Electric Longboard MarkII

Description

I want something under my ass that has enough potential energy packed into its batteries to fire a pound of bacon into the Asteroid Belt.
Since nothing on the market fits the bill; I am building it myself.

With a sufficient disrespect for my own time and money I am learning every EE, ME, CS, Manufacturing technique necessary to complete aforementioned longboard.

The project started in my freshman year of college, Winter 2015.

Mark I was completed in the spring of 2016. It featured a whopping 35mph top speed, a pair of lead-acid scooter batteries giving it a theoretical range of about 4 miles of range, and a jaguaresque construction - requiring field-repairs every 2 miles.

MarkII was started soon after.

My main focus now is to involve more people. I have a few friends helping intermittently, but I think this project can bring together a serious community interested in progressing the field of high-tech DIY electrical vehicles.

P.S Check out the GIT ;)

Details

What we are looking at here is;

12 Hp 4 Wheel Drive - 4 x 6374 2250W BLDC motors

.5kWh battery pack - 64 x ANR26650M1-B LiFeP04 2.4Ah 10C - 12min charge time batteries

48in x 13 in deck

60 volt system

60mph+ Top speed

40mile+ range

1.5kW charger - 20min charge time.

RGBW headlights - 1000+ Lumens

RGB LED underlighting

Carbon fiber deck - 500Kg+ load limit

Splash proof

Onboard linux box managing GPS, phone-app connection.

All the files are hosted on the project Git page. This is an open source project.

Files

IMG_3543.JPG

Still gotta do the testing with water cooling. But this is the charger.

JPEG Image - 1.60 MB - 09/02/2017 at 14:35

Preview

Maximum Clearance.png

So I was sitting on a plane with my parents and complained about the lack of clearance, and difficulty i would have in protecting the motors during collision. Needless to say, mom a out-of-the-box thinker.

Portable Network Graphics (PNG) - 802.57 kB - 09/02/2017 at 14:35

Preview

Moulding 1.PNG

I cant spell, but I do know that I will use some thick sheets of MDF and a CNC wood router to create a compression mould for the longboard.

Portable Network Graphics (PNG) - 127.86 kB - 09/02/2017 at 14:35

Preview

Project Logs

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Break. Again?
Danny Andreev • 04/23/2018 at 22:11 • 0 comments

The deck is done! However, I did a bit of analysis of my progress on this project and the hardware aspects are hitting a bit of a wall; I am spending more and more time manufacturing while less and less is spend on actually learning and acquiring new skills.

Thus; I am panning on debugging the rest of the electronics, and writing code for the batter management system, but put a hold on the rest of the project until I make enough money to pay someone else to manufacture for me, or if I decide this can make a viable business.

In conclusion, ill leave it as something to work on whenever i'm bored. For now I got a few business ventures I want to take a look at ;)

Test battery pack, tab welded with Keen Lab's kWelder unit (seriously high quality product for only ~200$) https://www.keenlab.de/index.php/shop/

It seems I might have a little too much noise coming in from the digital side of circuit, so I'll see what i can do to mitigate that. Might have to order new PCB's...

Finished debugging the SPI, time to start pumping out code...

Down the software rabbit-hole we go!
Caveman
Danny Andreev • 03/26/2018 at 16:20 • 0 comments

I think i'm finally at the level of Tony Stark in a cave! We have the first battery rack!
The Max14921 breakout board is also done. Just gotta program something to control it over SPI. Will probably start off using a raspi and then go over to an STM32 discovery board.
Min-Max
Danny Andreev • 03/01/2018 at 17:22 • 2 comments

I am taking 9 courses this semester, so I am in the midst of an optimization problem...

Looks like whatever built-in neural net has figured it out. Back at about 20hours/week on the board.

After much deliberation last semester, I decided to build the battery management system around the Max14921. I made a breakout board for it, and I will be controlling it using a STM32F01 Discovery board (later integrating the chip directly).

P.S. the pitch on the Max chip is .5mm not .025in like in other TQFP packages of similar pin number (the data-sheet said NOTHING) So the next batch of pcbs will be here next week.

As you can see I have a foam core (actually Ill have two of them) and plain flat carbon fiber plates at the front and back so that the mounting points for the trucks are extra secure.

I am slowly building up the layers of carbon fiber (they are .03in thick and takes me about 2hours for each layer) Half way done though!

I have also figured out all the PCB placement and solved the issue with high current print contacts! (more on this later)
Back in Black
Danny Andreev • 01/26/2018 at 23:52 • 0 comments

Weather because of sickness, winter break, or lethargy I haven't made much progress in the past month. However, I did manage to trash about 200 man hours worth of molds.
However, I am ready to try again and I got some good ideas as to how to fix them.
Adjust
Danny Andreev • 11/20/2017 at 15:10 • 1 comment

Sad news this week. The Techshop has closed. However, I am glad that most of my hardware requiring heavy CNC machinery is finished.
I have already started to recreate some of the capabilities of the techshop. One such adjustment is a epoxy curing, vaccum press oven in my living room.
This is the single layer outer shell, its a bit rough around the edges and I am going to redo the layup.
Roomates have agreed... as long as I keep it clean.
In other news. The GPS tracking works! the sensor board is outputting gps, and using the google maps api I can overlay my location onto a proper map!
Lastly:
I am going to be doing some redesign and try to remove the rest of the hardware manufacture. Since I no longer have access to CNC and metalworking machinery I will have to impovise...
The Molds are Done!
Danny Andreev • 11/15/2017 at 03:20 • 0 comments

The All-Mighty!

These are a little extra side-project but i still wanted to share :)
Molds and Models
Danny Andreev • 11/05/2017 at 23:05 • 0 comments

A week off of the project due to midterms, and now im back!

Got a lot of good stuff since the last project log.

Sensor module is reading in data. The next step is to take the Accelerations,position, velocity and have it plot on a neat interface

Got the Molds painted, just need to sand, and buff them. Should be ready to do the CF lamination next weekend.

A decent amount of time went into a side venture. I have a friend who sells finger boards, I made him some molds to speed up the process :)

I hurt my foot (bruised a metatarsal) So i slapped V1.5 together so I dont have to push when getting to/fro class.
4 Day Weekend
Danny Andreev • 10/16/2017 at 21:46 • 0 comments

Fall break! you know what that means! just clocked in 50 hours at the techshop in 4 days.

- Bought Carbon fiber vacuuming stuff

"hhhnnnnnngggg" - My wallet

-CNCed the last two molds out of the MDF that I prepped last weekend.

(All me!)

-Almost finished the battery pack hardware

Dat sand blaster tho

Yea, yea, I know. Steel on aluminum ill figure it out.

"What exercise equipment do you use?" - "Oh just the BDB 1340A Jet Lathe"

-Started on the GPS, Accelerometer, Raspi module!
Check your CNC specs!
Danny Andreev • 10/08/2017 at 22:21 • 0 comments

The 3/4"D 6"L ball endmill does not fit the shopbot... The highest diameter that ER-25 collets go is 1/2"
Probably for the best since i got 3 exams this week and I gotta study instead of CNCing molds.
P.S. If you are ever spearing large amounts of glue: buy the non-waterproof version and the largest paint roller they have.
Battery Holder Skelton Done!
Danny Andreev • 10/01/2017 at 16:28 • 1 comment

Another 15 hours at the machine shop this weekend and the aluminum armature is done.
I finished it off with a sand blasting and it looks sick!
Next up is the deck :)

View all 13 project logs

Discussions

RAMZ AL WAFA TECHNICAL SERVICES wrote 09/13/2024 at 04:12

This is an amazing project! The leap from Mark I to Mark II shows real dedication. It's great to see how you're pushing the limits of DIY electric vehicles. If you ever run into any electrical repair issues along the way, I’d be happy to help out. Excited to see where this goes! as you can see here:https://ramzalwafa.com/electrical-services-in-dubai/

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Waynerothchild wrote 03/25/2020 at 15:02

what kind of engineer are you ?

mechanical or electrical ?

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Danny Andreev wrote 03/25/2020 at 16:23

I do a bit of everything, no real specialization.

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AVR wrote 02/28/2018 at 17:41

excellent project, I really appreciate the complex design and the build is just wonderful, all the custom machining and manufacturing. Keep it up!!!

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Morning.Star wrote 03/01/2018 at 01:20

Indeed. You also have to admire over a grand's worth of batteries nestled in there, that things got mileage too. ;-)

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Danny Andreev wrote 03/01/2018 at 17:24

ohhh, only 496$

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Danny Andreev wrote 03/01/2018 at 17:25

Btw may i ask how you heard about this project, Iv had a burst of activity on this page in the last 2 days!

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motor_madness84 wrote 11/16/2017 at 02:11

Love the project man! Me and my team are currently working on a similar project for a new high powered electric skateboard and we were wondering if you are/have designed your own custom battery management system for your A123 battery pack?

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Danny Andreev wrote 11/18/2017 at 20:13

I am about to start designing, youre welcome to help! should be done by the end of the winter.

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Neon22 wrote 08/30/2017 at 15:14

Have you considered using trucks like Other planet revolution. much stabler at high speed. flat spot in the middle.

Also I have inkscape based worksheet for batts through to drivetrain with HTD belt torque calcs integrated.

but needs looking over as I have an error (at least one :) somewhere... Output looks like:

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Danny Andreev wrote 09/01/2017 at 15:38

Those trucks look sick! I may pick a pair up and look into switching over in the next board version.
PM me about the work on batteries, im interested

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Rod Hower wrote 08/29/2017 at 18:45

I may be able to help with the motors, I work at Ametek-Rotron and design BLDC motors and controls. We bought Extreme Motors about 8-10 years ago and continue designing that product from our Kent, Ohio location.

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Danny Andreev wrote 08/29/2017 at 18:47

No way! That is amazing, PM me your email, we alreadu have 3-4 guys on board.

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Marco wrote 08/23/2017 at 08:38

i'm learning bldc drv and wanna join your team

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Danny Andreev wrote 08/23/2017 at 17:32

PM me, lets chat

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Marco wrote 08/23/2017 at 05:23

i wanna know bldc drive schema...

what's the status of the project?

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Danny Andreev wrote 08/23/2017 at 17:32

currently using Vedder's VESC controller (its an open source bldc driver) i plan on updating his design (eventually) to fit better with my board.

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Peter wrote 08/23/2017 at 01:31

Do you have a source and/or price for the batteries and charger? Or for the BOM in general?

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Danny Andreev wrote 08/23/2017 at 17:35

I am buying the batteries from A123, they are a manufacturer in Detroit. Me and a friend are designing the charger ground up, by ourselves. Latest iteration delivared 900W. I will eventually go through my digikey purchases and add the BOMs to the git page.

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Aaron_Kraus wrote 08/22/2017 at 18:21

wait... WHAT? 90+ kph? ryly O_o

Must... not... buy... all... parts

As soon as my other 4 Projects are half baked, i'll start with this

My fastest run on my Board was at the Gravity Festival 2015 in NZ with 72-75 kph.

But that was Downhill, I always dreamed of a board like this :)

[EDIT] another Solidworks guy and all source files *Thumbs up*

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Danny Andreev wrote 08/22/2017 at 19:16

Much love! I am definitely interested in collaborating, so hit me up if you good some good ideas.

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Aaron_Kraus wrote 08/24/2017 at 19:48

How far developed is your Project at the moment?

Did you build all that drivechain already?

I go thru your SW files and they look really good, I'm doing cad with sw since 2006 and can't find much to criticize :p

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Danny Andreev wrote 10/01/2017 at 15:26

I have a lot of the electronics finished, but working on the mechanical/hardware revision right now. I have a V1.5 drivetrain (check the pics) working on V2.

Appreciate it! Iv been CADing for some years now as well :)

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Electric Longboard MarkII

Description

Details