Building an ESK8 suitable for the land of extremes

Hey guys, I have been looking to build an ESK8 for daily use. Going to try and make this as short as possible, so here we go. I am a 17yo student with a strict budget, I live in Finland and I intend to use the board daily, whether it be 20c in the summer or -20c in the winter. So it would have to be able to work in not only different temperatures, but also in different weather conditions (Waterproof / Snowproof / Mudproof etc. you get the point). I have never built an ESK8 before, but I have done a ton of research (but still don’t feel confident in making these choices on my own.) I am not sure if this is entirely doable, but I will try my best :wink: (I really don’t like settling for compromises)

So below I will list “requirements” that I hope to build into the ESK8

  • Long range (15-25km) (reasons)
  • Capable of going off-road (graveled roads, maybe even small forest paths?)
  • Big wheels (see above)
  • Enough torque (I want the board to be able to comfortably take me uphill )
  • Safety (I want to have enough torq to brake properly, and I don’t want the battery to explode either.)
  • Speed (Not that important to me but I’d like the board to go atleast ~35 Km/h)
  • Durability (It’s gotta be able to survive Finland, and some abuse)
  • Budget (My goal is to get the best bang for the buck sub ~700€ setup)
  • Nice remote (I would like to avoid those horrible looking RC Car controllers, I’v seen some people build controllers out of Wii Nunchucs, something like that would be nice.)
  • Upgradeability (Might gain a ton of weight in the coming years)
  • Everything else is a bonus (Nice aestethics, light weight, lights, battery indicator [for the board battery/controller]
  • Willing to use 2nd hand parts, wherever I can to cut the costs / get better value.

Hoping to get to the building part asap. I will be able to order the parts on monday assuming that I have all the parts figured out. Again, I’m pretty much a n00b in all of this, eager to learn. (I will also do a build log out of this, so yall can laugh at my stupid mistakes.) I did read through all of the FAQ articles and watch trough like 15h of YouTube content, but in the end I was left with more questions than I started out with. smh.

Best regards, Mikail

Edit: Fiksed grandmar misteiks

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You need a dual drive, pneumatic wheels, running 10s-12s, on 149kv -192kv motors

And a partridge in a pear tree

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Read :point_down:t2:

Calculate :point_down:t2:

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I kind of figured that a dual drive is a must, but was not sure, so I did not mention anything about it. Not sure if I should mount them in DR or DD config tho. I am not sure what “pneumatic wheels” really mean, I looked into this briefly and also saw a guy who did a build with these in it. http://www.matcomfg.com/TAILWHEELASSY6PNEUMATIC-idv-3006-6.html , problem is, that they are wayyyy too expensive for my budget, any cheaper alternatives?

The size of the motor will ultimately decide if it’s dr or dd

I think your limit is a 6355 can size which will then determine the motors you can use

Hit up @psychotiller for the wheels

Alternatively use 97mm or 100mm wheels

25km range? 35kph top speed? dual motor? off road? lol, good luck getting all that with 700€. You’ll need twice as much as that (or more) to achieve the requirements you listed.

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Yeah bud…this ain’t gonna be cheap

It’s not inteded to really be a mountain ESK8, what I really meant by “offroad” is that I need the big wheels to be able to travel if I run out of asphalt and have to move onto a gravel road or a walkway with some snow on it.

Your biggest savings would be of you went with non pneumatic wheels and used lipos

Also one thing to add here, is that as I said, I am willing to use 2nd hand parts, I’d imagine getting a used deck / trucks will already save me some money.

Yeah I guess…but those aren’t the big tickets items…you will need to do some parts research mate and take a look

Just as a guide…when you go dual … You basically double your cost not quite…but pretty close

Do you think that I could get by with starting out with just a single motor, I can then upgrade it later on if the single one is not cutting it right? It’s not winter yet anyways.

Of course

Hopefully by the time you are the size of Santa Clause :christmas_tree: you will have enough to buy another set to make it dual

Not trying to discourage from building, just letting you know realistically the cost of things

160 x2 HK motors 150 mounts, drive train 120 x2 car esc 120 batteries lipos 100 charger 50 controller

$700… and you don’t even have a board yet. (those prices are bottom of the barrel estimates too)

Great, then that is probably what I will have to do. So still going with the “max 6355 can size” and a “149kv -192kv” motor? I looked at motors from hobbyking, but the EU warehouses are kind of… empty, and hobbyking also seems like a site that is not the best bang for your buck anyways.

Ahhhh…welcome to the world of DIY ESk8 building

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80 an HK motor 75 mounts, drive train 60 car esc 120 batteries lipos 100 charger 50 controller =485 ^I know I am oversimplifying this but this is how much it would cost to make a single drive if I understood correctly. It seems doable even on my budget. Then I might add the 2nd motor later if I feel like it’s necessary and if I have the funds at the time.

Heh, thanks. Seems pretty hard to get into tbh, but as I said, I’m eager to learn. Dw, if all goes well I will be spending all of my extra money on random ESK8 components in no time :stuck_out_tongue: