Close

CAD

A project log for Building an Electric Longboard

Designing and building a custom electric longboard for commuting.

jamie-searleJamie Searle 09/14/2022 at 04:080 Comments

Deck

Whilst I was waiting for my new Caliber trucks to arrive, I wanted to produce a CAD model of the board to help visualise the overall assembly.

I began by importing the pictures of the deck from here into Fusion 360. This gave me a basis to sketch from:


I then extruded the base sketch to produce a blank of the board, that I cut to shape by intersecting the top-view:



I then added holes and chamfers as appropriate. It's worth noting that the holes are not perfect - the tops/bottoms are not flat as I used splines to model the deck. This makes them difficult to assemble components to accurately. I could have gone to the hassle of getting it perfect which would allow me to design parts like the electronics enclosure more accurately in CAD. 

However I think there's something satisfying about getting more hands-on from time to time. As a mechanical engineer, and someone who spends more time modifying their 3D printers than they do actually using them, I tend to turn into a bit of a CAD monkey sometimes. This can lead to mistakes which may easily be avoided by simply measuring things in real life, or producing cardboard templates and taking some hand tools into the equation, because in the real world dimensions are not perfect and tolerances come into play. 

Anyway, the deck is now modelled up. Like I said, this CAD model will serve more as a visual aid for the proportions of the board and component placement than it will as a detailed design record. 

Trucks

I will hold my hands up and admit I cheated a little here. I found this model on GrabCAD for 50 degree Caliber trucks. These are slightly different to the ones I will be using, which use a 44 degree baseplate and raked hanger, but the model will suffice.

I extended the hanger width to 184mm, painted all the parts in pretty colours, and assembled them with the correct constraints. 

Wheels

These were tougher to model. I started with a revolve which included all of the small chamfers and main surfaces:

In hindisght this makes it harder to manage the relationships between different constraints, and modify dimensions without moving other aspects of the sketch. But, it worked I guess.

I added a few extra dress-up features where needed, and then drew the cut out for the ABEC-style mounting holes.  This was then extruded through, and patterned around the centre.

Lastly, I assembled in some standard 608 bearings found on GrabCAD.

Draft Assembly

With all of the components of the basic deck ready to go, I chucked all the models into a soup, threw in some herbs and spices and nuts and bolts, and out came this:

At least now this project has a nice cover photo to use! 

Discussions