Foil Drive Assist, DIY

I’ve done it for the last 4 months and run the motor in salt water. No issues at all. I make sure to rinse the motor with fresh water after each use and spray corrosion X after 3-4 sessions.

I have just used Velcro to connect the cable to the board. Flexible Velcro has been cut to a thin strip and stuck to the outside of the 3 core cable using marine glue. The other bit of Velcro has been stuck to the board. It is working well so far.

Thanks. It is 6ft 8” by 25”, 125 Litres.

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The first time you left it submerged in Corrosion x? every time you spray it…do you do it without the rotor? directly on the winding?

I sprayed corrosion x on the rotor and stator (directly on the wires) while separated and then let then sit inside a plastic bag to soak in. I did not submerge them in corrosion X. I make sure the stainless steel ball bearings get a good soaking. Someone else on this forum said that they’ve been doing the same for a year without issues. This is why I decided to take this approach versus trying to epoxy the motor which turned into a mess for me.

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Here is a video of my board and foil assist build in case anyone was interested in a few more pics etc.

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Does anyone know where to purchase the 6384 motor without the shaft like foil drive uses? I can only find the version that has the shaft.

Thanks

You can cut it off yourself, I did it with a dremel (on a 63100).

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Saite do it fully waterproofed too I think…

The waterproofed 6374 page is not accessible any more. There was hope for a waterproofed 6384. Doesn’t mean you can’t get it if you ask…

A certain company may have asked for it to be removed :rofl:

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Just bought 2 of the 6384 motors 120kv. for 390USD (for both).
Both were waterproofed with epoxy and ceramic bearings and shaft cut short/flush. that was including shipping which took 2 weeks to build and shipping time included.

Shenzhen Saite Motor Co., Ltd.
Chris Kuang

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I accidentally placed an inquiry on AliExpress for min order: 10 (slight oversight)

And this is the response I received

That’s pretty piss poor service from a company! Any other corporate should be able to approach them request a type of motor…

If they don’t like the request, don’t advertise motors that can be customised.

Although I got two from Saite which were customised,it’s easy to cut the shaft off. I’d agree that this is a poor response from whomever that was but you should be able to buy a multi purpose Bldc engine regardless…FD don’t have a monopoly on these things…buy the same thing from someone else…

Comparing the price of a unmodified Saite 6384 on AliExpress, the cheapest I found was $180 + $22 shipping with the “stock” 6384 120kv which is $52 + $2.5 shipping, the Saite costs about 4x more! I, like other efoilers use the stock 6384 and knows it works well so the question is; what do you gain to buy the Saite? I assume it is better, but not to justify the price.

Looking at the prices at Alibaba the unit price is $94 (10pc $74) so it is clear that the price is inflated on Aliexpress, maybe due to fewer Saite dealers there. So the real price is close to 2x the stock one, which is ok if the quality is somewhat better.

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Yeh I paid $87 (aud) for a 6384 120kv last year.
I can’t comment on quality though because it is in pieces waiting to be modded. I have the ceramic bearings ready to go just need some slow cure epoxy.
On my list. Haha

I don’t think the Saite engine is the “best” out there…its a simple engine which is easily replicated by most Chinese manufacturers making these things…FD probably just found they could get the cheapest deal through them initially and voila !!!.. all they’ve done is epoxied the stator coil…and put in non corroding bearings all of which can be done yourself and relatively easily. I’ve got two of these and they’re really basic with basic epoxying…they’re not finished all that well and have a bit of 3 core flex attached which will need redoing as it’s all a bit messy…

Like some , I also went to Saite because I didn’t know as much as I’ve learned about all this now and thought its just easier to get the same product as FD. After some really good advice from some on this forum I also now know that
you can use pretty much any engine of the 6374/6384 spec with a lower rated Kv and get what you’re after…

I’ve been looking at other engines (flipsky, alien power etc. ) and all of these would work very well…the main issue is that their physical design(s) vary (mainly to suit a cleaner/tidier ESk8 function) and that will affect how you mount the engine to just about any motor pod design out there currently; these being designed around the “older” Saite style outer housing…in short all the mounting holes will be different (if they exist at all)…I see that Flipsky have now gone for a flat blank hole less end cap which is really tidy for an eSk8 look but useless for an FD as you have nothing to mount the engine to !!

So you’re CAD skills need to be adequate to make the required alterations to make everything fit !!!..its all part of the journey and there is no quick way around it.

KONUTZ

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Thanks for the info. I find that the cheap 6384 120kv does the job both for foil drive and efoil, and since it is cheap, it is not a big deal if it breaks under heavy load. The Saite looks a bit more refined, but might not be much better than other motors. As you say some of them lacks mounting holes for propeller or mount so it is better to stick with the ones having 4 screw holes on both sides.

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Found this 54.4usd total on Aliexpress: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804194195478.html
Is it reasonable to buy it cheaper than that on alibaba, here 39.99usd for a 3600W with trade insurrance ?