Would a 5 wheel electric board work?

[johnny_261]

Hi Everyone,

I've been researching electrics skateboard for the last while and decided that I would like to build one one day. I'm still very new to this, but had a few questions that I was hoping you could help me with as I plan what my build might look like

- Has anyone ever seen or thought about adding a 5th wheel as the drive wheel? I have an old skateboard with gel wheels lying around that I was hoping to use for the build. A big cost of the build seems to be buying the trucks with motor mounts or getting it a mount welded on the aluminum trucks. If i just left the trucks as is and then added a fifth wheel somewhere in the middle towards the rear of the board that is connected to the motor, would that work? I have no problems welding steel, so I could definitely fab something up to mount this. Just curious if anyone has thought of this, or sees any reason why this might not work. Maybe it will make it harder to turn? I'm trying to keep this build as budget as possible.

- Most people seem to be using wireless transmitters. What are the options for going a wired route? I was thinking this might be better due to not having to worry about batteries as well as it hopefully being much smaller. If anyone has any links or options that would be great!

- What is coasting like on an electric skateboard when the motor is turned off???

Appreciate the help!

 

[Willjones017]

I imagine that you could somehow make it so the fifth wheel lifted when not being used, it actually sounds like a pretty good idea what motor/controller/battery combo do you plan on using?

 

[MrDude_1]

I imagine some kind of wheelie bar style thing could work, if you can keep it spring loaded to the ground. If there's no weight on it, it would spin.

 

[torqueboards]

Yeah, it would work. There are other folks. I've seen it before they have like a hockey stick some with belt/chain driven setup + battery with a longboard wheel on the bottom. I've seen another with a 16 or 20" hub motor also and they just use it as if it was a paddle or something. Pretty neat.

I think that might be a better option and/or one better would be make a friction drive setup. There's a few setups on here.

 

[sk8norcal]

Just curious if anyone has thought of this,

some 5th wheel eboards right here,
http://wackyboards.blogspot.com/2012/03/x-caliber-electric-skateboard.html

[youtube]1Fif1z6HMGY[/youtube]

 

[LEVer]

Theres actually a patent like it.

https://www.google.com/patents/US8061725

Sometimes I see hiM sell one of his boards on eBay for $5k. I think he's president of NAPSR or something, here's one of their videos:

[youtube]07fQ25hr0pY[/youtube]

 

[johnny_261]

I imagine that you could somehow make it so the fifth wheel lifted when not being used, it actually sounds like a pretty good idea what motor/controller/battery combo do you plan on using?

Cool, thanks for the responses guys. The x-calibur looks pretty insane. I was thinking more along the lines of adding the 5th wheel that is a normal long board wheel...But hey, at least someone out there is doing it, so should work!

I'm trying to make this as budget of a build as possible, which is why I'm thinking the 5th wheel approach as it will allow me to fab my own stuff instead of having to pay someone to TIG weld some aluminum. Also my trucks are not longboard trucks, so I'm not even sure that there would be enough room to weld a motor mount on there and having the belt drive etc.

As far as the combo, I was just planning on following this thread: http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=53506 and buy the cheap stuff.
- ZIPPY Flightmax 5000mAh 3S1P 20C
- The HobbyKing 150A or the Hobbywing EZRUN-150A-Pro
- For the motor I had heard good things about the Tacon Big Foot 160 (245KV) for the price, so I was leaning towards that, but still researching

Any input on the combo would be good though. I'm looking to use it for a 5 mile (roundtrip) city commute which is mostly flat except for one section of moderate grade hill.

And any thoughts on a controlling the ESC through a wired setup - I have no idea how to do this, but I'm sure someone can point me in the right direction.

 

[torqueboards]

I would try the friction drive option.

 

[johnny_261]

I would try the friction drive option.

That's a neat idea. Never thought of that. From what I've seen on the forum here, this is the road less traveled. Why is that? Seems like quite a simple solution. Does it have to do with gear ratio? Aside from saving the cost of two gears and a drive belt, what other benefits would this have?

Any links to some friction drive builds?

 

[torqueboards]

I would try the friction drive option.

That's a neat idea. Never thought of that. From what I've seen on the forum here, this is the road less traveled. Why is that? Seems like quite a simple solution. Does it have to do with gear ratio? Aside from saving the cost of two gears and a drive belt, what other benefits would this have?

Any links to some friction drive builds?

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=63223&hilit=friction