Do you want to immerse yourself with an interesting DIY project? Building an electric longboard could be one such an attractive project. At first, it may appear to you a challenging task. But after completing the project, when you start to ride the skateboard that is manufactured in no other places but your home, you realize that building an electric longboard is not so challenging.
Nowadays, electric longboards are a useful form of transport. One evidence of the popularity of this transport is you will find many high-quality e-longboards in the market which makes choosing your electric longboard easier. Let’s now discuss the step by step process building an electric longboard
Step 1: Gather All the Essential Materials
If you want to build your own electric longboard, you have a couple of options at your disposal. One is you can purchase a DIY electric longboard kit where you will get everything except a deck. Another option is a little complicated. In this option, you needed to collect all the required materials for building one electric longboard from different sources. Then assembling these materials. Regardless of the option, you choose you to need to emphasis below things without fail to build a quality electric longboard
- Choosing the ideal deck
- Installing the motor to the deck accurately
- Choosing the right motor type
- Selecting quality battery
- Setting up the drive pulley and wheels
- Finding the right controller
In this article, I will cover option two, which is collecting materials from different sources and then putting them together. I reckon the option is a little convoluted but at the end of the day, I would know the actual building process of an e-longboard. First, you need to collect longboard materials. Longboard materials include below materials
- Longboard deck
- Paris trucks
- Flywheels
Choosing an ideal longboard deck is important because your stability and inclusion of different hardware on it depends on this component of the long e-skateboard. Based on these criteria, choosing a flat deck would be a good choice. Besides, lightweight decks will also work fine. The materials of the deck need to be firm and flexible.
After the longboard deck, the next important component of the board is the wheels. Choose large flywheels which are usually come with more than 83mm diameter for your e-longboard. Large wheels are useful to tackle concrete cracks on the street making your ride much more comfortable.
Three main components of a DIY electric longboard are batteries, motor, and ESC or electric speed controller. Let’s discuss these components in detail. The functionality of these three major components is closely interrelated. The motor makes the wheels run by supplying power to them. It receives power from the batteries. The ESC or electric speed controller is like the command post of the longboard. It controls the motor by intervening the power supply delivered by the batteries to the motor
Now, let’s provide you a list of tools and material required to build an electric longboard
The tools list
- Measuring tool
- Pen
- Tape
- Paper
- Wrench set
- Drill press
- Drill bits
- Angle grinder
- Adjustable wrench
- Ear protector
- Electric screwdriver
- Bench grinder
- Time and
- Breathing mask
The materials list
- Small Pulley
- Large pulley
- Timing belt
- Lithium battery
- Battery charger
- Receiver and transmitter
- Brushless speed controller
Materials play an important role to build a quality electric skateboard. So, it is quite imperative that you needed to collect high-quality materials. Starting with batteries, Lipo batteries have good popularity. They come with good energy supplying capacity. The problem with these batteries is they may explode if you don’t maintain them the right way.
One example of the wrong treatment of these batteries is overcharging. Overcharging of these batteries may result in an explosion and thus causing a serious incident. Another maltreatment of these batteries is piercing them that may set them on the flame. So, treat batteries of e-longboard with much care.
Step 2 Set up the Motor
Motorize the back wheel by placing the motor at the truck end. Make sure that the motor gets no contact with the board. To fasten the motor to the truck, welding it with the help of an expert welder is a good idea.
Step 3 Connect the Wheel to the Trucks
Longboard trucks consist of several components. One of these components is Axle. Attach the wheels to the axle component of the truck. The attachment of the wheel to the truck is accurate if you see the wheel is rotated freely after getting power from the motor.
Step 4 Connect the Esc (Electronic Speed Control)
ESC comes with two cables. Connect a series of batteries with the ESC by using two cables. The ESC will then connect to the receiver channel 2. The receiver features a button that lets you turn on and turn off the system at your will.
Step 5 Cover the Electronics Parts With a Casing
The electronics parts of an electric longboard that is ESC and batteries need to be secured with a case. You will get some waterproof cases in hardware stores. The case will protect the sensitive electronics from elements. Another important thing is installing the electronics above the deck. Placing them above will give you better clearance below the board.