I’m kinda terrified to upload my own firmware… plus whats the fun in limiting the power of your board 
I’m presenting to that age group and younger, so I need to keep it simple. More pictures will be added later, this is just the rough draft.
1 Like
I just learned what Turning radius means today thanks
save us the trouble and don’t try to sound educated about things when you’re not.
i’m not trying to be rude by the way.
3 Likes
you don’t even need to try 
Treat the electric skateboard as a system, and proceed to break it down into its components and sub-components, describing their functionality as you go.
Electric Skateboard
- Deck (wood/carbonfiber, griptape)
- Traditional Mechanical –Trucks (baseplate, hangar, kingpin, bushings) –Wheel Assemblies (Wheels, bearings, spacers, speedrings)
- Electromechanical –Power Supply (batteries, BMS, loopkey/e-switch) –Speed Controller (ESC) –Human Interface (Remote, receiver) –Drivetrain (Trucks Mount, Motor Mount, Motor, Motor Pulley, Wheel Pulley, Timing Belt)
- Summary - Describe how all of the subsystems work together
1 Like
That is perfect. great way to organize it. Thanks!
1 Like
Your presentation looks great! but Is your goal to make electric skateboards Look simple, advanced Or both?
I want to make it understandable to a younger crowd with no background in engineering, but also make it advanced enough so the people with that background don’t get bored. The goal is to generate more interest in manufacturing and technology, and using a product I made to fix a real world problem is a perfect way to do that.
1 Like
I know it’s hard to catch the attention of kids, so i would try to do some sort of brainstorming in the beginning on what they think you need to electrify a skateboard. Involve them right from the start.
They will probably get the fundamentals like battery and motor, maybe even think about remote and stuff. From there on you could build on that and as questions like “how to get the power of the motor to the wheels?” and segway to transmission systems (hubs, gears, belts, chains). Or “What’s important in a remote?” to also speak about basic telemetry stuff.
Maybe don’t get too much into the theory of what exactly the VESC does to spin the motor, many of them won’t have any background in electronics and it will seem very abstract to them. At least that’s what i find when talking to younger people about my boards. Maybe be a bit like popular science and compare the specs of a 1500$ boosted board with a DIY Board in this price range, or put together components for a boosted equivalent board for half that price. And also don’t forget to illustrate things like power transmission, ideally some sort of animation for it.
I think the most important thing is to show them that it’s not just “slapping a motor on a skateboard”, but instead many different systems and electronics working together as one. That you need careful planning for each detail during the build, but that exactly this is the rewarding experience you get when building a board.
Anyways these are my quick 2 cents about this. I think the goal should not be to teach them how exactly an eboard is built - they forget the technical details in a few minutes after the presentation if they don’t already have a particular interest in the topic already… But what they will take away is the philosophy of engineering and building stuff yourself and how cool esk8 in general is 
2 Likes
Yea, its not fun its really easy just make sure you know what tool to use for the updated version, i was freaking out hard that i broke it but then i was just using the wrong tool
That is a great idea. I wouldn’t mind doing a hands on type thing. Maybe I can get GMI to invest money to make a boosted equivalent but I like the idea of comparing DIY to commercial. I like the idea of brainstorming what goes into a board too. Great ideas!
1 Like
i’m your target audience btw.
bring up things they know about (casey neistat, tesla, etc), and if at all possible, bring something hands on, (flip your board upside down, limit duty cycle and let them spin up the motor). every slide needs atleast 1 picture, find the cleanest looking boards you can find on here (I recommend @whitepony, @Eboosted, @Nowind)
make it as interactive as humanly possible
I will do that when I have more experience, for now I already have killed 2 vescs, I don’t want to have to buy more
1 Like
Great ideas. Have you had time to ask people what they would want to know? I like the idea of making it relatable, especially with Casey. I definitely am gonna bring the board and let them spin motor, and I will ride it a bit. I think RC cars might be relatable to some people too.
TBH I am pretty close to the target audience too, I’m only 19. I just have a big background in engineering. That’s why I am the one presenting, to show what kids can do at their age. I will have to ask permission to use their pictures probably, but that’s a great idea!
1 Like
if you really want to make it relatable, you can put a pic of one of my boards in, cause i’m not gonna lie, 5 years seems like a lifetime away. if you could add something that someone exactly their age or younger built it’d probably be a huge motivator to build one themselves
most of the people i’ve asked just said they’d like to have a brief overview of each component (battery, esc, motor, drivetrain). they also said not to make it ultra complex and in depth, just a VERY basic overview so they could do the rest if they really were interested
I explained how a brushless motor works using cat chasing its tail I linked the presentation so far in the original post if you want to take a look. Still a lot to be done, but most the content is there. I will for sure link one of your boards. Any one in particular you would want?
just choose the best looking one, looks are a solid 99% of it
Agreed 10 char
1 Like
Having a hard time finding pictures of your full builds. Can you post one of your prettiest board? Maybe go outside and take some glamour shots like a good esk8 deserves I am certainly impressed by your work! Especially with CAD, that is some fairly advanced stuff. Where did you learn how to do that? Not many can do that at 13.