Ballerina Badass Board - DIY Build First timer

Although I do like the idea of a carbon wraparound, kinda inspired by @whitepony and the amazing job on the spud. I mean, how hard can it be… :joy::joy: ( extreme sarcasm)

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Yeah, I wanted to do it too, but I don’t trust myself to not screw things up ahah. I’m probably just going to get an earthwing belly racer and paint it matte black to match my enclosure.

I recon I’ll have a crack, worst case scenario it’ll be entertaining for the forum and a learning curve for me!

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@whitepony does it with a vacuum bag. It takes longer but is better. Vacuum bag kits cost about $600 AUD so very expensive. Just get a brush, mix the hardener and resin and brush over.

Ah that sounds a bit better, just googled the set up and I was like yikes! That’s a costly exercise. Have you done any carbon work?

I haven’t done any carbon work. Don’t have the money right now.

Too easy, I’ll YouTube it, have a crack and let you know how it goes :+1:t6:

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Haha! Glad I’m not the only one bribing the wifey with her own board. Built this one for mine.

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First - congrats on having a cool wife who’s willing to esk8 and let you get started w/ her own board! So much easier that way. I did the opposite, and built mine first, then one for her.

Flex - i’d look at another deck, or a different battery setup - that would suck to waste the SPACE cell. Or use it on your next build (your pin tail might not work well shape wise w/ SPACE cell though…).

If you want to keep flex - you need to separate your batteries and ESC front and back w/ center clear to flex. Look at OKP and whitepony’s Vanguard builds for ideas. Not simple and probably a tough project to learn on.

To stiffen a board is relatively easy (even i can do it…). Like @lox897 said - Epoxy and CF or GF. Realize that CF is conductive so you want to be careful (it also block RF so can affect Tx/Rx range or issues). The sanding dust can short stuff - so sand someplace w/ good ventilation and clean up regularly (wear a mask etc.).

I’m a big guy, and i’ve used CF a few times now to help reinforce a board (or to make it look nicer). This is all for me to learn how to do it better - so nothing is super polished but definitely functional. I have an “ultimate” build in mind and i’m not willing to mess it up - so these are literally my practice runs!

First i did a simple top cover of an Omen Sugar (flat wires under GF like boosted) - not because of flex, and not because the bottom graphic is so amazing - mainly just to practice and wanted to have a clean middle w/o power wire running Fr -> Bk:

I built a board for a buddy:

(in process - did top and bottom)

I recommend you cut the excess off (as close as possible to edge) when it gels - depending on your epoxy and temp (how fast it will cure) this can be 5-10min or an hour. I used slow hardener, so usually about 35-45min:

(sanding is optional - especially w/ power tools be careful - i burned through an edge…) I added a UV protectant spray paint coat to wet it after sanding and protect UV yellowing. Bit of Vicious grip on top (last i had in black w/ basic grip in middle)

Most recently i’m working on a hollow bottom setup on an Omen Chief. A buddy at work had a CNC router and said he could hollow out the bottom for a nice finish, and kinda royally screwed it up. Burned through a couple spots, so i filled them w/ CF scrap and am CF the top and bottom (it was pretty thin in the middle). Super strong now and I definitely over-built the top. 12k CF is beefy and especially important to clean the edges while wet/gel vs when hard. Good scissors when gelled, then dremel the edges as close to flush as possible before finishing with sander. 2 layers on most of the top:

The garbage bag underneath won’t stick to resin so drips are easy to clean up. A lot of sanding (wear gloves and long sleeves - very itchy!). You can also use packing tape around the edges to avoid drips on the bottom - less to sand and cleanup later!

Good scissors are helpful. Another great trick is to use a thin piece of painter’s tape and cut down the middle of the tape. It keeps the edges clean and from unraveling.

That’s probably what i’ve learned to-date… It’s a lot of fun and really satisfying to see the end result on your board. It will not turn a super flexy deck into a rock solid plank - but it will help stiffen. You may still need to re-plan your wife’s setup w/ that battery enclosure (no flex).

Hope this info and pics are helpful - ask if any questions i can help with.

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vacuum bagging is 100% foolproof! really anyone would get great results and I cant really think about a way how to screw it up! :slight_smile:

That looks amazing mate! Well done!

Thanks a ton mate, great run through and really helpful! I’ll read/Google/YouTube and kick off once I have a plan of attack. Really appreciate the trouble you went to to put this helpful advice up :+1:t6::+1:t6:

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I think the vacuum bagging looks amazing, but just find it hard to justify the expense of the setup… Already sunk a few $$ in the project with no roll time yet… :grimacing:

it really pays off longterm if you like to fiddle - many things you can do with vacuum bagging!

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Hi,…i am a new user here. As per my knowledge If you want to keep flex you need to separate your batteries and ESC front and back w/ center clear to flex. Look at OKP and whitepony’s Vanguard builds for ideas. Not simple and probably a tough project to learn on.To stiffen a board is relatively easy. Epoxy and CF or GF. Realize that CF is conductive so you want to be careful. The sanding dust can short stuff - so sand someplace w/ good ventilation and clean up regularly.

prototype pcb assembly services

Thanks for the tips @JeanaPerry

HA - good info Jeana

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So after being away for a month, all my parts have slowly arrived. Still waiting on a few key things but managed to get my drive train assembled and thanks to @jacobbloy for awesome tutorial videos ( and kudos for being an awesome dad/partner looking after your young baby while making the video mate) got the VESC configured to pumping some serious juice to the motor. I will govern this down before my first ride.

I couldn’t jump on the board yet as it has way too much flex, so am waiting for some carbon fibre to arrive and will put four layers on each board. Yup am doing two at the same time, but I’ll start another build thread for the second board as I’m using @torqueboards motor and drive train on the next one as a comparison. I will say straight off the bat though @onloop the enertion drive train (wheel pulley, motor pulley, motor and motor mount) was super smooth and easy to assemble, given the option the next time around I’d go this again as it was fast and easy to assemble.

Anyway, I need to pop into Bunnings today and grab some more bits and pieces, but everything going well I should have a working board by this time next week. And once my second enertion space cell arrives, my second beast will be alive too!

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Sounds good Rye! Fixed your tag to Jacob :wink:

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