Time for an update, boys and girls.
So this foam didn’t end up working out. It started tearing off the exposed tips (where I intended to grip-tape, but didn’t have a good way of actually doing it) really quickly, and then the foam under the grip tape started disintegrating soon after that as well.
Not to mention that the foam’s original intent was to act as a riser/wire tunnel for my phase wires, and that was just never going to work. Put a 250lb monkey (me) on top of that foam and it compresses down to nothing, leaving said monkey standing directly on top of the wires.
So it’s gotta go!
These wires actually held up really well under the grip tape. No discernable wear at all, despite me standing pretty much on top of them for 500 miles of riding.
Dirty dirty! I didnt realize so much shit would get caught under here! Those dimples in the foam also tell me that my mounting bolts were probably stressing the plastic box more than they should have been. I’ll try to fix that when I re-mount it.
I was having lots of trouble getting the foam off, even with iso and a razor, so I ordered an eraser wheel that made short work of it.
The eraser wheel kinda did a number on the deck finish (I pressed too hard) but it’s all getting covered over again anyway.
I am not super thrilled with the bodge-job I did on the phase wires. My original goal was to use MR69 connectors panel mounted into the box, but that project is on permanent hiatus pending me learning how to actually design a PCB. So instead I just drilled some holes to slide bullets through, which looked like shit but worked.
The main problem with that strategy is that it was entirely un-serviceable, because my motor phase wires were trapped under the grip tape.
I’ll be re-doing all that with panel mounted MR60s and GX12-6 connectors (for now). Im going to do a panel on the box that the under-the-grip wires will attach to, and then another panel at the end of the deck for each motor to attach to. That way the wires under the grip can be disconnected from the box and the motors independently, so both can be removed and swapped out as needed.
Instead of foam, for this re-build I will be using ⅛" solid rubber, which I hope will hold up much better. I also wont be covering the tips, because there was no point to that.
Also, before you say it @DerelictRobot, I agree that disassembling my only DIY board one week before CarvePDX was a bad idea 