Build from England - 80100 windsurf conversion

smith69085 · May 29, 2019, 3:29pm

Hi @Jezza
I just added the parts list to the first post, still a work in progress…

The Box is a: Deltron 480 Aluminium Enclosure, IP68, 222.3 x 146 x 55.9mm

I did originally get a cheap deal on a similar Deltron enclosure from eBay and by chance I thought it would be a good idea to test it when delivered, which was lucky as it leaked like a sieve!
So that one went straight back and I paid full price for a good one. It looked like the ebay one had the slightest warp to the lid and the seal was a bit aged. It was new, but guessing it had been in someones shed for a number of years.

smith69085 · May 29, 2019, 3:43pm

Hi @Mat

Thanks, if only my fibreglass work was as neat!
Oh and big thank you to the detail you and the others have published on your build threads. I referenced yours a lot and doubt I would have started this without .builders!

I haven’t brought the antenna out - yet. The remote I have is cheap and I don’t really expect it to last too long, so modifying the receiver is low down on my list. I’m hoping the proximity or the remote will work through the Aluminium box. The windsurf board had exceptionally good buoyancy so in theory the box should not be submerged completely if at all. I’m going to try as is and modify if necessary.
My other concern is interference from the esc once it gets going, but again time will tell.

Yes, handles is a good idea. How far up the board do you have them? I’m guessing you need to be able to reach them both from the rear of the board?

Mat · May 29, 2019, 5:49pm

you’ll quickly see if the aluminum blocks the signal ( i think you get kind of a Faraday cage)… water does block it for sure, but i’m not sure about the different metals.
More than being underwater, the concern is more you you’re mostly water and if the box is right below you when you lie down on the board, it might be an issue…

for the handles, that’s where i have them… think both being able to reach them and how the board is balanced when you carry it.

smith69085 · May 29, 2019, 8:05pm

Good call. I think I’ll get it all made up and see where the centre balance is, and perhaps have a few runs to decide
I suspect the coming winter will see a few further modifications.

I hadn’t thought about body mass blocking the signal! Its crazy to think the range of these transmitters in open air could be reduced so severely by a few inches of water. I’ll let you know what happens.

jakebarnhill1 · May 29, 2019, 10:04pm

Very nice build! I use a similar aluminium enclosure and don’t have any signal issues, you should be fine.

smith69085 · May 31, 2019, 9:36am

Thought I would carry on the details for the antenna on this in case anyone needed it for reference. I was not 100% sure where to cut and solder to the PCB antenna so have added a thread in the Electronics section.

kenna112 · June 2, 2019, 6:30am

haha , so good to see it , it is for motor is right .

Louis · June 12, 2019, 11:48am

Great build. So now the front of the board is the original back end ?

smith69085 · June 12, 2019, 5:03pm

No the front is still the front. The board’s original tipnand tail have been chopped of. I did this to achieve the most volume possible in the board body.

Progress has been a bit slow the last few weeks, however the electrics box now in, and I have the transparent hatch done. The underside is also ready to go. Once the last lot of epoxy cures I’ll try to get some more pictures.

Started wiring in the electrics too

I have a hell of a lot of sanding to do (which may end up being a bit half jobbed, im not worried if its perfectly smooth!) Then some paint!

smith69085 · June 12, 2019, 5:06pm

Oh and the motor finally turned up!

smith69085 · June 12, 2019, 9:22pm

So I was able to test the remote reception this evening and the receiver is working ok inside the aluminium box, I assume the signal his passing through the plastic glands and rubber seal. I was even able to move to another room with a cavity wall still working no problem so fingers crossed it works the same on the water

charlieuk · June 15, 2019, 9:14pm

Great work but Just a word of advice for the future, epoxy will not bond properly to the pain on the board and you need to make sure you take the paint right back so you ar bonding directly to the fiberglass to get any real strength.

smith69085 · June 20, 2019, 12:22pm

Ok, some more progress!

I spent an hours sanding the board with some liquid encouragement

And started painting with a epoxy paint, bottom and top side

Between coats a full wet sanding,

I have the second coat to put on the bottom, and then another wet sanding planned. I did think I might try to finish the board with the epoxy white, but drips are being too much of an issue, so I’ve got some epoxy white spray paint coming to do the final coat. before the hatch gets fitted.

smith69085 · June 20, 2019, 12:42pm

Work also started on the motor.

FYI, I’m not using the original shaft so used this whilst gluing

The bell housing first, using the centrifugal method.

I ran off some 3d printed rings to go in front and behind the magnets. I measured then tweaked the scale to get a good fit.

No rings

With front Rings

With rear ring. I should have made the inner diameter a little less on this one as its going to need some finishing.

With the rings glued in, I set up an old Unimat lathe with some ‘Splash guards’…
Also did a test pour with a solvent cleaner to check for leaks and clean where the resin was going.

I went with a polyester resin for this because I could increase the cure time. I know epoxy would give better hold on metal, but with the shape of the housing and the magnets, I can’t see this coming out to easily
The lathe is pretty old and I wasn’t keen on running it for hours straight. Turns out this was a good call as it overheated and tripped out the electrics after just under an hour!

However the pour went ok, unfortunately the pot gelled on me before completely finishing so I had some slightly exposed magnets.

After fully cured, and the lathe cooled down, I gave it a good sanding then had another run. This time I got the perfect finish

Just a little finishing to do removing the extra plastic from the larger ring and good to go. Pretty chuffed with the results, and the 3D print rings worked like a charm

The windings will be next, I’ve started a bit but waiting on some bullet connectors to solder on before going any further.

smith69085 · June 20, 2019, 12:54pm

Following on from this I used a product from Sicomin - pretty amazing stuff

You can see it being tested here: https://youtu.be/2RFzH_NB148?t=329

Using the slow version almost no heat is produced and its a very slow, calm process letting it fill all cracks.
The only downside is it needs a post cure at 40°C for at least 6 hours. A bit of a bugger considering the size of the board!

I found a solution though, Using a few layers of water proof membrane to protect the board…

I cranked the heat on the hot tub to 40°C and left it overnight!

This worked amazingly well! The foam epoxy is rock solid now.

SoEFoil · June 20, 2019, 2:53pm

@PowerGlider, is that the type of internal mirror surface requirement you had in mind when creating this thread (point 8) ?

smith69085 · June 25, 2019, 11:21am

Next up is the motor windings. This mostly followed @Mat method. There is a guide somewhere, I just can’t find it at the moment.

I stripped back the existing heat shrink, coated the wires in epoxy and reapplied new shrink. Note, it would have probably been better to wait for the bullet connectors to be soldered on first! But they hadn’t been delivered and I was impatient!

The wires go straight out from the motor now, and I am adding a hole to the motor base, as shown below, for the motors to exit.

The Idea is for the finished article to be a bit like this. So the motor can be easily unplugged without flexing the cables around too much, i.e., the wires are rigid.

I wrapped a bearing in electrical tape, and taped up any part where epoxy should not go (mainly the bearing holes). I went with Araldite standard slow setting, then spent an entire evening applying.

Basically I covered the whole thing then spent the 90 min gel time keeping on top of any drips by rotating the motor held by one beating on a shaft in a small vice and using a spatula to remove excess every 5-10 mins.
Then the next 3-4 hours, mixing up smaller batches to apply to the tacky epoxy already on the motor (for a good chemical bond) to be sure I got any missed parts.

The bullet connectors were soldered on prior to this with no issue (not visible in the pics apparently), and also coated in epoxy right up to the connectors, and then heat shrink applied over them.

The tape was removed from the bearing holes etc. the following morning (6-8 hours), so it had set, but before the epoxy had the full cure and rock hard. I’m pleases with the result so far.

Once assembled, the intention is to connect the phase wires via the bullets, add a few layers of liquid tape (see the parts list in first post) over the joint, and then a covering of heat shrink over the wet liquid tape to seal it all up.

I’m going to look it over with fresh eyes tomorrow and hopefully reassemble the motor this week

PowerGlider · June 25, 2019, 7:29pm

Very nice plastic work! I made my coating much much thinner, around 0.1mm i guess. I hope it is conductive enough for the heat. The original thread about epoxying you find here:

smith69085 · June 27, 2019, 11:39am

All reassembled and tested working well.

One note if I was starting from scratch again, I would make the leads out the motor shorter. So they are only just out of motor (just enough to allow some waterproof connections. Thus would allow more room in the nose cone for the cables. Also I’d have the cables in the forward cavity of the mast and water cooling tube in the rear cavity. Just to make routing easier.

I used the original bearings which I’ll flush out for this summer. Then strip it all down over the winter to check over / touch up and replace with stainless or ceramic.
The shorter shaft is a titanium one, funny material to work with. It can be scolding hot one end and cold the other barely 10cm away.

smith69085 · July 5, 2019, 11:14am

So I finally got all the pieces together today!

And dropped it in a hot tub to do a wet test.

So on the dry all is working as expected, but when in the water its having trouble spinning up the motor. See the YouTube video below.

I’m guessing either I have water getting into a couple of the phase cables,

Or there is a timing issues in the esc settings (Which is a Flier Boat currently set at 20 degrees)
The timing issues is the one I’m leading towards at the moment as when it does spin up it was running really well!
– Also much easier to change the esc settings!

Has anyone building a 80100 experienced this, or it anyone able to diagnose the problem from the video?