I won't say this has been super hard. I've had some experience with virtual servers and poking linux in a terminal before but running a platform for others to use 24/7 is a change of pace.
All that said this forum would be nothing if not for you all choosing to:
-- A. Trust me to run the place.
-- B. Continue to make the forum a welcoming and friendly platform.
-- C. Support and help along the way.
I'm grateful to you all for keeping the place alive and allowing it to flourish from the ashes of it's former self. To those that are still here, those that no longer visit and the newer members I look forward to keeping the place running another year so you have a safe space to share your Onewheel adventures, builds and friendships.
No idea what's coming this year but I'm hopeful we all get an amazing year of floating in no matter what you're riding.
I just wanted to say a massive thank you for keeping this place as nice as it is. Consider this an appreciation post to everyone :)
I've noticed a lot of negativity within the overall community yet here remains nice, helpful and above all enjoyable to browse and be a part of. This feels more like a community and I'm grateful for seeing it survive as such without a need for any intervention.
@cheppy44 , Me and Kyle outside the office. 2 XS's and a freshy XR
Huge shoutout to Kyle, Joey, Jack and the team for actually taking the time to see our little creations and show us about a little.
Not to mention Andy, Lisa and Joaquin who enabled the visit. Drove us from SF to Santa Cruz. They were super cool and we spent the rest of the day and evening exploring SF ^-^
They were heading to Santa Cruz to drop off a red truck they used at their exhibit which actually happened to be the same one FM used in some promotional material (you can still see the decals used to say onewheel).
Seeing the XS's lined up in their office was great.
Shame there wasn't one we could leave with them but we gave Kyle one of the 2 rails we made extra so they have something from the XS to keep ahold of. Wren has the other :3
Something I was super stoked to see was old Ironsides. The OG that started it all. It's quite the thing in person!
It did work but they had to connect some bits 😅 Didn't get to ride it though. Kinda forgot to ask.
Ironsides, the XS MK1 and the Mk2. I sort of want to do a half scale of it too but I think a GT-S is more appropriate. especially since I plan to make one of these actually move under me.
After a bit the guys took us through parts of the office. I won't share those pics since that's probably not something we should share in case there were secrets I didn't notice. However we did get to take the Onewheel barrow for a spin.
After our visit Joey had lunch with us at a nearby oceanside café.
Was a fun little area to chill and chat. Got to hear some cool inside deets about RFTR.
I'm glossing over bits but I'm still sort of trying to relax after everything that happened last week 😅 Got a bunch of things to still share but like no time to share D: Need to take a day to just unwind.
Was working on something else and got a little worn out doing all the tedious ground work.
The new piece isn't me (gasp) but it's a biggy like my last one "Night Float" So will likely be a while till I'm done with that.
To try and loosen up and chill I did a round of doodling and decided to recreate an event that happened last year where I nearly ran over a little froggo D:
Here's the end result~
Tried a few new things, thought adding visible emotion to the helmet helped with the vibe while giving some cartoonish linework to emphasise the motion and reaction.
The frog came out cute too although I have to admit the crude sketch version felt cuter.
Here's the initial idea sketch... yes it's super crude.
Then a followup linework to flesh out the drawing.
Getting some test prints from RB to see if it comes out nicely. Some stickers and a 40x40 pillow to go with the other one :)
A handful of pics from my trip to the US. I have a bunch but trying not to spam. If you want more of these or keep up visually with what I'm doing I've been using Instagram more. https://www.instagram.com/comikzink/
First up was this beautiful pic I took of @Crow_OW , mine, @cheppy44 and @Demimoto boards on our first ride together towards the end of the day. That night riding back in the complete darkness was a time I will not forget.
@cheppy44 Being the amazing boyfriend he is managed to get this entire bridges lights redone to show our fave colours as a surprise for me when we rode by it on a ride he planned well in advance.
During our time together we rode around an Arboretum which was really pretty and only slightly sullied by some meanie in golfcart telling us we can't ride around here... even though other modes of transport not too dissimilar were allowed. Jobsworth type guy so we didn't fight it.
Another groupride with Nick, Josh, Adam and Alyssa this time
Before leaving me and Nick followed up on the stickers we placed on one of my regular rides by adding a matching pair on his.
(I'm such a criminal, vandalising signs like that)
To finish it up on our last ride together I got one clip for an upcoming video in a picturesque area.
They were happy for me to re-install it since popping stators back in is a bit of a hairy task. Gotten a little used to it now so happy to do it.
However I don't have the rail to actually handle this properly... but I do have a lot of scrap wood.
Card around the magnets as a barrier for when it inevitably wants to scrape on it's way down. Stupid easy drop in with a little extra convincing with the press to seat it onto the hub bearing properly.
And there it is. I don't have the plate either so left the bearing off the other side. It's easier and imo better to mount the bearing on the plate then slide that onto the axle. It'll hopefully get collected at some point and be put back to use. Hopefully this time not in water 😩
I'll let y'all know if this truly was a success once I hear back. But based on measurements it seems all good.
Bearings came out great after a few more cleaning soaks and scrubbing. Repacked them with grease which as expected made them no longer spin freely but they're smooth and clearly going to last longer now.
Cleaned up the magnets too while I was at it. There was a few bits of dried gunk and some corrosion stains on them. Thankfully those mostly came off with a bit of vigorous scrubbing.
Touched up the hall joints as they seemed a little off. Redid the other joints too just while I was at it which made them easier to check. All seemed to measure right after doing so which is good since I don't have any spare.
I finally got that phase pin that was blackened clean and measuring fine too. I don't have a floatwheel motor connector to mate it too and test it but I put my probes in relatively loose and they all measure when testing between all 3 combinations.
So with it electrically and visually looking fine it's time to put bits back together.
I'm only putting the hub bearing in for now while I wait for the owner to say if they would like me to completely re-assemble it or leave the stator out so they can check my work first.
Been getting a lot of use out of this press. Definitely got a good feel for it despite what people say about using these for seating bearings.
Hope to let y'all know soon if it works or not once they get it back. If it does I might pop open my old XR that I used to submerge while riding through streams. See how bad it is and refurbish it given I know I can do it.
@wheelwizard Seems like it. It's been confirmed it went through some mud and I've been finding it in the stator still.
Rust is now mostly gone after a LOT of scrubbing with a toothbrush, WD contact cleaner and #0000 steel wool.
After constantly rotating the motor, adding cleaner, scrubbing and seeing brown keep appearing in bits I'd already gone over I realised there was actual mud between the plate stacks. I managed to sweep out one and sure enough... clean. So went through and did the rest.
Will have to wash the motor off after to make sure no steel wool or stuff is still just floating around on the motor before assembling but it's on the home stretch ^-^
Me and the rust are wearing each other down. War of attrition but I think I'm winning 😤
It's taking a while and honestly been taking little breaks to see if I can repair the bearings. These are so damn expensive and ngl I feel like they're not as disposable as we're treating them. So I've been whittling away with a toothbrush and dish soap.
There is a shocking amount of stuff that I slowly managed to work out. Like without pulling the cage and peaking at the balls it's hard to tell what was truly causing the issue since this clearly isn't just water damage. Silt maybe? It wasn't crunchy like when you get sand in the bearing and the colour was brown like mud so maybe it was that. Pretty bad regardless to completely lock it up.
Anyway I finally got them to spin. Not perfectly so I'll see if I can keep cleaning but this is progress. I wonder if I can actually restore these to a usable standard.
These were completely seized before so I'm a little surprised they spun at all. Especially since there seemingly wasn't any amount of force you could put into these to rotate even a little.
These are now sitting in an isopropyl bath overnight with a little agitation now and then. I may result to using some more harsher chemicals on these for some of the nastier looking corrosion present on the exteriour if I can't clean those off with some #0000 steel wool.
Just a heads up. I'm in the process of planning a large upgrade to the forum to bring it in line with the latest major release. Should run a little better and come with a few new features.
I'm going to run an upgrade to the latest release on a sandboxed offline copy of the forum so I can test it out first and make sure nothing too drastic changes that may cause confusion.
If all goes well I'll be taking another backup and scheduling in the upgrade with some prior warning in case I need a bit more downtime than expected.
@hydropage Sorry to hear you nosedived. Do you recall the events and conditions prior to it happening?
Like the type of terrain, estimated speeds if you can and if there were any obstacles like rocks, roots or some other object that could have contributed.
It may be worth recording a few rides using the app and seeing what sort of utilisation the board is under especially in the area it happened to try figure out a possible cause for the nosedive to occur without any noticeable warning.
Been asked to take a look at a stator from a Floatwheel that's been flooded.
I've become the go to for "nobody else will even look at it" jobs. What can I say, I like a challenge. That and I'm stubborn.
The board was supposedly "washed" but looks like it's been submerged or pressure washed since the stator has a clear line where it was left on it's side half full of water and the owner stated there was a puddle in the motor when the stator was removed, dripping with water. Board had been leant out to someone that had done this. I won't get further into the details since I'm not interested in throwing shade. I'm just here to fix the sad little motor.
Not pictured is one phase pin is completely charred so likely the gradual seizing of the motor drew too much power and nearly obliterated the pin itself. Might be recoverable but I'll see. The big chunk of rust has my attention atm.
The bearings on both sides are completely seized too which is what prompted the owner to suspect the board had been mistreated. They do not turn at all like they're a singular chunk of metal. Popping the seals gives a little hint as to why.
Pulling them wasn't too hard. The hub one came out fine in my hydraulic press (only use one for bearings if you know how to do it, you'll crack a casing otherwise).
The other one needed some persuasion with a puller and a hammer to tap it free. Used the block and some scrap metal to help pull it off the seized portion then tapped it off the rest of the way.
Waiting on some more chemicals to help me remove the rust without stripping the copper enamel.
Will update this as I go. Didn't see much online about restoring motors especially Onewheel ones so figured I'd bring y'all along for the ride to see if it's do-able.
