Just finished my first build!
I did it relatively cheap but without skimping, don’t know the exact total but probably in the low 300$ range. I will post more detailed pictures/ answer questions as requested.
Build Process (don’t expect award winning writing)
Drive Train: Designed the mount in 123D (Baby’s first CAD software) and got it cnc’d out of aluminum and welded onto el cheapo trucks from amazon. All for free at my universities fabrication lab! I had to do some minor filing for the mount to get as far down the shaft as possible, the truck is a weird tapered, triangle-ish shape. I pretty much eye-balled the levelness of the mount as the professor spot welded it until he did the full weld. After a lot of frustration trying to drill holes in washers and gears perfectly spaced apart I remembered I built a 3d printer last summer and printed a 40t pulley (4 perimeter 35% infill, ABS) and mounted with ease. The wheels are cheap ebay flywheels and came with surprisingly good bearings. Overall I am happy with the setup, I get a decent amount of cogging if I am not careful with the acceleration but I think its mainly due to the acceleration which I will touch on later. I go to university where it is completely flat, so the cogging only happens when you try to start from zero momentum or try to slam the throttle way to fast, its manageable though.
Electronics This is were thing got…unfortunate.
When putting the two 3s batteries in series I accidentally connected the balancing plugs to they y junction backwards. When I connected the main negative and positive leads (to put them in series) they welded together and I quickly cut the connection. No visible damage to the batteries but I had to resolder some of the wires as the old ones fried. After connecting them they appear to work,except after driving about 1/2 mile it starts not throttling and the ESC indicates that its got a low voltage even though the voltage is fine. To fix it I have to turn it off leave it for a few minutes then its good for another 1/2 mile or so. Anyways I used 10 AWG wire which was probably overkill. Using a FVT ESC had I known the VESC was going on sale I probably would have waited and I am really not fond of the slowest acceleration setting on the FVT ESC.
Enclosure & Ports Bought generic “Hammond” abs boxes and mounted them on opposite ends to hopefully help with the clearance issues of these gigantic boxes. Looking back I probably could have 3d printed a case and laid the individual cells flat, but I surprisingly haven’t scraped the boxes yet coming down a curb. The bigger box has the batteries and wires to a xt90 charging port, and 6s balancing port epoxied into the side of the box for easy access. The Front box has an xt90 “key” used to turn it on and off.
Overall happy with my build hopefully my batteries aren’t busted open for questions, pictures or insight on my problem above.
EDIT: It appears the ESC is blinking green which actually means overheating. Any good ways to cool this ESC? the box is enclosed because I wanted it somewhat weatherproof. Perhaps drill some holes in the box?
