A DIY Onewheel as Good as the Real Deal
John Dingley and Nick Thatcher have been building unique electric vehicles since 2008 and their magnum opus is the Mega-Wheelie
If you live in a hip urban area, you've probably seen someone zipping around on a Onewheel. That's a brand name for a sort of electric skateboard that balances on a single large wheel. But a Onewheel is a pretty expensive vehicle, with the most affordable model starting at around $1,500. Fortunately, John Dingley and Nick Thatcher had the skill and experience to create their own DIY Mega-Wheelie that is just as good.
Dingley and Thatcher started building one-wheeled self-balancing skateboards way back in 2008 and were inspired by a similar project completed by Ben Smithers in 2007. The Onewheel company wasn't founded until 2014, so it would be inaccurate to called the Mega-Wheelie "a DIY version of a Onewheel." Instead, it would be more fair to say that "the Onewheel is a commercialized version of the prototypes built by Smithers, Dingley, and Thatcher."
Timeline aside, Onewheel electric vehicles are quite popular these days. But the Mega-Wheelie, constructed in 2019, seems just as capable. Like a Onewheel, it balances on a single large tire. The rider mounts the vehicle by placing one foot behind the wheel and the other foot in front. The rider can accelerate by leaning forward and turn by shifting their weight to either side. A handheld "dead man's switch" acts as a safety measure to stop the motors if the rider lets go or falls off. The large tire makes Mega-Wheelie particularly adept at traveling over rough terrain, like gravel roads and sandy beaches.
A powerful 450W gear motor drive's Mega-Wheelie's huge wheel through a chain and sprocket. It gets power from a 24V LiFePO4 battery pack and an Arduino controls the motor via a Dimension Engineering SyRen driver. The Arduino monitors an inertial measurement unit (IMU) to enable the self-balancing capabilities.
Dingley and Thatcher also build other electric vehicles, including the unicycle-motorcycle hybrid shown in the same video as the Mega-Wheelie. Those utilize similar technology, but the Mega-Wheelie is arguably the team's most practical vehicle design.
