SmartSkate

Hello my name is Jonas Van Slambrouck, student MCT @Howest Kortrijk Belgium. In this instructable I'm going to lead you trough making an electric PennyBoard with website support. Personally I would like to think this is a relatively cheap DIY e-skate. Especially because it has a personalized website with statistics and much more. Be sure to read the full instructable first before attending to make this project.

Marterials

For this project you will need a few things, I have made an excel document with all the components and links to the site I bought them at. You can find this file in my github repo via this link.

Here are all the components you need:

• 50A VESC
• raspberry pi 4
• 2 * 3S Lipo battery's
• 6354 190KV Brushless motor
• level shifter
• 0.96inch OLED display
• XT-90 anti-spark plug
• 2m 16 AWG silicone wire
• Wii remote
• 27inch penny
• 70mm wheels
• jst-xh connectors
• 4mm bullet connectors
• 275mm belt
• bn-880 GPS module
• power button
• 8mm motor pulley
• 10 XT-90 connectors
• mcp3008
• a power bank (min 2.5A output)
• a shrink tube set
• 100mm * 50mm PCB
• 6 * 10kOhm resistor
• 3.3kOhm resistor
• 18kOhm resistor
• 30kOhm resistor
• 56kOhm resistor
• 68kOhm resistor
• 82kOhm resistor

You will also need some hardware, normally you can get this in your local hardware store.

• 5 * (M4*40mm) + nuts + washer
• 4 * (M4*8mm) + washers
• 1 * (M8*80mm) + 2 normal nuts + 1 anti-slip nut
• 2 * (M6*70mm) + washers + wing nut
• 3 * (M6*40mm) + washers + nut
• 8 * skateboard washers

You will also need a bunch of wires for all the connections, I recommend using standard jumper wires.

Tools

You will also need some tools, I tried to use basic tools so everyone could remake this project.

• a drill (with 5mm & 6mm bit)
• a screwdriver
• a 8mm, 10mm & 13mm wrench
• a hammer :)
• a soldering iron and some tin

As you might of saw, there are a few things that need to be 3D printed. I suggest asking a friend who has a printer or buying a printer yourself because it will be a pricy project if you let it print by a specialized company.

Do keep in mind that a few of these prints need support.

All of the 3d-files are listed below.

To make it easy I made an electronics and breadboard scheme so you can test it out first before soldering it all together.

The schemes are in pdf, png and fritzing format below.

There are a few thing that need to bee assembled here. I will divide it in 3 steps.

Step 1

This first step will ben preparing all the electronics for assembly. I will list up all the thing you need to do.

• Solder the 3 bullet connectors and an XT-90 to the VESC like the 2nd picture (don't forget to put on some shrink tubes).
• Solder all XT-90 connectors like picture 3 and make sure to cut the wires long enough.
• For your safety I included an anti-spark plug, this will make sure none of the components will get broken while powering on the device. You just need to make a loop with some wire and the anti-spark plug like in picture 4.
• To connect the battery's and signal wires of the VESC you need to solder some parts to the PCB. I used some wire under the PCB to connect the components. You can find my layout in picture 5 & 6. Just use my electronics scheme from above to make sure all connections are right.
• A few components come with loose wire or connectors that don't fit. That's why you bought some JST connectors, these are easy to use, you don't even need to solder them, just use a pair of pliers and clamp it down. I'll show you my connections in pictures 7,8 & 9.

Step 2

In this step you will put some of your printed pars on the board and setup the cables of the raspberry.

• Take off the front truck and place the base of the front case under it. Mount the truck back on the board. Put the second base behind it with 2cm in between.
• Drill through the holes in the board and put the M6*40mm & M6*70mm bots through it.
• Now cut out a piece of foam to protect all of the electronics, I used some foam from left over packaging.
• Put the raspberry on the foam and lead all the cables under the bases to the front like I did in picture 1.
• Stick the button trough the hole in the case and connect all of the other parts to the raspberry pi.

Step 3

In this final step we will put on all the rest of the parts.

• Slide the motor mounts over the truck and bolt the motor to them
• Bind the mounts together with the thick bolt.
• Drill 5 holes through the wheel and put the bots through them, tighten them with the nuts.
• Put the wheels back back on and put the cases on the board.

If all of these steps were completed well, then your penny should look like picture 10.

This step is purely informational for the people who want to edit my database.

To set up the pi correctly you can write your own code or use mine. I made a github repo with all the code an instructions you need.

Here are some more photo's to help you through the assembly of the project.