The Purge | eBoosted Sportster ❤️ | XTLA | Stormcore | TB 6380 | TB 110 | SR RKP | P42A |

The Goods:

Charger:

Skip to ‘Parts reasoning’ for my own logic behind choosing this.

Total cost of materials: Please don’t click, you don’t want to know…

Materials + Equipment cost - Google Sheet

Inspiration:

@Bwah’s Elite Sportster - Unity | TKP | 12S4P P42A | eboosted | 110s

That booty look thicc.

Battery building supplies list: Hope everyone starts doing this :wink:

Battery Spot Welder: (You can see by now I love dot points :heart_eyes:)

XTLA Mounts arrived: 2020-09-18T14:00:00Z

Story time:

I’ve been scarred by my relationship with esk8ing.

My first build:

Three years ago I built an esk8 comprised entirely out of parts from Taobao, the place where the shelf life of its components are almost as long as the shits I’ve taken after eating copious amounts of Moroccan lamb curry. The build was documented on the now-defunct builders forum, thus I have @SeanHacker and @longhairedboy to thank for opening my eyes to the friendly, hospitable and loving community that this forum is! (Pls can we all get along I love you both lets just all have a few frothies and fuck :heart:).

In reality, the final build did last slightly longer than my mangled digestive tract, but in actuality its short lifespan was due solely to the BMW wanker that ran over my board… The only real damage was a crushed PP pack, but the blow to my motivation was enough for me to let it sit on the shelf like some ugly ass childhood teddy bear that deep down still held some emotional value.

I posted it to the battery builders thread just for shits, everyone seemed quite content to roast me and my use of duct tape but failed to comment on the banana surreptitiously held in place for later consumption. I also intentionally just threw random shit on top and around it to make the photo and the build look as fucked as possible. I think it worked lol.

The fuck up:

Which brings us nicely to the present. Three years on I haven’t since eaten lamb curry, but my desire for that glorious euphoria that is esk8ing has never left me. Like a shot up coke addict that’s long since ran out I rabidly searched for the quickest fix I could find. I caved… I bought an Exway X1 from my local dealer… Well let me tell ya, turned out the bloody thing was DOA and after a few weeks of back and forth fuckery the dealer rings up and explains that the only option is a refund. Well Fuck.

Redemption:

Hence this thread, fuck buying a house and fuck investing in bitcoin, imma build the sickest rig and I will be so damn happy in 12 months time when it’s finally finished. (I reckon a vaccine for the Rona comes out before my 110’s actually arrive in Australia though…)

Choice of Parts:

Deck:

Currently I have no damn clue what type of esk8 I want long term. On the one hand I want something soft and carvy, but at the same time I want the option to be as stable as possible above 50 km/h. I already own a Loaded Vanguard and was planning on using that, but as far as I know, only 2 piece enclosures exist off the shelf, that would limit me to (only) 12s4p 30q’s, meh. That’s when I saw @bwahl602’s thread and an eboosted Sportster seemed like an absolute dream! This picture also got me quite hard… seriously it’s so fucking gorgeous! (hope @bwah doesn’t mind the repost, will remove if requested)

In my previous Taobao build, I comfortably rode 50 km/h the majority of the time on paris clones and a snapped plywood deck and I’ve always yearned for more speed, so the RKP’s seemed like a good choice.

Some of you may remember the user whitepony from the previous forum. His most iconic build involved a single drive build on a DIY bamboo flexy deck. His building prowess and carving videos totally mesmerised me at the time and I’ve always wanted to build something that would serve the function of beautiful flexy carving whilst remaining speedy. This deck I envision will serve that function and down the road I may yearn for more stability, at which point I’ll transfer everything over to the eBoosted Switchblade.

Mounts + Pulleys:

I’m not sure whether I want urethane or Pneumie’s long term, which unfortunately rules out the prospect of gear drives. Initially, I was planning on going with 3DS’ Urethane Nano gears but that would mean I’d need an entirely different setup if I ever wanted the option to switch to pneumatics down the road.

Regarding mounts and pulleys if anyone has preferable suggestions on what they believe is the best option I would love to hear them! Currently I’m looking at @xlta mounts and @torqueboards Kegel pulleys. @Psychotiller also has SR RKP mounts but I can’t seem to find if they are available right now. The TB Kegel pulleys look fine although preferably I would find something that doesn’t require bolts and two-side plates to secure. Personally this design simply isn’t seamless and also looks less polished.

2020-08-31T14:00:00Z

1/09/2020:

Went through @XTLA’s thread and later that day caved and bought a set of his latest extended design motor mounts. They cost a pretty penny (comparatively) but look ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS and provide the most flexibility in mounting configurations. Faaak yeah.

Stormcore:

This is a no-brainer in my book. @Blasto, @Deodand and Lacroix working together is the fucking dream team baby! @b264 I’m sorry mate but your obsession with single esc’s and separating every electronic component for ‘redundancy’ doesn’t fit my ‘real-world’ narrative xD The market has spoken and everyone wants integrated systems which are self-contained and work seamlessly out of the box.

Originally I was going to purchase the Maker SV6 because it seemed like great value. But adding an anti-spark and a bluetooth module to that equation actually adds up to more than the price of the Stormcore! Can’t wait to try this baby out!

Admittedly I have two Maytech vesc’s (the ones that cost like 50 bucks…) from my bao build which still work! So in theory I could still use those. By all means crucify me after I say this, but in all honesty in the three weeks that I rode the bao board (40km a day) I never once had a problem with the Maytech vescs at 40A battery each. They worked like a dream and never got hot even geared high, I guess being on 10s and BLDC helped lol. But with such positive first experiences I’m imagining the Stormcore at 12s to be a completely different beast! (And it better be because bloody hell it costs over 500 far dinkum dollarydoos to get it down here).

Battery - Molicel P42A:

Standard affair here gents. Just stoked to have over 720 whr in a single stack flexy enclosure! Alan you crazy man I love you <3 Still undecided whether or not I make this myself.

2020-09-16T14:00:00Z

17/09/2020

Decided to go the DIY route and spot weld my own 12s4p flexy pack. I will document every step of the process here for clarity and feedback! I’ve purchased 52 Molicel P42A’s from Vapcell @ 4.70usd/cell. They’re an authorised Molicel distributor and are apparently “approved by Mooch and HJK”.

They don’t list the Molicel or its price on their website so email them for a quote and an invoice if interested, so far they have been very pleasant to deal with. Eva from Vapcell usually responds within 1 hour or max 24 hours and customer service seems good so far. Will update when batteries start shipping and how long they take to get here.

Charger:

Often not covered in many build threads but can add up to a significant portion of the cost. In my mind the RD6012 provides the most versatile solution. Charges with CC/CV and can monitor cell charge rate and overall voltage over wifi. There is a greater risk of cell damage and explosion due to user error if the charging parameters aren’t exactly set correctly, (banggood even mentions this). However that being said a VPSU allows finer control over charge voltage and current and can ultimately lead to longer cell life if more conservative voltages are selected.

Feedback:

Would love any and all input you have! By all means even if you comment just to tell me you hate my guts that’s fine, all are welcome :upside_down_face: I’ll apologise now for this whole thread being unnecessarily wordy :see_no_evil: Brevity has never been my strong suite, combined with a tendency to over-exaggerate this hardly bodes well for a potential reader 💁

Currently ordering everything along with the therapy sessions with my psychiatrist to work through the sudden drop in savings :shushing_face:

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I think you might get wheelbite with RKP trucks and 110mm wheels on the sportster. Hmm, I actually have all of those parts at home, I could test it for you if you want. Also have a 40" switchblade, so I could test that too :laughing:

Good part selection though, sometimes following tried and tested formulas is definitely worth it :+1:

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There are ways my friend…

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Thanks mate, that would be amazing! I did forsee that as a potential issue but remained optimistic based on the cutouts of the sportster. I can always just go with smaller wheels or sand wheel wells into the deck. Or potentially go with Gbomb brackets, that would look sick :heart_eyes:

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No offense, but that looks like a very slight turn and you’re not even running the trucks in drop through! :laughing:

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It’s actually back online with a new look as-of today.

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I mean it’s not ideal…I’ll probably make something like a G-Bomb bracket for it down the line but right now I don’t have anywhere near enough time

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Yep saw that. Even though I’ll never be active there I’m still glad that it’s running, might archive some threads that I’ve really wanted to read over again before they’re lost.

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Peculiar way to express your feelings @will_manners :rofl:, with you lexic I’m sure I could have got laid more when I was younger

When I lean with all my weight my bergmeisters do not touch the deck on dropthrough.

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So, 50 degree Surf Rodz RKP with a 200mm hanger, and shortest possible shoulder bolts. TB 110mm wheels.

Bustin Sportster:

No wheel bite at all! Trucks don’t go further! This was a big shock to me, because right now my brother has been pushing the sportster with 90mm wheels, and he does get some wheel-bite on hard turns with caliber trucks. Check it out:

I am running the Surf Rodz truck with positive rake, but even then, the hanger is clearly further away from the deck. Doing a side-by-side comparison, it appears that surf rodz with positive rake are about 2cm further away than a caliber hanger would be. Wow! :smiley:

Then, for my own interest, I tested with a Switchblade:

Getting some wheel-bite before I can max out my turn on this one. The wheel goes perfectly into the wheel-well, so to clear the deck you’d need to extend your hanger / axle by like 6cm on each side, which seems quite unrealistic.

I think that with 45 degree trucks this might be a perfect set-up, and the board definitely looks hot af with the wheel well flairs so close to the wheels with this setup. But for practicalities sake, I think you’d be better off mounting the truck one set of holes further to completely eliminate wheel-bite.

Still trying to wrap my head around how Bergmeisters work with this deck and trucks. Still don’t have longer axles to test unfortunately :confused:

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Haha thank you :wink: In reality I rarely resort to relying on such colourful language to describe similar stories, but if it makes someone laugh than its served its purpose I guess :blush:

This has been invaluable information! That really puts any fitment issue to rest! Can’t wait to assemble the deck first for a bit of pushing and carving :heart_eyes:

Still to do:

  • Determine what mounts to use with the correct pulleys.
  • Select what AT setup would match seamlessly with the chosen motor mounts.
  • Find the best supplier for Molicell’s, my go to NKON no longer ships to Australia, period :sob:
  • Purchase the best spot welder based on price to performance and reliability. The Boss spot welder seems good value but reliability appears compromised? The Kweld seems to fix those issues but costs a but tonne relative to the Boss welder and both seem to be oos.

Additional ideas on the aforementioned tasks would be rad :heart:

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If you plan to build at least 2-3 batteries, it’s worth purchasing a quality spot welder like the kweld. But if this build will be your last for a good while, then just paying a known battery builder would be the better option. I know that @glyphiks is in Australia and makes good stuff.

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Might not find him here.
Try https://forum.freesk8.org/u/glyphiks/summary
or
glyphiks@gmail.com
:ok_hand:

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That’s the big question, I’m not sure yet. Currently I’m leaning towards building more in the future so will look more into the Kweld.

I’ll get in contact with @glyphiks on FreeSk8 and see what he reckons. It’s a real fucking shame what’s happened with so many upstanding, contributing members being more or less shafted in the ass over some dropkick bullshit behavior. But whatever, I’m derailing my own thread, will edit this out perhaps…

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Cool, cheers Will.

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Just purchased XTLA’s mounts for SR RKP’s, faaaaaak yeah they look sicc.

Have updated and re-arranged the original post to prioritise the build specs over my constant rambling… I’ve always appreciated brevity and build porn and I’m sure the majority here feel the same :heart:

Have also chosen @Boardnamics Kegel pulleys, will most likely purchase those today.

BMS

This is the one thing that’s up in the air… there seems to be no perfect option (there never will be I guess). The LLT smart BMS is my perfect combination of features and cost but it’s gigantic, will most likely purchase anyway in the hopes of squeezing it in. The best option seems to be the Neptune 15 but that costs a fuckton… I really just want a charge only small BMS to remotely check individual cells for peace of mind.

@Andy87 (iirc) consistently advocates for external balance chargers but a sufficiently powerful one costs significantly more than a Neptune 15 and a 6012 DC power supply put together, and simply isn’t anywhere near as clean. @Whitepony (if anyone remembers him from builders and endless sphere) infamously never used a BMS nor balance wires to consistently check cells. Soooo, the simplest outcome hopefully is that I’ll be able to squeeze in that chonk of a thing from LLT.

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I wouldn’t put it down to the costs.
I mean, who is building only one pack/board anyway :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
Just getting through the math, 4 packs a 40$ for a LLT plus 80$ for a charger will top you out at 240$ (minimum). For that money you get a good balance charger which can change with different voltages and different currents.
Even if you build only one pack you can still build your own „balance“ charger just using a power supply and wire the smart bms externally.
Same cost and you can use it on different boards later if needed, plus no bt modul which constantly draw current.

It all just comes down to the fact, do I want to plug in a balance plug and a charge plug or is that too much for me aaand, do I like that there is a balance port looking out of the enclosure.

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BMS is tough. The D140 is around 7mm max but the bolt and nuts can be 10mm total thickness. The LLT 20 amp is 10mm thick across size, which is also bigger

I really like having the ability to monitor the cells with the LLT and I committed to getting it to fit. I also let my perfectionist side takeover and refused to use a gasket over 1/4”. The addition of a heatsink made it impossible to fit the BMS without a 13mm gasket after compression, so I went with a lot of extra work to the deck.
I’m not sure what the thickness on the stormcore is, but the LLT will be a PITA. @eboosted snuck a d140 in his board.

Mounts look great!

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Screen Shot 2020-09-01 at 11.31.37 PM

Screen Shot 2020-09-01 at 11.33.41 PM

The 'naner clearly deserves more attention here :upside_down_face:

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Bro, don’t do that with the pack. Nanner needs much more love in the battery pack

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