Electric Skateboard's- The in's and out's for DIY beginners

Be it for commuting to work in a busy urban wasteland or surfing the sidewalk at your local park, electric skateboards have slowly evolved from at home projects to the internet marketplace. Now is a great time to play with alternative forms of transportation for fun and freedom to explore your world in new ways.

I personally am fairly new to the electric skateboard world, so i am learning as i go too! I'll share with you a breakdown of my understanding so far and walk you through some different parts. 

There are many different types of Electric Skateboard Builds which you can create such as a single motor electric skateboard, dual motor electric skateboard, penny board electric skateboard, all terrain electric skateboard, hub motor electric skateboard, boosted board clone and much more. 

Remote Control

The first obvious component of any electric skateboard (apart from the board itself) is the remote control. The remote has a trigger that you can pull which opens the throttle, the control then transfers the data via electromagnetic waves to the Electronic Speed Controller (ESC) of your board. When you accelerate using the controller, the ESC takes information from the Bluetooth receiver and evaluates the correct amount of energy to be used from the battery to the motor.

The power that comes from the battery goes to the motor which will drive the wheels and your electric skateboard forward!

HOYT PUCK

For those living in crowded areas or where radio-frequency interference is a thing, the Hoyt puck's channel hoping technology will provide a more reliable connection even in the worst conditions.

The Hoyt St Puck remote control is engineered with proprietary radio control technology that evades interference while maintaining stable receiver sensitivity. The transmitter channel hops every micro-second across 16 channels to deliver the most secure level of continuous connectivity.

ERGONOMICS:

the Hoyt St Puck remote control molds itself in the hand and communicates acceleration and braking by thumb throttle. The power, throttle lock, state of charge, mode, rightie/leftie, binding, and trim functions are easily accessible on its face.

 

Trucks

The trucks are made out of metal and are the axis of your electric skateboard. The allow for the transfer of body weight  from the deck to the bearings and wheels. They play a primary role of allowing you to turn on your board.

Trucks are comprised of several pieces: the hanger, the bushings, baseplate, kingpin, and axle. The truck is one of the most essential parts of the skateboard because it will more or less determine how your skateboard will ride.

FLIPSKY DOUBLE KINGPIN TRUCKS FOR DIY E-SKATE

This trucks are highly recommended for DIY E-Skate - their specifications include: 

• The 15" Trucks should be used with harder bushings to make up for the extra leverage given by the length of the truck.
• 12" Trucks have an 8mm axle
• 15" Trucks have an 10mm axle
• What's included:
• 12" Full set: Front and back trucks, risers, motor mounts, hardware and speed rings
• 15.2" Full set: Front and back trucks, risers, motor mounts, hardware and speed rings
• Truck only: One truck and riser, mounting hardware
• Mounts only: Pair of motor mounts, mounting hardware

 

Wheels

 

The obvious addition, without Wheels the board wouldn't move! The wheels transfer the weight of the rider from the trucks to the pavement. At Ben Buckler Boards we have an extensive variety oh wheels for DIY. They come in many different sizes, shapes and colours to suit different types of skating. The size of your wheel can determine the speed of your board. They can also be adjusted for different terrains for example city riding vs off road all terrain. 

see our blog "how to customise your off road wheels" for further tips and tricks! You can also watch our tutorial here!

 

 

Ball Bearings

Each wheel is mounted on its axle via two bearings. These are usually made of steel, sometimes even out of silicon nitride, a high-tech ceramic. Bearings do the actual magic. Without them, we would not be able to roll down the streets. They are one of the most important and fragile parts of our board. Maintenance on bearings is also very important! Regular cleaning and lubricating to ensure they're operating at their peak performance. 

 

PRECISION HYBRID CERAMIC BEARINGS (MADE IN JAPAN) - 6001-2RS (12MM AXLE)

High quality precision hybrid ceramic bearings made with Si3N4 balls, PEEK cages and top shelf 52100 chrome steel races.

These are 6001-2RS bearings and will fit on all Lacroix boards; Prototipo (DSS60/DSS50+), Jaws™, Nazaré™ and Nazaré Lonestar™.

Comes in a pack of 10.

Dope Grip, Grip Tape!

Without grip tape, you would not have enough friction to transfer all your movements and forces from your feet to the deck.

 

Unreal grip tape to fit any skateboard, including the Evolve Bamboo GT and GTR's.

This version features the Dope hexagon shaped look and fits any long skateboard.

Dope Grip™ have incorporated a pressure-sensitive cushion into their grip tape for absorbing vibrations and adapting to your shoe under high pressure (e.g. cornering, braking, accelerating), giving you much better control over your board, exactly when you need it! Of course, it also features our extremely rough grip tape.

Beginner or pro, your skateboard will feel brand new with this grip tape!

SUPER GRIP

The special grained grip tape sticks to your shoe like crazy and makes slipping impossible in dry, wet, and dirty conditions.
The hard grain on this grip tape is much sharper and developed to provide maximum friction. Riding barefoot is probably a bad idea.

SHOCK ABSORBING

Rough roads? Not a problem. Our cushion absorbs shocks helping you to stay on the board and prevent foot fatigue.
Adopted from industrial engineering, this material is the best shock absorber used in high-tech machines exclusively... until now.
*SHOCK WAVES PHOTOSHOP ESKATE BOARD* 
PRESSURE SENSITIVE

DOPE GRIP™ adapts to your riding by creating a temporary micro-drop around your shoe that locks you in while you corner.
Our low rebound formula reacts to the high pressure applied during a turn and immediately recovers to its original state afterward.

DIRT & WET PERFORMANCE

Slippery conditions? Grip it and rip it! When other grip tapes give up, we just get started. DOPE GRIP™ sticks to your shoes no matter which weather conditions you face. Dope grip tape was specially designed to provide maximum grip when contaminated or wet.

Changing your grip tape is easy with DOPE GRIP™. With simple application, you're back on the road in 10 minutes. Check out the fast application technique here.

 

Hub Motor Electric Skateboards

Hub motors work by applying torque directly to the wheel itself, rather than transferring it through gears, belts, or chains. By using a hub motor, manufacturers can create a stealthy and compact electric skateboard

  

How do I increase the power of my electric skateboard?

Increase in Torque, Acceleration, and Hill Climbing Ability
Decrease Wheel Size. Decreasing your wheel size is a great way to capture some extra torque.
Adding a 2nd Motor / Increasing Motor Size. ...
Increasing Battery Discharge Capabilities.

Belt and Gear Driven Electric Skateboards

 

Want a board capable of ultra high speeds or with massive torque? You’ll likely need a gear or belt driven board. The gear ratio on these boards let’s a smaller motor provide a higher top speed or more torque than a direct or hub drive board, and many high performance boards use belts for this reason.

 

Lights

In the morning evening or night, you want to be seen by cars, bikes, motorbikes or pedestrians. You can attach white LED front lights and red LED backlights to your board for riding safety.

 

SHRED LIGHTS SL-200 COMBO PACK

The latest and greatest of our most popular skateboard lighting pack. Equip any skateboard, longboard, or electric skateboard with the world's best headlights and tail lights designed specifically for skateboarding. Years of research and development have brought this perfect combination of reliability and ease of use to a set of trucks near you. Now with a 3x bigger battery for up to 150 hours of battery life and 200 lumens of maximum brightness per ShredLight.

Front mounts provided will be standard mounts, as they fit every skateboard.

 

Once you have all your parts together, it's time to start putting it together! You will start by arranging the deck top-down and put all the components of the skateboard on it. 

Mount the motor and trucks!  When fixing the motor to its mount, use the three positions, which depend on the direction you intend to place your wire.

Next the gear pulley. Fix the gear pulley to the wheel by drilling some holes in to fix the bolts. Shift the motor to position on the body of the truck and fasten each screw gently. Place the belt on the wheel of the motor and gradually spin the wheel.

Hub motor's will definitely make this process easier as the motor is built and attached to the wheel, meaning all you need is to make sure the wheel of the motor will match up to the size of your truck. 

When you finish the installation of your trucks and wheels you can fix up the ESC and batteries. 

Ensure all holes that you drill are small, widening them gradually to avoid cracking the plastic. Drill another hole where you intend to position the charging port or the power switch. Make sure you're paying close attention when fixing the board!

 

Position the case in the right spot and clamp it. Once the port is in place, find the holes that are meant for the screw and drill across each hole. You can use a countersink drill bit to be sure all the screws are flush on the surface of the deck and won’t lead to bumps in the grip tape.

Position the battery and ESC in the case and plug in your charging port to the terminals of the battery, link switch to the ESC and connect your battery on the ESC. The next step is to connect the wires of the motor to the cases through the drilled holes.

Now link the wire to the ESC. Ensure you run a check on all the parts before sealing up the case. If you have a kit with different instructions from this article, we recommend following the set of instructions on your purchased kit.

To some it up, building your own electric skateboard can be straight forward, attention to detail is key!  We are super happy to walk you through it all as well and are here to answer any questions you may have.