Building a Rideable Lego Skateboard

The ever-ambitious James Bruton is at it again. The crazed maker who brought us life-size Star Wars Droids, a life-size Iron Man suit, and a 3D printed Alien xenomorph suit, has now 3D printed a human-sized, motorized Lego skateboard.

In this first video, James figures out what he’ll need to 3D print his skateboard, scales up existing Lego component files (available on Thingiverse), and designs his own motor casing. He wanted to print a Lego motor casing design from the 80s. No CAD file for this existed, so he had to create one in Autodesk Fusion 360. He even 3D printed the tires for the wheels (using NinjaFlex flexible filament). The motor he used inside of his upscaled Lego casing is a Turnigy Aerodrive SK3 – 5055-280kv Brushless motor.

For his electronic speed controller (ESC), he went with a Hobby King X-Car ESC, which I think is this one. To power the board, he used two 500mAh LIPO batteries.

In this Part 2 video, you can see James test-riding the board. It’s impressive. He gets significant speed from his motor and belt drive train. The pivot mechanism he built into the deck (allowing it to twist from side-to-side) worked out quite well and allows him to steer the board a bit. Since he only has one skate wheel truck on the front, he can’t really do turns, so it’s definitely a straight-track racer, but he does have some basic directional maneuverability.

Above is Part 2 of the road test and project debrief video shot in 360. There will allegedly be a third video in the series where James will add a brick in the back to house the ESC and battery packs, some 2×2 light bricks in the front and on the motor, and some secret additions he teases.

So, how long does it take to print a human-sized Lego skateboard? James says about 600 hours. Yikes.