Grind It Yourself SKATEBOARD PRESS

Yet another DIY skateboard video. Read on for more Information on Materials etc:

The wood is commonly known as sugar maple (hard rock maple is a skate term started in the late 70s or early 80s). It is rotary cut into veneer with a thickness of 1/16 inch. I do believe this wood is more than a dollar a square foot, (unless you're willing to buy it by the truck load) and there is approx 18 square feet in each board.

P.V.A glue (white carpenters glue) is perfect for gluing your deck. If you're interested in improving your lamination you can combine P.V.A. glue with a catalyst: aluminum chloride. Aluminum chloride is corrosive and is only available through industrial suppliers. This catalyst causes the glue to "cross bond" creating a superior bond. Apply the glue with a hard rubber roller; this is the easiest way to get a consistent application of glue by hand. Do not glue both sides of the plies or put on too much glue. This extra glue becomes kind of like an extra layer which causes a board to soften up in the sun. Any left over catalyst needs to be disposed of properly, as it is a hazardous material. This particular catalyst does increase dry time a bit, but can be compensated for by heating your mold since it still behaves as normal P.V.A. glue.

One of the biggest questions I get is how I built my first molds for my press. I used car bondo for my mold because it was the cheapest material I could pour and sand and could stand up to repetitive heating and pressure. I Press them one at a time with two two tonne bottle jacks placed over where the trucks will be. I jack up until they do not move anymore in a metal frame with the mold on the bottom. There is a tonne of ways to cut out a deck. One easy thing I did was press thicker decks out of 1/8 inch hard board and cut templates out of them that included the wheel base. Then after drilling the wheel base in the blank I connected them with long bolts through both wheel bases sandwiching them together with the thick template on top. This way I could use these templates to cut out each deck one at a time on a router table with a flush trim bit. This way your boards will be consistent!

Remember -- Wheel base placement is the most important thing.

On a final note Commodity prices are through the roof! It is impossible to make a board for under $30.00 (CAN) when working small scale. I personally wouldn't touch this industry unless I had about $500,000.00 to sink into promotion insurance and materials. Also I would need to find a lot of quality wood workers to run it! The Pros will leave you in the dust and your boards will never be seen as a comparable product at a retail level regardless of how good they really are. The bro-down support is gone in the skate world! Most Shops make very little profit in this economic climate; they want sure fire sellers these days and little Johnny wants a "Chris Cole deck" not a garage construction special.

So who the hell am I? Just a dude that truly loves skating, that's why I press boards -- not for money. I've been on a board for 25 years and pressed my own for 9, worked in another skate manufacturing shop, and a few retail skate shops. My boards have won local wood show competitions and that says something because I'm from a mill town and wood working is a religion here. Still want to do it? Find a sales rep already working in the industry - but good luck convincing them to rep your product. However this would be the best way to find any real and consistent sales. Me personally I'm going to make coffins. That's a growth industry!

Any other Questions? I'd be glad to answer.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• skateboard
• manufacturing
• skateboard DIY
• How to make skateboards

[Mivan1152]

Hey, I want to start to make my own boards so i was wondering how did u put your graphics on the board? do you send it some where or do you paint each one individually?

[myfriendgoatcock]

@Mivan1152 Hey man, I just do simple silk screening. I started with a simple starter kit I got from a local art store. It is a easy way to make t-shirts too.

[njskaterkiid]

how much did each sheet of maple cost

[myfriendgoatcock]

@njskaterkiid Depends on quantity, where you buy it, and if you are a business or not. There is retail and wholesale prices out there. The maple in this video was about a buck a sheet. So, for the price of 1 board in a shop I can make 4 - 6. If you Google "skateboard Veneer" it will give you some ideas.

[industrialsk8ers1]

wat type of glue do u use

[myfriendgoatcock]

@industrialsk8ers1 P.V.A glue (white carpenters glue) is perfect for gluing your deck. If you're interested in improving your lamination you can combine P.V.A. glue with a catalyst: aluminum chloride. Aluminum chloride is corrosive and is only available through industrial suppliers. This catalyst causes the glue to "cross bond" creating a superior bond. Apply the glue with a hard rubber roller; this is the easiest way to get a consistent application of glue by hand. Check out the video's info.

[myfriendgoatcock]

@SquirtFromNemo I keep wondering what that thing up there is. And, why doesn't anyone notice it?

[myfriendgoatcock]

@dodotipou I Just use sugar maple

[tassomatias]

excellent work man!!

[dodotipou]

what are the different type of veneer you use ?

thx