Amazing work, I really love to have all those tools.
The cnc routing machine is sick, perfect for routing decks.
What range are you expecting on GT mode?
25km in GT mode with AT tyres more or less; that’s what my friend has
How about street tires like abec 11 97mm?
don’t know, but with AT tyres, we went from 14km (mixed) to 25km in GT mode so you can oversee that’s gonna get your A LOT of coverage.
i think we’re in business. Forgive the maniacal laughter the entire time, sometimes i get carried away when i’m improving people’s premium commercial boards.
also the CNC: Thsts an X-Carve. i got the 1000mm package to start and then modified it. the original price of the unit was $1300 shipped and you assemble it yourself. the mods i’ve done to it were $100 total.
you can get the smaller X-Carve and then get the rails you need for your application along with it and do the whole thing at once for a less money.
im STILL paying that thing off, i put the whole thing on my business credit card the second i got my business account like a damn fool.
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I finished it up and wired it in. IT runs, and charges. So far no explosions. We ran it around the block a few ties and we’re pretty happy with how it turned out.
I’m offering this as a service now. You send me your cells and board and i’ll mod it for you. $350.
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exactly - that’s definitely my view !
nice work. How long does it take to fully charge that new battery pack? I’m interested in building this, although I lack the tools to carve out the indentation on the deck. Maybe I can try to find a shop somewhere in town that’ll let me rent some time on it for an hour.
if you can’t find one i’ll carve the spots for you cheap + shipping. Consider it a favor of last resort if you can’t dig up a guy locally.
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Thanks! That would be swell!
Nice. Please show some intermediate steps if you can so I may look at it in the future when I try it 
looking forward to this! I love that this is a thing and people are doing it.
Could you build a bamboo GT battery and ship to the client and let the client install? Perhaps for a lower service fee?
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I don’t have any plans on doing that. you have to modify the deck with a router or CNC, so there’s more going on than just swapping out a pack. Plus i have to use connectors from the original pack, and disposal/recycling of the original evolve pack is included. All together its worth the time to provide the service, but just building flexy packs wouldn’t be something I could charge as much for and becomes less worth my time. It’s a precarious balance. I almost didn’t offer this service at all, but now that i’ve done three of them I’m getting into a groove with it.
Oh ok. I thought I could make the mod with a dremel.
What did you modify and why? I’m this close to getting CNC… appreciate your experience and suggestions.
I just rode w/ a bunch of Bamboo GT guys last week on a meetup ride in my area. What does this battery upgrade cost (if i’m chatting with one and want to send them your way)?
Great thread and pics LHB!
$350 plus cells. I have it listed on my site now. Usually i send people to liionwholsale.com for the cells but you can get them wherever you want. Send them to me along with the board and i’ll do the whole thing and send it back within a couple of days of getting the cells and board. I’m trying to do real fast turnarounds on these.
Oh also the mods on the x-carve: i made the Y axis longer to about 5’ and the x-axis shorter to about 2.5 feet. I did that so i could cut out complete decks and not take up more space than i need to.
On the bamboos i take out wood for the higher battery and more wood for the taller electronics stack, i have to take the BMS out and put it on top of the ESC so there needs to be a cavity there.
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How much extra vertical space was needed in your experience to make the 18650s fit?
And how much would you charge just for the battery pack, sans wood milling?
about 2 millimeters i beleive it is. packs are $200 plus cells and don’t include BMS or switches or chargers or any of that.