After i5, S5 is coming

[Electroman]

On 6/26/2018 at 3:07 AM, Stan Onymous said:

The I5 was a terrific idea that never really made it in practice. I bought one and immediately broke the shell trying to go into a driveway that had a two inch shelf that cracked the bottom of the shell.

That was only cosmetic and it didnt ruin the ride at all. However when it started turning on in my backpack while I was walking around I tried to glue a cover over the power switch and wound up glueing it in the off position. Then I got it to turn on, but couldnt get it to turn off.

it is still in pieces on a shelf in my Warehouse.

i will be looking forward to the S1 if it ever make it to market. 

Is the case not supposed to be Magnesium on these, or did I get that one wrong from memory?

Ok Magnesium alloy but still, Magnesium is quite malleable and even as alloys is should not really crack that easy, seen other mention it so that's what peaked my interest, however hard to say without knowing that alloy composition.

[Stan Onymous]

They are magnesium and sprayed with a protective coating to give them that dimpled texture. That could have been a close up of the Test model some IPS engineers were working on that I saw that look. Its difficult to see the dimpled texture on the Adverts.

[Electroman]

1 hour ago, Stan Onymous said:

They are magnesium and sprayed with a protective coating to give them that dimpled texture. That could have been a close up of the Test model some IPS engineers were working on that I saw that look. Its difficult to see the dimpled texture on the Adverts.

Thanks, I have never seen one so never seen the texture on the surface at all to be honest. Likely a damage from work, if a plastic molded part I would likely not care very much hehe.

But considering the asking price for these and a wide range of other mixed reasons I dare to say the shell is not anywhere near a pure form of Magnesium but rather an alloy, that made me ponder about the ratios of Aluminum, Zirconium, Manganese etc.. and how clean the alloy is? Also possibly even manufacturing such as what circumstances, potentially changing ratios with batches and if proper high end Magnesium alloy injection molding (it is NOT) or cheapest possible sand casting using cheapo "dirty" Magnesium alloys at lowest $ just to claim "Magnesium" where semi cheap dime a dozen Aluminum would likely have been the smarter choice? Did they over harden and by doing so made it brittle, it may sound like just mixing some metals/rare earth minerals and cast it, nothing could be further from the truth there is so much to this field I think I will never ever have a chance to wrap my head around it.

Point is, if cracking we kind of know the answer to several questions already just by that alone, so while very intriguing cheapo Aluminum knowledge is much wider and well spread, cheap and would not crack like this so just a personal interest I suppose? I did not have it in my head so checked up the density of a typical AZ63 alloy and turns out it's around 1.7-1.8g/cm³ so a bit lighter than Alu at 2.7'ish, but how heavy is the shell anyway, how thick is it and would it have been smarter to choose a pretty thin Alu or is it practically or for the "Magnesium" PR?

I am speculating, don't know just find it interesting, their thinking behind decision making, anyone know if they did any material fatigue, stress tests of the finished shell? That ought to say something about the question, but on a serious note, I want one of these ultra portable, light wheels for last bit commuting but do I dare to get one, I am quite clumsy. ?

Not as malleable as just about any of the standard metal alloys, but tough... Carbon fiber or at least something reinforced, is that still plenty expensive, know very little about it but I bet someone does know?