatics and then hopped on to this tiny thing. Had to get used to the fact that there is nowhere to place your feet and no longer does it feel as smooth as those mushy pneumatics - it’s quite hard on your feet and curbs are my worst enemy. 
Balancing on this tiny thing is quite hard and 25km/h is the absolute max I’d be willing to do on this thing.
You’ll definitely be fine with a single motor, especially for a deck this size.
Love the manoeuvrability of the tiny 22" deck with a kicktail though - can really do tight turns and loosened up the trucks quite a bit. It’s perfect for the task I built it; to be used in populated areas at slow speeds and carried around.
My telemetry is reading wrong data right now and I’m suspecting it’s because I’ve got wrong motor pole counts setup.
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As promised:
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Well, I forgot for a moment that I wasn’t riding pneumatics and slammed a wee-bit high curb that I couldn’t handle with this tiny board. Caused me to lean my weight back on the kicktail and then proceed to slam the rised front end onto ground, causing the impact force to split my enclosure. Luckily my decks innards didn’t spill out like a gutted animal and managed to ride home. So far had 50km on it!
Back to the drawing board.
New plan is to use generic 5cm M4 Brass standoffs that go through the 3D printed enclosure (sides only, no bottom) and the bottom side will be a cut to shape 1mm thick aluminium sheet that screws into the standoffs. This way there is no strain on the ABS and no risk of anything splitting.
On the positive side: I get to design and hand craft another enclosure!
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Well it was beautiful while it lasted. On my longboard both of my enclosures are 3D printed, the front one has split twice on the same line and the back one a single time. I have just gorilla glued them back together and they hold fine lol
The front one I reinforced the inside with fiber tape after it split the first time and I think that helped
Maybe lining the inside of the 3D printed enclosure with carbonfiber would provide it some needed extra strength. I love post-processing ABS but the inside is something I couldn’t care less about - just leave it a sloppy mess and only aim to strengthen the print.
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