I’m guessing, just by looking at this design in the photos, there’s no way this deck can be ‘clicked’ or held in it’s folded out flat state? Therefore I think @dannyboy 's worry may be founded. What you don’t want is to hit a big bump or a pothole, and for the board to suddenly ‘jackknife’ vertically on you, flinging you forward.
I like how you’ve reduced the amount of links towards the middle of the bend, but . . . . If you didn’t do that, and kept them at a consistent width, what you could do is build a loop hole/tunnel on to each outside edge of the outside links that would enable you to slide an aluminium rod through to keep the board fully outstretched and in it’s flat state. This would also add strength. They could be spring loaded and only come out yay far so that they don’t come off and get lost etc.
my poor english can’t reply in details, so simply show some of my creation works here.
and will reply you pros if i can if my language you guys can get it well. thank you.
If you hit a normal pothole on a board, your going to eat asphalt anyways. I agree it should not be able to flex inward when riding, but nothing in es8 is ever going to go over potholes. (maybe trampas)
Further to my own ‘non-issue’ comment - I may well be worrying about nothing. In the same sense that bees happily fly about and yet their aerodynamics seem to simple minded humans to be utterly inefficient. I also am absolutely convinced that skateboards cannot work and yet they do - I genuinely cannot conceive of how the bearings hold up so well considering the forces involved in what is a largely undamped system. As for mounting hub motors… the bearings in that case can be bigger, but the stator<->magnet clearance; how the blazes do they not foul when the wheels hit bumps!!! But they do actually bear up very well somehow so my worries about your auto-collapsing board may not be a problem.
If it does work, I insist you go to massive lengths to film yourself, or rather the board, entering a pothole at high speed (both the film speed & your speed) so that I can see how it behaves.
I like darkkevind’s sliding pin idea to lock it - would look amazing too, like a safe in a bank full of sliding bolts.
Am impossibly jealous of your access to the Alu and the CNC by the way. I cannot imagine how much it costs to prototype things like that - worth it if you can afford it, as it really is stunning to look at.
finally i can post again. seems my id have strict limits in the forum. so i cherish my right to put more photos here.
thanks you all, give me good ideas and professional guide.
i am also a crazy fan of eboard, especially in design and creating new board with aluminum.
hope my photos can somehow inspire us to move forward.
tried and discussed amny times of making the flex in the middle by modifing the mechanics in the middle, not possible. pros, do you have any good ideas can inspire the flex issue, stiff board is bad for riding as I think.
yes, that’s always what I want to do, see photo I designed is with concave, but in reality cnc can’t do much in cancaving, and also aluminum materials selection, not much option on market, and if thinner also make the board not much solid if too much pressure on it.
Depending on the thickness of the aluminium, you could put a couple of slight bends along the profile of the deck where I have indicated with red lines, (for example 25 degree bends) in the deck to simulate the concave profile and increase strength. I have done it with 3mm aluminium on my deck and it has worked well.
Surely a bender could do this in a controlled way after milling? If stress cracks were an issue then annealing before bending and post bending harden would involve a high temp with a water quench followed by a lower temp, I am not conversant with the process but I think it is possible
