DIY Electric Skateboard

This is a VERY basic approach to making a cheep skateboard without having to know ALL of the mechanics involved.  I.e. mounting the motor, the chain linkage, frame, brakes, etc; all of that is pre-made into the scooter you will use.  The only additional parts I bought were: 2-9" MBS front wheels, MBS front truck, aluminum for the deck, new batteries, some cheep acrylic for the battery box, scratch tape, and misc nuts and bolts from Home Depot.


Here's a video of my buddy riding the finished skateboard down the street.  

Top speed is approx: 15-21mph

Step 1: Find an Old Scooter

This is not a picture of the actual scooter I used, but it's close.  I found mine on craigslist for about $50 and amazingly the only problem was the batteries were shot.

Step 2: Strip It Bare

The materials you will salvage from the previous scooter are: the steel frame and shocks, the back wheel and chain linkage, the motor(mine was 1000W), the motor controller, the disc brake system, & throttle control from the handlebar. You can test the batteries, but usually they're bad and should be replaced. This picture shows the remaining frame after I stripped everything off. Nothing was more difficult than unscrewing several screws, except the vertical steel piece welded to the frame.(it supported the handle bars and LED display) I took a sawzall to it and it came off very easy.

Step 3: Find a Suitable Deck Material

I found four or five aluminum sheets at the local recycling scrap metal yard; they were almost the perfect size for the deck. The metal yard charged me around $20 for the material. Next, I took them to a local company that builds cotton gins and they were nice enough to offer me the service of their awesome laser cutter. I fastened it to the scooter frame with 3 bolts on each side and two in the front.

Step 4: Order New Batteries

The initial batteries were shot (3 total), so I went to Ebay and found a lot of different providers. The best price I could find at the time was around $22. 

Step 5: Custom Battery Box

The initial battery box was too shallow with my new deck. So I removed the old battery box and replaced it with a custom acrylic box that I shaped into a trapezoid-ish shape. The acrylic is not the most durable material you can use. I only use it because it was easy to shape with a blow torch and extremely cheep. A metal box would probably be better.

Step 6:

Almost finished.........

To mount the acrylic box, I found some simple hinges from home depot and some nuts and bolts. This allows me to access the batteries for whatever reason in the future. You can't see it, but I bound the 3 batteries together with duct-tape to hopefully minimize them moving. I used the model number underneath the motor controller to find its data sheet online(didn't take long). I also found 4 screws to fasten the truck to the frame. I used about an inch thick rectangle shape block of extra aluminum underneath the front of the frame to increase the height. The trucks are the cheapest I could find for 9" wheels, there are much better and more expensive ones available. The deck design is simple, so there may be a better design to help with the wheels not bite while turning. Not pictured is the black scape tape on top of the deck. I went to a local skateboard shop and they applied it for a small cost.

Step 7: Pictures of Separate Components

Here's the link for my motor controller:

http://tncscooters.com/index.php?route=product/pro...

You can also change out the bushing that comes with the truck for a more/less stiff one, whichever you prefer(I went one size more stiff).

Step 8:

Here's the link for my motor controller:

http://tncscooters.com/index.php?route=product/pro...

Comments

[JustinN9]

A 350W motor is a minimum for a 150 lb adult... or a 150 lb child I guess. I'd also recommend gearing with an 11 tooth sprocket on your motor for some nice torque.

[JustinN9]

In case you dont have access to metal working equipment, I used 3/4" baltic birch plywood (don't use ANY other kind) and it came out nice.

[JustinN9]

The SLA batteries are heavy and inefficient. Lipo batteries are best but lithium ion is best for the price.

[JustinN9]

Label your wiring while disassembling. The connectors can get confusing if they are in Chinese and not colored well.

[TheKitMurkit.]

Very nice!

[PanchoP2]

How much did this cost u

[PanchoP2]

How much did this cost u

[yishaisilver8]

Does this have regenerative breaking?

[Yonatan24]

Hi, I've added your project to the "A Collection of Homemade Electric Motorized Skateboards (That You Must Make!)" Collection

This is the link If you are interested:

https://www.instructables.com/id/A-Collection-of-Ho...

[AllenInventions]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOe73EULYqE

way easier electric skateboard

[muskychd]

I could go around 15-18mph for about 45min holding it full throttle the time. The most travel distance I ever measured was 5 miles around campus

[Indio9344]

How far were you able to get on one charge?

[astrong0]

I am doing this. no doubt. except i have looked around and the closest advertised electric scooter that isn't store bought is 75 miles away... so i was walking home one day and i found a chainsaw that someone had obviously dumped with other trash (for shame.). needless to say that will be my motor when i get it working!!! i shall post pics.

[Phoghat]

Dumpster diving is the key to success !

[gluvit]

Nice job

[TexomaEV]

Awesome, Thank You for getting back to me with that info! Here you can see we are really into EV's, and this skateboard project will be one of the coolest! www.flickr.com/mbarkley/sets

[TexomaEV]

Where is your source for the Front Wheels/Axle ?

[muskychd]

Front Wheels - MBS T2 Tires - 9" - Black - $35
http://shop.mbs.com/mountainboard-parts/mountainboard-wheels/mountainboard-tires/mbs-t2-tires.html

Front Truck - MBS ATS Truck - $29.95
http://shop.mbs.com/mountainboard-parts/mountainboard-trucks-suspension/mbs-ats-truck.html

[ssiron]

Did you leave the drive with just a single wheel?

[muskychd]

I did, which was one of the primary reasons for doing this project. I didn't have to build a support frame for the motor, setup the drive chain, and it came with all the accessories to operate it. haha