AWD Drift Go-Kart

I love the feeling of drifting. It's difficult and expensive to drift race full-size cars. RC drift cars are cool, but I don't get to physically experience it. The drift trikes are super fun, but you can't really break free the front wheel. A drifting go-kart would be the ideal solution to experience the thrill of drifting without the cost and maintenance of a full size car. A go-kart also makes it possible to drift in much smaller areas.

RC cars and drift trikes use plastic drift sleeves to make the wheels slip easily. RC drift cars uses to be mostly AWD, but now the pros are all using RWD on very smooth tracks. 4WD remains superior for rough surfaces like a parking lot, and is a lot easier to drift with. So I suspect that AWD will be better for a go-kart designed for drifting on a variety of surfaces. I have yet to see any AWD drift go-karts. They all use regular unpowered wheels on the front and rear wheels with drift sleeves.

Drift Kart Examples

• Khana Karts was built to be a drift kart - https://www.khanakarts.com/

  • They talk about the frame being flexible, and improving drifting. The flexibility of the frame probably helps keep the wheels on the ground. A lot of DIY drift karts that I see, usually made by modding a standard go-kart, lift the inner front wheel in turns.

  • The steering also has much sharper angles. This is important for a rear-wheel drift car to be able to turn the front wheels in the direction of the drift. This is less important for AWD drifting.

Go-Kart Plans

• https://kartfab.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Free-Go-Kart-Plans.pdf

• https://www.diygokarts.com/kart-plans/frame-1-seat.html

• https://spidercarts.com/downloads/granddaddy-go-kart-plans/

• https://gokartguru.com/go-kart-plans-free-with-the-bundles/

Drift Kart Steering

I've never been impressed by the sloppy steering on go-karts that have the simple lever arm coning off the steering column. Rack and pinion steering would be so much better.

• 270mm rack and pinion - https://www.amazon.com/270mm-Front-Steering-Wheel-Pinion/dp/B0C8N33GSW

• 300mm rack and pinion - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CL23CGK7

Drift Kart Seats

• 2 seater frame size https://www.diygokarts.com/community/threads/2-seater-frame-size.45659/

• https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS/555/70250/10002/-1

  • 21in wide, so 2 of these side by side is 42 in

• https://www.amazon.com/JEGS-Polyethylene-Double-Walled-Dimensions-Separately/dp/B078WK2P1M

• https://www.amazon.com/Cozyel-Suspension-Adjustable-Telehandler-Mechanical/dp/B08D6PW89Y/

• Yerf Dog double seat - https://www.amazon.com/Yerf-Dog-Carter-Go-Kart-Double-Cushion/dp/B0CCW4GTNC/

  • 32in width would be tight for 2 adults. 36-40in would be better.

• Tailgating seat - https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-Easy-Folding-Padded-Outdoor-Tailgating-Couch-Camo-Green/112053606

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DRIFT KART MOTORS

The plan is to use hoverboard wheels for the motors. They are cheap, ubiquitous, and recycled from obsolete hoverboards. If those 250-350 watt motors don't provide enough power, these 1000 watt motors definitely will. https://www.ebay.com/itm/334483686988

DRIFT KART WHEELS AND TIRES

Hoverboard Wheel Dimensions (RAZOR Hovertrax 2.0)

3D Printed Wheels

I first want to 3D print the wheels. The initial design had a spoked plastic hub with replaceable 3D-printed drift sleeves. My concern is that these will not offer any shock absorption. Inflatable tires offer some shock absorption. 3D printing the hub in TPU 95A would also offer some shock absorption.

Airless tire design by Michelin

Here are the mechanical properties of TPU 95A.

Poisson's ratio for TPU 95A is about 0.4

Tires

The hoverboard motors have an inner rim diameter of about 5 inches (RAZOR Hovertrax 2.0 has a 120mm inner hub diameter, and 36mm width between the flanges. There are many videos where people add pneumatic tires for 5 inch rims onto hoverboard wheels after the hard rubber hoverboard tires have been removed. Often they punch a hole in the sidewall of the tire for the inner tube valve stem to poke through, rather than modifying the hoverboard motor. The problem is that most of these tires have an 11inch outer diameter (4.10/3.5-5). Most PVC sleeves are designed for 10in outer diameter wheels.

Examples of adding tires to hoverboard wheels

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUuCi9lp9IE

10" OD tires for 5in rims

10 x 3.60-5

• The 3.6in width is still quite wide for the 36mm (1.42in) inner rim width of the hoverboard wheels. However, people are installing the 4.1in wide tires on hoverboard wheels, so this may work. Not a common tire size.

• https://www.bmikarts.com/5-Unilli-Racing-Slick-10-x-360-5_p_5054.html

10 x 4.50-5

• This is the standard kart tire size. The 4.5in width is probably too wide to fit the ~2in rim width of the hoverboard wheels.

• https://www.ebay.com/itm/256387844049

3.00-5 Tires (2in rim)

• These tires do not state the OD, however, from what I can tell from images, the OD is 10in. Not a common tire size.

• https://www.ebay.com/itm/256110135202

• https://www.wheeliegoodmobility.com/air-filled-tyres-for-mobility-scooter/new-300-5-black-pneumatic-tyre-tire-for-a-mobility-scooter.html

• https://www.ebay.com/itm/113948894554

3.40/3.00-5

• The OD is more likely to be around 10.6 to 10.8in, so these probably won't work.

  • https://litchfieldspecialty.com/products/c5411

  • https://www.ebay.com/itm/153816589659

  • https://www.ebay.com/itm/184047716455

  • https://lawngardentire.com/products/two-3-40-3-00-5-3-40-5-3-00-5-300-5-sawtooth-tires-heavy-duty-4ply

Another way to add the common 10 x 4.50-5 go kart tire to the hoverboard is to add hub flange extensions. These extensions can be attached to the current screw holes on the inner side and glued onto the outer side, or new tapped screw holes added if you have the equipment to precisely do that (or a 3D printed drill template would be precise enough to drill new holes).

Here's a rough example of how that would work. The blue flanges are the added on parts. The aluminum flanges on the hoverboard motor could also be turned down to reduce the stickout into the tube.

Mecanum (omni-directional) Wheels

Mecanum wheels would be a fun way to drift, but would require smooth surfaces for the small rollers to work well.

• https://hackaday.com/2021/06/25/3d-printed-mecanum-wheels-for-hoverboard-motors/

  • https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4887372/files

  • Uses these rollers https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XS97YCB

Omni-directional Wheels

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqXyvDe1wvA

• Ball Wheel Bike - https://youtu.be/tOSrT3NT_zg?si=WIf2LvvbzYDl8Nha - https://youtu.be/yJ6jFvaNybw?si=1ZelZR_FSTfCkHhc

BRUSHLESS MOTOR CONTROLLERS

• Common ebike motor controllers can be used to drive a BLDC hoverboard motor

  • Brushless Controller, 36V/48V Aluminium Alloy E-Bike Brushless Motor Controller

  • Has braking

• WS55-220 DC 48V 500W CNC Controller High Speed Brushless Spindle BLDC Motor Driver

  • No braking

• WS55-220s DC 48V 500W CNC Controller High Speed Brushless Spindle BLDC Motor Driver

  • Looks like an updated version of the WS55-220 - Has a separate connector for the hall sensor wires

• Popular controller used for hoverboard motors - RioRand 350W 6-60V PWM DC Brushless Electric Motor Speed Controller with Hall

• STEPPERONLINE - BLD-510B - Digital Brushless DC Motor Driver 12V-48VDC Max 15.0A 400W

  • Cheaper on Ebay if buying just one

  • Has braking and programable

  • Appears much nicer than other low cost BLDC controllers

• STEPPER ONLINE - BLD-515C - Digital Brushless DC Motor Driver 24-48VDC Max 15.0A 400W

• BLD-300B (300W driver)

• BLD-750 (750W driver)

• Designed for low-speed control, expensive - https://skysedge.com/robotics/nz2/index.html

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DRIFT KART SLEEVES

Most drift-kart sleeves are designed to fit 10" OD tires. The common schedule 40 10" PVC pipe has an ID that is just under 10".

10" Drift Sleeves

• https://drifttrikefactory.com/shop/wheels/sleeves/drift-trike-sleeves-for-10x4-50-5/