I’m working on my own belted design. Is this a fool’s errand? I want something carvey and fast and capable of surfing the freshies. Why hasn’t anyone been able to crack this nut by now?
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If you search the forum abit Im sure you’ll find what you seek.
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I have. I’ve searched the whole internet. There’s a two tracked Aussie board that isn’t snow oriented.
Another user here has a paddle wheel assembly that attaches to the back of a snowboard. Looks cool, but I’m doubtful I could carve uphill with it in 2’ of fresh pow. For that I suspect tracks are required.
I’m genuinely hoping to hear some of the obstacles that stand in the way, as I’m about to start prototyping.
Maybe I should start with a more specific question. Does anyone know if running say a 90” track around 4 rollers (like a thin tank track) is going to inherently use a lot more battery?
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I have to imagine that would be quite the battery hog, probably maxing out your motor amp draw - as would powder in general. I suppose it would matter if you’re able to stay on top of the snow for the most part or not.
Where are you thinking the tracks might go? Maybe in the middle of the board? Or maybe on the sides of it?
The paddle approach is pretty cool because they were able to use gearing to make it more efficient. I think it will be very powerful but we haven’t seen real videos of it doing what you are asking of it. Off the top of my head it seems like it should though
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Thank you for the conversion. I’m using a fat tire bike tire to prototype for now.
Thought is: one track wrapped longways around the battery/esc enclosure, narrower on both edges than in the center so it turns when leaning to either edge.
ie. <[ ]> from the front or back.
About 45” long overall. With mounting brackets attached to the side of the enclosure/track unit and allowing a snowboard to be attached above while creating a tunnel for the top of the track.
Possibly adding a blade to both long edges of the track to ensure you can turn on ice or packed snow.
I suspect I’ll need a heater in the enclosure to protect the batteries from cold temps.
I’m sure there’s going to be many other problems to solve, that I’ll find as I go, but that’s the basic concept I’m going to prototype first.
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Wait the whole snow board will sit on top of the unit? How thick do you imagine this unit to be?
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If you have a track under your board, that magic feeling of carving and surfing freshies will be significantly altered. (most likely annihilated)
At least in the design proposed by @powertraverse you retain most of the snowboard feeling. The paddle wheel could be just coasting, and apart from weight and a bit of extra drag, it’s still snowboarding.
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I think the only thing I haven’t seen suggested is strapping a pair of scale model plane jet turbines to the board. some of them can put out some thrust.
The Hacksmith people did this
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I do NOT spend enough time on YouTube.
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This guy has essentially solved that problem. He spent 3 years figuring it out. Basically improve on this and that is it.
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see update above, the first link died
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I’m pretty much convinced now that jet engines are the only real solution. And they can burn biodiesel you can make in your kitchen from leftover salads and lasagne.
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Anytime you find yourself using a huge jet engine on a project, it means you’ve missed the opportunity to use two huge jet engines on the project.
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Your terminology has disappointed me today 
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yeah I was thinking of making a DIY roller chain track using the methods researched here
Tracked PEV. Tank tracks, treads. Anything in the PEV spirit with a shitload of traction, so many many wheels may count.
That would have either rounded or square tread pieces attached depending on the use case. For a single track board that could self balance diy ow style a rounded track profile would be required. I have been pondering the effect that more than one contact point on the ground will have on low-speed turning needed for off-road riding. To fix this I figured two tracks would be side by side and you have a virtual pivot with springs or bushings to give lean to steer input at 0 speed (segway style)
long story short this thing I want to build could also make it ok on snow I think although more tailored to gnarly hill climbing.
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If you could get around the issue of burning your feet then mounting the jet thruster in the middle of the board with a turret and motor keeping it pointed with your direction of travel would be balanced for straight lines, full slides and park tricks.
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back to tracks.
nobody brought up the open source snowcat tracks yet?
They could be just strong enough for this application being nylon and kinda thick. US based replacements being nearly the best thing about it. Price overall also.
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Do you have a link?
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