Hello community,
This is a topic I’ve been working on for some time now and I bring it up again because I think it might be useful to those interested. Additionally, I would like to give credit to the work of others whose ideas and products gave my configuration shape.
I built a board in May, and quickly realized that the most enjoyable part of eSkating is blasting up hills! Opinion aside, I built a board for exactly that purpose.
The problem with belt tension and the skipping teeth pissed me off, but also terrified me when braking downhill. The motor noise under heavy tension, and the strain on the hardware was unacceptable to me, so I set out to eliminate it.
I read a few posts about the benefit of idler pulleys, but couldn’t find any (inexpensive) caliber2 motor mounts that had 'em. So I started modifying the parts I already had and came to a solution.
That is a torqueboards mount with a shoulder -bolt (8mm x 20), standard skateboard bearings, a bunch of speed-washers, and a flange nut. I barely have the clearance between the wheel and motor, so I wanted to try a new configuration.
I purchased the incredibly well made reverse-mount from torqueboards, to free up some ground clearance, and for the space it afforded for the idler. After some rudimentary measurements, i drilled a hole and bolted it up.
The pulley requires a longer belt, and I found that the ideal fit is in the 340-355 mm range. The configuration below is with a 340-5m-15 from D&D Powerdrive (Amazon) and fits well, but is at the lower limit of the CTC range of the motor plate in a 15/40 tooth ratio.
I will be running a 15/36 tooth ratio on the other wheel (for higher top speed), and will add to this post when I get it put together later today.
As I mentioned earlier, the purpose of this post is to help others in eliminating the belt tension/skipping-teeth trade-off. I also would like to see more options out there for sale that come with an idler!!
As far as “credit wherecredit is due” my inspiration for the mod is an article by @JuniorPotato93
And thanks to @torqueboards for the hardware that accommodates the modification. Dexter’s reverse mount is the first I’ve seen that has the CTC headroom for my needs, and I couldn’t be happier with it!
Again, this is a simple addition to a brilliant product that is intended to improve braking capabilities and acceleration, and extend the belt/hardware life in high performance builds. Gotta go set up the other motor, and more results will follow.
Thanks for reading, I hope this was beneficial so far.