DIY Onewheel From Hoverbaord

This is a hoverboard - yeah, probably one of the most useless electric rides ever made. But don’t worry, because today, I’m turning it into something insanely cool: a one-wheel electric board that balances on a single go-kart tire and rides like a snowboard, whether you're on pavement or off-road.

For this project you will need:

Materials:

1. Used hoverboard (usually that's 10-20$ on marketplace)
2. Go kart rear tire
3. 20x40mm aluminum square tube
4. Aluminum sheet to cover the base
5. 9mm plywood for foot stands
6. Skateboard grip tape
7. Hex bolts, washers and nuts
8. So 3D printer plastics

Tools:

1. Drill, drill press and bits
2. Angle grinder
3. 3D printer
4. any other various bits and bobs which helps to get job done in the workshop

All 3D printed files are here for free to download: Click link!

Last time, I did half the job. I tore down an old hoverboard, salvaged both motors, and used some of my go-to engineering tricks to build an airless go-kart tire with dual motors packed inside. Full video of that process is here: Click the link!

Now lets move on to the frame.

To move forward with the build, I used two 20x40mm aluminum rectangular tubes for the frame. I made 30-degree cuts at all 4 ends. It’s a simple and repetitive cut, but to keep it accurate and safe, I built a quick jig. The great thing about working with aluminum is that you can cut, drill and shape it using regular woodworking tools.

Both rails were cut in 73 cm length and were drilled in the middle for electric motor axis mounting solution.

The axis itself should be shorted avoiding to stick out of the frame. This step requires a lot of focus and precision, because the last thing I wanted was to accidentally cut through the wires running inside the axle. Once both axes were ready I salvaged the very last useful part from the disassembled hoverboard frame - the mounting adapter. After cutting it in half, I had two perfect motor mounts. Slid them into the tube, routed the wires through the holes, and locked them in place with two M8 stainless steel bolts. For better understanding of the concept, here’s a quick look at how they work inside the frame.

The fixed rails gave me a final frame width of 26cm. For the bottom panel, I used a 2mm aluminum sheet. My goal was to make it from one single piece so I scored with an angle grinder for easier bending and folded to the needed shape. After drilling four holes on each side, it was ready to mount. The rails were drilled and tapped to accept M4 bolts regarding the bottom panel holes. Once again, it's a breeze to work with aluminum! This panel creates the structural rigidity for the frame with the 8 bolts at the bottom and a pair of bolts in each inner rail side.

And those holes on top are for mounting the footpad. I’ll use m6 threaded rivets to create solid threads in the relatively thin aluminum.

Don’t have a rivet nut tool? Me either. Here’s how you can install threaded rivets using just basic tools. You’ll need a bolt, a long nut and a pair of washers. Start by threading the nut onto the bolt, then slide on the washers. Screw in the rivet nut, and insert into the hole. While holding the bolt head steady, with a wrench tighten the nut. As you go, it pulls the rivet nut and crushes it into place - just like the real tool. Once it’s fully crimped, just unscrew everything and boom - clean threads, no fancy tool needed.

A hoverboard normally uses two gyro sensors - one for each motor. But since we turned both motors into a single unit, we only need one sensor. To make it work we need to rewire the gyro input to make the wheels spin in the same direction, using a signal from just one gyro sensor.

I cut the blue and green signal wires from the non-battery side gyro sensor. That one which has shorter wires. And soldered them onto the blue and green wires on the battery side gyro terminals at the mainboard. Now, both motors get the same control signal in sync.

For the non-battery side motor, I also had to rework a few wires. This part ensures the motor spins in the correct direction. Depending on the hoverboard, the phase wire's color combination might differ, but for mine, the yellow stays connected to yellow, and the blue wire gets switched to green, while the green gets connected to blue.

Next up are the hall sensor wires of the same motor. The only change here is that the blue wire goes to the yellow, and the yellow wire connects to blue. The rest stay the same—red to red, green to green, and black to black. And that’s it, rewiring is finished. Not as complicated as it might seem at first.

You might’ve noticed a few extra holes in the frame. Most of those were made with a 20mm metal hole saw I had lying around. Turned out, it was the perfect size for running the wires and connector through. To keep everything safe and avoid cutting into the cables, I 3D printed some thin protective rings and installed them around the edges. I’m really happy with how clean it looks—the motor cable barely sticks out of the frame. All it took was drilling the right holes in the right spots.

The mainboard was placed on 3D printed risers and secured with 4mm bolts. Next installed the power button with the charging port and started to connect all connectors back to their places.

fingers crossed everything works smoothly during testing. First, I triggered the optical sensor with a scrap piece of wood, then leaned the board to the side to simulate the gyro sensor’s riding angle. Both motors should spin smoothly. If there’s any jerky movement, loud noise, or if they try to spin in opposite directions, something’s off, and it’s time to troubleshoot the wiring.

Pretty obvious, the battery needed a bit of modification, since it just didn’t fit inside the frame due to its height. Luckily, it’s a simple fix that doesn’t require any special tools—just a soldering iron, a few wires, and some insulation materials. I relocated the four top cells to the side, which meant I had to extend a few balance wires and move the BMS as well. After extending the main power wires, I wrapped the whole pack in heat shrink for protection and insulation. Just like that, the battery became slimmer and now fits perfectly within the limited space. Once the wires were routed through the rail to the mainboard it could be closed flush.

The footpad will be made from 9mm plywood. First, I drilled countersunk holes to match the M6 threaded rivets at the frame. On the underside, I needed to mount the gyro sensor and make a slot for the optical sensor activator. Using a couple of forstner bits on the drill press, I made a clean recess for the rubber piece to sit in.

To mount the gyro sensor precisely, I 3D printed 4 spacers and a template to mark and drill mounting holes. Assembly order matters here: first comes the rubber activator, which I enlarged using a 3D-printed cap. Then, with the help of a 25mm spacers, I mounted the gyro board at exactly the right height and position. Pressing the blue cap compresses the rubber piece and activates the optical sensor on the gyro.

Thanks to the 3D-printed template, everything aligned perfectly and came together on the first try. Once the gyro was wired to the mainboard, I secured the footpad with M6 low-profile furniture bolts. On the battery side, it was much simpler—just packed some stiff foam around the battery to prevent rattling and closed it up the same way.

To close up the open ends, I needed to make some bumpers. Each one has a side pocket designed to hold M6 nuts, which lets me secure them using the same bolts as the footpads. Since these parts are going to take a beating, having the ability to reprint replacements anytime is a huge win. And because it’s 3D-printed, you can easily modify the design to suit your needs—maybe add rolling wheels, a carrying handle, or even some built-in LED lights.

The final touch was adding grip tape—an absolute must if you want solid foot grip. It’s super cheap, has a sticky adhesive backing, and just happened to be the perfect width for mine footpads. It evenly covered all the bolts, but I can easily cut out access holes when and if needed. That’s exactly what I did to expose the board’s activation button under the tape.

And there it is - a DIY onewheel made entirely from old hoverboard parts. New design, new proportions, and a whole new life for components that would’ve otherwise gone to waste. What’s left from the original hoverboard? Pretty much nothing - just the frame, a few bits of plastic, and the tires. But that’s the beauty of it: seeing potential in the stuff most people would just throw away.

To get going, all it takes is to turn it on and press an activation button. You need to get used to stepping on with your toes first, and then activating it by placing your heel down. It definitely takes a little bit of practice to get riding. But after just a few tries, riding it becomes surprisingly smooth and intuitive.