Mellowboards - hub motor

sk8norcal · May 11, 2015

from germany,
will be on Kickstarter.

https://www.facebook.com/mellowboards

https://vimeo.com/127018450

tag mellow board mellowboard

tung256 · May 12, 2015

what are they selling?
the motor only or the whole board?

elkick · May 12, 2015

Seems to be the motor kit incl. ESC, batteries and remote, everything except the deck. Not sure about the trucks though, we'll see...

CSN · May 12, 2015

The snap in battery is great idea especially if getting extras is not so expensive.

The housing not apparently needing to be attached in any way to the deck is awesome.

torqueboards · May 12, 2015

Kickstarter live - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1800147378/mellow-the-electric-drive-that-fits-under-every-sk/video_share?ref=video

Pretty neat! Except €1,399 or $1,572 USD for complete. Just rear adapter €850 or $955.12 USD.

Freshair · May 12, 2015

Good to see more designs coming out! Like the hotswap battery pack

tung256 · May 12, 2015

that's pretty cool! really like the modular design

Hummina Shadeeba · May 12, 2015

that's a pretty hefty price. almost a thousand, maybe more with shipping. It needs a BMW logo.

they changed their design from one with fins on the outside which would really suck air to one which is completely enclosed.

Vanarian · May 13, 2015

Well they hit the sweet spot I'd totally get one driver if I had spare money but e-treks first!

Hummina Shadeeba · May 13, 2015

Vanarian said:
Well they hit the sweet spot I'd totally get one driver if I had spare money but e-treks first!

I didn't see them selling one, maybe they are but I imagine it'd have to have some magic in it to have the torque needed and not otherwise sink into inefficiency and burn up with a decent hill. Magic like high heat N48 magnets in a Hallbach array!

sl33py · May 13, 2015

I like the modular/swappable battery and still relatively water resistant!

Not sure about hub motors - wonder if theirs is also sensored for low speed performance (cogging)? I'm a big guy and would worry about burning up the motor on a hill if it doesn't have gearing to help.

How do you swap wheels? Pedi and similar are glued to the motor. I don't go through them that fast but that looks like a very thin layer of thane on the motor to start...

777arc · May 14, 2015

sl33py said:
that looks like a very thin layer of thane on the motor

Exactly what I was thinking.

beto_pty · May 14, 2015

me 3..
however if the urethane is of a very high hardness it might last a while, although it might affect ride comfort, and lateral grip quite a bit...

LEVer · May 14, 2015

Delivery next year?...hmm, might have a hoverboard by then. :wink:

sheil · Sep 17, 2015

Saw this a while back on Kickstarter or indiegogo - just got an email that they are now taking pre-orders on their website:

http://www.mellowboards-shop.com/?utm_source=Mellow+Newsletter&utm_campaign=c55efa0ad9-Newsletter_6_Pre_Order_Now_09_16_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c77adb660b-c55efa0ad9-84184249

Concept is you buy the drive pack and you can stick it on any board. 2 wheel drive hub motors is €1099 (€1699 retail price) and €2099 4 wheel drive hub motors (€3299 retail price)

That' some seriously premium price!

High efficiency (95%) dual in-wheel motors
Premium quality “Made in Germany”
Top Speed: 40 km/h (25 mph)
Peak System Power: 2300 W
Torque: 3 Nm (1.5 Nm per motor)
Maximum Grade: 20%
Completely encapsulated water and dust proof motors (EU-Norm IP65)
Industrial grade, sealed bearings
Free wheeling when you push

dashimsta · Sep 17, 2015

Great vapor wear. But watching Vapor wear kickstarter after kickstarter raise millions of dollars it might make lots of presales, and then a few million later maybe it'll be a product, maybe it wont work like many of the kickstarters.

torqueboards · Sep 17, 2015

The price is the price of a whole board. Not sure, why they didn't include the deck + trucks.

cmatson · Sep 17, 2015

ya, price is a little much.

I really like the idea of a kit that can bridge the gap between DIY and Prebuilt (something that is basically plug and play), and mellow isn't the answer for these reasons:
Can't use a drop deck, a curved deck like a loaded board, or a drop through...
wheel size is locked in based on hub motor.
so basically, you are completely restricted to a flat deck with not too much flex or you will snap off your little box at the back... So much for "universal"
also, the wheel setup requires that you will need to buy new wheels, because most people probably wouldn't have the exact same sized wheels that mellow is shipping with; and you only get the back truck w/ motors, so nothing in the front (for the main kit)

I think the best kit would be:
rear truck with belt driven motors on abec 11 flywheels with the choice of 76, 83, or 90mm.
dual drive
two separate boxes for electronics/battery (basically like a boosted board's setup)
front truck/ wheels included.

With this setup, some additional work would be required (no soldering though- all connections plug and play): The boxes would need to be bolted to the deck (similar to how the Z-board 2 looks) with one at the front, one at the back: but that is the most you'd have to do- just own a drill, use an included paper template, and drill through the deck. The kit would have bolts with flat heads so they aren't sticking out the stop obviously. The wires for the motors would run along the truck, and down the center of the kingpin (forming a "T" when both wires are ran together from each motor) to make sure they won't get snagged or caught on anything. The battery box would have it's +/- wire working kinda like a tape measure: you could pull it out to extend it to say 1 meter max, or 1 cm meter (just spitting out numbers). Once it was the length you wanted, you would simply plug it into the second box. The kit would need to include some really good adhesive wire tie downs to stick the wire under the deck too.

I think if someone could design that kit (it wouldn't be that for any of the diy eboard guys with the resources) it would sell great to those who want something not cookie cutter, but aren't confident and too lazy to do it themselves. Drop decks, drop through's, and flexible boards would pretty much all work except for the super extremes. I have though about this too much... lol

on a side note, I saw a Boosted rep talking about a kit in development that can attach to any deck about two years ago, but I guess that fell through or got benched.

sk8norcal · Sep 17, 2015

speaking of kits,
I wonder why Fiik stopped offering this,
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XD6BKgrK8ZU/UqDjVvbXZ9I/AAAAAAAAG6g/IoWkILghuvA/s1600/fiik+kit.jpg

btw, Mellowboards raised $309k euros

Vulthor · Sep 17, 2015

cmatson said:
ya, price is a little much.

I really like the idea of a kit that can bridge the gap between DIY and Prebuilt (something that is basically plug and play), and mellow isn't the answer for these reasons:
Can't use a drop deck, a curved deck like a loaded board, or a drop through...
wheel size is locked in based on hub motor.
so basically, you are completely restricted to a flat deck with not too much flex or you will snap off your little box at the back... So much for "universal"
also, the wheel setup requires that you will need to buy new wheels, because most people probably wouldn't have the exact same sized wheels that mellow is shipping with; and you only get the back truck w/ motors, so nothing in the front (for the main kit)

I think the best kit would be:
rear truck with belt driven motors on abec 11 flywheels with the choice of 76, 83, or 90mm.
dual drive
two separate boxes for electronics/battery (basically like a boosted board's setup)
front truck/ wheels included.

With this setup, some additional work would be required (no soldering though- all connections plug and play): The boxes would need to be bolted to the deck (similar to how the Z-board 2 looks) with one at the front, one at the back: but that is the most you'd have to do- just own a drill, use an included paper template, and drill through the deck. The kit would have bolts with flat heads so they aren't sticking out the stop obviously. The wires for the motors would run along the truck, and down the center of the kingpin (forming a "T" when both wires are ran together from each motor) to make sure they won't get snagged or caught on anything. The battery box would have it's +/- wire working kinda like a tape measure: you could pull it out to extend it to say 1 meter max, or 1 cm meter (just spitting out numbers). Once it was the length you wanted, you would simply plug it into the second box. The kit would need to include some really good adhesive wire tie downs to stick the wire under the deck too.

I think if someone could design that kit (it wouldn't be that for any of the diy eboard guys with the resources) it would sell great to those who want something not cookie cutter, but aren't confident and too lazy to do it themselves. Drop decks, drop through's, and flexible boards would pretty much all work except for the super extremes. I have though about this too much... lol

on a side note, I saw a Boosted rep talking about a kit in development that can attach to any deck about two years ago, but I guess that fell through or got benched.

Pretty much like most of your ideas, especially the cable roll system, pretty sure it's doable cheaply with some ski ticket system (don't know how it is called in English). Plus this idea will be amazing on flexy deck.

torqueboards · Sep 18, 2015

The problem is that batteries are still big especially if you want a 12S 7500mah pack.

It has to either go longer and/or thicker/height (higher).

Great ideas though. I like it...

Szogs · Sep 19, 2015

cmatson said:
I really like the idea of a kit that can bridge the gap between DIY and Prebuilt (something that is basically plug and play), and mellow...can't use a drop deck, a curved deck like a loaded board, or a drop through...
wheel size is locked in based on hub motor...

Boing Boing Boing...

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?st...5&id=512048292234277&ref=m_notif&notif_t=like

Looks the prototype can handle a pretty flexy board, so most likely a cambered/rockered as well. Risers could be used as adaptors towards that one-size-fits-most device.

Lowered and double-drop would still be problematic. I wonder if the truck could be modified to work when mounted backwards.

Concerning wheel size, I saw they had off-road tubeless tires on the motor wheels in one of their earlier videos. Don't know if those are coming to market anytime soon though.

Szogs · Dec 7, 2015

http://www.mellowboards.com/mellow-the-first-electric-drive-that-fits-under-any-skateboard/
Mellow Board's new design is really sick. The urethane on the hub motors still isn't as thick as torqueboards', but it looks like they've tried to make the whole drive as stealthy as possible due to the grey legal zone for e-skates in Germany...or, at least as stealthy as an "outboard" solution can be: low profile, black, no visible motor cans and the urethane covering around to the sides.

Also: magnesium now, instead of aluminum. Drynamic thermal braking for full power brakes with the battery is full is a cool idea too. And gotta a love an enclosure that you don't have to strap to the board or make new holes for.

View attachment 3

rmrf · Dec 7, 2015

More interesting how does their remote work.
http://www.mellowboards.com/wp-content/uploads/mellow-remote-3d.jpg
...one button device .. Push to accelerate, pull to brake :?:

Szogs · Dec 8, 2015

rmrf said:
More interesting how does their remote work.
http://www.mellowboards.com/wp-content/uploads/mellow-remote-3d.jpg
...one button device .. Push to accelerate, pull to brake

One button (to change modes, I believe) and a slider (the two halves slide against each other).

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