Converting a Go-Kart into a Deathtrap | Hacker News Reader

Converting a Go-Kart into a Deathtrap

matto.io

113 pointsmattogodoy42 comments

Nice project!

Did you know that instead of buying new motor controllers, you can re-use the hoverboard motor controller? Awesome people have made open source firmware you can flash to it: https://github.com/EFeru/hoverboard-firmware-hack-FOC. With this firmware you can make the motors go way faster, up to 40km/h with a 12S battery.

We are also building a kart with hoverboard motors, with a custom welded steel frame. Vibrations are a real issue with the standard solid rubber wheels, hopefully I can find the same air tires you used!

Our website is in Dutch, but you can watch the videos: https://projects.raphson.nl/projects/kart/

Maybe this will help someone to not over-engineer a kart: in Vietnam you can rent karts bolted onto hoverboards. They have pedals for forward/backward that just tilt the hoverboard in the right direction. Very low-cost solution. Steering is normal with the front wheels.

You can get these in the UK as well based on the squeals of joy I heard from two lads racing up and down our road a few days back - looked like great fun!

It’s a great project overall but MDF is a very poor choice for the base. It will get destroyed as soon as it gets wet. At minimum they should have used exterior grade plywood, and painted it

I‘m pretty sure it‘s from a region in the wotld were weather is very presictable, typically good, and people go out woth kids only in nice days, because there are so many.

Looks like rain in one of the videos and it'll suffer wear from vibrations as well.

It's a nice, cheap material for prototyping on, and then you can base the cut of a piece of metal or plastic on it for a more permanent solution.

OSB wood?

OSB is not very nice either. Plywood is definitely the choice here.

I think MDF will easily last until his kids don't fit in it though. I don't think he's going to use it in the rain.

Advantech OSB will outlast conventional plywood by a mile in the rain. I exposed it, flat (the worst way possible) as subfloor, to rains for 1+ year while building my house with only maybe 1mm of fiber degrading on the surface a few places. Many modern OSBs use hydrophobic glues impermeable to water.

Maybe but it's basically made of splinters. Not something you want in a thing you have to touch!

That's what I was thinking. Plywood is a horrible choice.

Marine ply would be my choice

If it were going to be exposed to the elements, I would pick a pine and waterseal it or a marine ply and waterseal it.

It would fail eventually anyway, but either of those two options, depending on price, would be good and cheap enough to last.

Here's a project I've been working on lately. Hope you like it!

Really cool. What’s with the wipe effect on the images?

> What’s with the wipe effect on the images?

It does the swiping while loading the images I believe. For me it was buggy, and the first opening left the swiping on, but after f5 it's okay now.

Yeah, I really like it. I just feel sad, that I didn't do it (yet) as I was thinking about doing the same. But this would be a great guide, once I do find the time and motivation to start.

Fun project! Btw you are leaking your Tesla's license plate in one photo; it's a bit blurry but it can be read easily anyway. It's still probably not a big deal but yet, I wanted to let you know.

Fun for the dad, but odds are good the original version would have been even more fun for the kid, and longer lasting. If you've never seen what a young kid can do with a suitably sized Kettcar (kettlecar) or Berg pedal go kart, you have missed out on some amazing vehicle dynamics. The designers got the weight distribution and steering dynamics exactly right. The things are a blast.

This is similar concept to taking your kids to a fancy resort to swim in the pool where they would be just as happy at the local Holiday Inn in your town.

Ad video of a Berg GoKart:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpvQhV15lhs

I admire people who achieve to complete some real, physical project. I feel overloaded by mess just when trying to cook a meal.

What a great project. Congratulations. I grew up getting to drive mini-bikes, lawn mowers, tractors, the old truck, etc. Now that I’m older and live in bug cities, I know so many younger people who say they just don’t like or feel comfortable driving. They never got to drive smaller wheeled things as they grew up. When my never-been-behind-the-wheel, and nervous, NYC niece and nephew hit 14-15, I took them to a large open space in our Mini Cooper and told them to pound it. Floor it, crank the wheel, etc - to give them the feeling of having fun driving while getting a good feel of it. And seeing their smiles was awesome.

> large open space

Sad noises of living in a densely populated area. I can't wait to retire and move out of here

This is amazing!

I have a bud who uses a custom built electric go-kart for filming stunt scenes — specifically those low camera moves of one car passing another.

He had to build his own controllers to allow smooth acceleration as visible jerks ruin the take

His tops out at 100+ mph but I thing they usually film at 70-80mph.

But yeah — those things are death traps

Impressive. Really cool what you did there

I'd add a mechanical brake and teach my kid how to use it. And maybe a failsafe switch that shuts the thing down when no one sits on it?

Parent of the year winner!

Wish my Dad made one of these for me but we used a pushchair pulled by an excitable dog. Less power but just as dangerous

This is so cool! For an upgrade, they make wheels with motors in them, so a 4 wheel drive version would be quite possible.

Indeed, there are two on the back of the kart...

Nice project, but am I the only one who thinks it's a bit cynical to first advertise it as a "death trap" and then show kids riding it? Which means you either admit that the title is complete and utter clickbait, or you demonstrate an alarming lack of concern for the well-being of children.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humour

Thanks, I am aware of that concept, but I'm also aware that many people's sense of humour stops when you start mixing "death" and "children"...

Won't somebody please think of the children??

FYI normal people would not get upset about joking that a DIY kid's go-kart is a death trap.

The two aren't really mutually exclusive...

I'm going to say, as a child of the '70s, that with proper parental supervision children can survive their parent's "alarming lack of concern for the well-being of children".

As another child of the 70s, I can tell you that even without proper parental supervision, children can also survive dangerous activities and construction projects that would invoke a visit from Child Protective Services these days.

The native tongue of the writer appears to be Spanish. They likely either live in a hispanic country or in a hispanic neighborhood of the US, where such overbearing Karen snitches do not exist.

You’re not supposed to take that use of that expression literally, but if someone gets hurt for any reason, the lawyers will.

I'm impressed and envious!

> Motor: It has to be powered by an electric motor, because we no longer live in 1940.

Well, that's a bummer.

That reminded me of the rocket nozzles we designed in my supersonic fluid dynamics course. It's a shame my kids have already outgrown the go-kart stage.

"It has to be powered by an electric motor, because we no longer live in 1940."

Interesting juvenile take. Had we started on electric vehicles we would be rolling out ICE vehicles right now as all the rage.

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