www.3ders.org

July 22, 2015 | By Simon

Although it’s been around for decades now, longboarding has seen a resurgence of interest in recent memory.  A longboard, which is essentially a long skateboard, is designed for riders to focus more on ‘carving’ down hills rather than doing aerial tricks commonly seen with traditional skateboards.  While longboards are increasingly being used by thrill-seekers who are looking for adventure, they are also being used as a form of urban transportation by more casual riders.     

Unsurprisingly, the widespread availability of fabrication tools including 3D printers has also made it easier than ever for longboard riders to customize their riding experiences with everything from changes to the deck design itself to even new ways of powering the board.  Among others who have been actively been focused on creating a better longboard experience for urban transportation purposes includes Faraday Motion, a startup company with an open-source mindset.

The startup, which consists of a variety of engineers, makers and researchers scattered across Denmark, Poland, Sweden and the US, Faraday Motion has been actively developing a completely open source personal electric vehicle (PEV) in the form of a modified longboard design.

On Saturday, August 1st, a team from Faraday Motion will be livestreaming an event where they will demonstrate to viewers how to build one of their open source electric skateboards from scratch in just 2 hours.     

The livestream workshop session, which will incorporate the use of 3D printed parts to build an open API electric skateboard, is being held to help viewers gain a better understanding of the process behind building your own electric longboard using the Faraday platform.  

Earlier this summer, designer Sune Pedersen of Faraday shared the longboard design at the Bay Area Maker Faire after a short designer-in-residence stay at Autodesk’s Pier 9.    

“We are on a mission to empower urban citizens with the tools needed to intuitively create their own personalized electrical vehicles,” explains the design team.  

“To keep things transparent and to develop the best solution possible, we want to involve the users from the very beginning. This event allows us to show online viewers how easy creating an electrical vehicle can be, while giving us the chance to answer any questions there might be - during the Q&A session after the board has been built.”

The event, which will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, will also be open to some lucky individuals who will be invited to try the 3D printed skateboard out for themselves.  The livestream will start at 3PM with a viewer-Q&A at 5:30PM, while there will be a press Q&A at the venue (Holmbladsgade 7, 3tv, 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark) from 6-6:30PM, and the doors will be opened for outside visitors starting at 6.30PM (CET).

“People of all ages approach me, they want to try, ask a lot of questions and I usually have a minimum of one new customer when I arrive back home,” said Sune in an interview with Autodesk.  

“It’s very motivating and gives me confidence that I’m on the right path with what i’m doing and that there is a foundation for building a company that will impact the lives of people of all ages.”

Sign up for the event by heading over to Faraday Motion. 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Events

 

 

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