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What is it? Twin wheeled skateboard that works like a Segway. Electric skateboards exist already - motors on rear wheels. The plan here was to bui...
Here are the parts laid out on floor
Razor scooter E100 chain driven back wheel. This is great as it fits under board, has axle and bearings all with it, sprocket is ready fitted. Reduc...
We need two of these assemblies. There is a threaded rod running through entire wheel. There is a tubular sleeve each side, one is short and one is...
Wheel is dismantled and reassembled so the long metal tube is on the other side to the one it was originally and the short one is swapped over too. Th...
Another view of this process
Frame cannot be simpler. Everything will bolt to a 24cm width slab of 2cm thick marine-ply. Anything will do so long as not flexible otherwise tension...
Brackets to hold the axles cannot be simpler either, steel angle brackets from a large hardware store.
You can see how this is going to work. 2 brackets face each other and are bolted down to deck. Axle goes through 2 holes, one in each bracket. Holes ...
Axle has to be fitted with one of the large washers in this position else there is not enough thread free for the end nuts to tighten everything up so...
If one of the angle brackets is resting on top of the other, remember to drill the end holes for the axles to take account of this fact! In the end I ...
Here are the wheels fitted and bolted up to board. Note if you want minimum width wheelbase, as for a self balancing skateboard then you can trim the...
Motors are electric scooter motors from toy scooters. You can get them from electric scooter suppliers or ebay. These are 250Watt 24V each and come wi...
I am going to describe simplest layout. However here is an alternative layout which might be OK for a skateboard and which would mean the batteries w...
I tried welding up a frame to mount the wheels so they could be driven by motors on top of the deck. Not very happy with it. It would work but motors ...
Chain is ASA 25-1 chain I bought 2m of it from "Bearing Boys" UK. Also on rght is connecting link for when you shorten it. If unsure how to short...
Chains must not be too tight or too loose. Too tight and motors bind. Too loose and get lots of rattling and judddering when balancing in stationary...
Here is a chain that is slightly too loose. It is important to get this right. There is a way to take up a small amount of slack like this:
Insert washers under inner 2 bolt holes for motor. This lifts motor a tiny bit and chain slack is taken up. Surgery forceps very useful in this proje...
NOTE added Feb 2012: See my comment on intro page regarding use of a 6dof "Razor" IMU from Sparkfun instead as this 5dof one is becoming difficult to ...
Arduino microcontroller used. My previous machines used robotics AVR boards but the Arduino is cheap, has huge active forums if you get stuck, books ...
Here is previous photo just showing left (analog inputs mainly) side of the Arduino. This diagram is important. analog pin 0: to Y4.5 on IMU analog ...
Here is the wiring of the right hand side of the Arduino (mainly digital inputs). digital inputs: Pin 4: steer right from hand controller (simpl...
More on wiring up the Arduino pins. You need a newish Arduino with the 3.3V output pin on it as the IMU runs off this at 3.3V.
Detail on the connections I have used to the Arduino board. COMMENT (March 2011): If any connection between IMU and arduino is a bit "wobbly" the b...
Arduino powered by a separate 9V battery in little box with an on/off switch. NOTE: Some motor power controllers have a low voltage on board output...
Can be tricky to get your head around which gyro is doing what and in which axis of rotation. NOTE: (March 2011) I have added a lot more on this wi...
This is a Sabertooth 2 x 25Amp (40Amp peak) robot motor controller for medium sized robots with 2 motors. Each motor has to be able to go forward...
The Sabertooth is configured for data streams of various types and various battery types, using a set of dip switches. The configuration you need ...
I have used 2 simple 7AmpHour lead acid batteries in series to give 24V. The main power switch is in the middle and essentially "joins them togethe...
My "de-luxe" self balancing skateboard has a wireless Wii Nunchuck as the control system. However here we are interested in reducing cost. ...
Here is a view of handcontroller internals in a small plastic box. I used 2 cable ties to locate the end of the cable so it cannot easily be ripped...
Image of assembled handset
Arduino analog inputs all used apart from one for balancing etc. All handcontroller inputs go in through the digital input pins on other side ...
Finally, remember you need pulldown resistors about 10K each between each digital input pin and ground. Fiddly. My soldering looks great to the nak...
I fixed the IMU with blu tack to start with as you always end up with it back to front or the wrong way around! When you get it working then f...
One last thing. At recent maker faire I left my monowheel on a table while I went for a look around. When I came back there was a small child playi...
Here it is balancing. This version has same motors and motor controller as my previous twin wheel self balancing skateboard so should perfom the same...
Since first posting this instructable I have taken all the components as in the instructable but mounted them on a skateboard deck insted of the marin...
Here's what is underneath. Mount the accel/gyro as close to centre of board as possible. NOTE: I have since moved it to the top of the board, see lat...
I have found a better way to arrange the components (March 2011). Use a thick board to mount the motors and wheels to that will not flex. On top o...
NEXT FEW PAGES WERE ADDED MARCH 2011 A few people finding it very easy to mount the IMU incorrectly so here are instructions to help you out........
When I attach arduino sketches to this Instructable they disappear after a few days. This sketch is attached as a text file. Copy and paste it into a ...
IMU testing sketch mentioned on previous page is attached hereas a text file. Paste it into an empty new Arduino sketch window and it will then work....
Again, to help with debugging, here is a sketch to test that the Arduino is talking to the sabertooth and the sabertooth is driving the motors correct...
Open this sketch (attached as a text file to paste into an arduino sketch and save) NOTE: Updated JUNE 16th 2012. It works with Arduino V22. ...
This is the full version of the code for use with a rocker switch to steer and another to fine tune the balance point, i.e. the one that goes with thi...
This version of the code is almost the same as previous one except we are now using a 10K potentiometer to steer and another to fine-tune the balance ...
Here are a few videos to keep you going: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=engi16bLJe0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=engi16bLJe0&feature=mfu_in_order&l...
There are many ways to potentially improve this project, here are just a few Powering the Arduino Using a 9V battery to power the Arduino is...
Pneumatic tyres You could build this project with a welded frame and pneumatic tyres if you are feeling more ambitious. Frame is much harder to make ...
Step 1, Take Nunchuck apart. Get a proper Nintendo one if you can as potentiometer has higher resistance than cheaper Chinese copies. You need a 3 l...
Next you need to solder tiny wires to each solder point of the 2 potentiometers that are worked by the thumb joystick. Potentiometers have to have +5...
There is a problem as most of the analog output IMU's are vanishing from stores and being replaced with digital ones. I have looked at the Sparkfun 6d...
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I'm currently building this, but I didn't want to go through the hassle of working with the metal angle brackets, so I created a 3d file that can be printed out and used as a wheel mount. Specifically, it's measured for E100 Scooter Wheels, but you can change it however you like. I haven't tested/printed this yet, as my 3d printer kit just arrived, but is missing some parts. I will update when I do this (probably in a month or so).