Bored of cycling to work? With a little 3D printing and a lot of imagination, Jame Bruton from XRobots has created the Batman Electric Skateboard – perfect for your daily commute.

James Bruton is a British maker who uses 3D printing to create projects which wow. His website, XRobots is supported by Lulzbot so his creations incorporate a lot of 3D printed parts.

For his latest invention, he used CAD, a 3D printer, a lot of electronics and a huge amount of imagination to create an electric skateboard. Bruton previously created a Lego electric skateboard but his latest design is a little different, this time inspired by Batman’s Bat Tumbler vehicle.

Bruton is creating a series on YouTube about his project, so far he has two available videos to watch. He asks the question: “Is it a skateboard or a longboard, or a Batboard? I’ll let you decide.”

In the series, Bruton begins by creating a CAD model of the board – complete with wheels which steer facing inwards. He adds that the batboard will eventually incorporate electric steering so it can be laser guided and have autonomous features.

Why? “Because that’s what Batman would have!” Watch the first episode of the series below:

3D Printing the Batman Electric Skateboard

The final design will be driven remotely, much like a remote-controlled car. Many aspects of the board, including the tires and parts which control steering, were 3D printed. In fact, Bruton created the tires in Ninjaflex filament – however, he adds that these took a very long time to get them right.

Steering operates just like Batman’s Bat Tumbler vehicle, meaning the wheels face inwards from the outside. The next step was putting the motor on and finalizing the steering.

Bruton’s electric steering is perfectly balanced with parallel wheels, sprockets, 3D printed parts and an electric motor. On the electric side of the steering, Bruton also uses an Arduino Pro Mini which is powered by its own USB boost pack.

Batteries and electrics are all carefully attached to the board, Bruton adds: “so none of it should fall off while I’m driving.” However, does it work? In the second video of the series, Bruton tests out his design so far.

First, Bruton cautiously tests the skateboard indoors, bending low to the floor. However, he soon takes the design for a trip outside in a park. This must have been a great sight to behold for passing runners as Bruton rode along on his Batboard with a go-pro attached to a selfie stick, mounted to his remote control.

For the final installation of this series, Bruton will be working on the aesthetics of the board and improving the steering, making it laser guided.

Subscribe to Bruton’s channel to find out when his next video is up. You can also check out his website here.

Source: Makezine