Longboard

8 years ago

2016, Post 13 - 2016

Custom Longboard

This custom longboard is both a functional piece of athletic technology and an art piece designed personally, for a good friend of mine.

Presentation and Test Ride Videos

TIMELINE

Mid February: Came up with idea to build a longboard as my final project

February 23: Design Inspirations (all I knew at this point was I was making the board for my friend and I wanted the board to have personal artwork)

February 25: Talked to some skate shop owners about longboard designs and types of wood to use. I also started sketching designs for the art.

March 2: PDR. I wanted to laser cut art into the board.

March 16: I was having trouble tracking down hard rock maple wood. I chose the art design I would use.

March 30: I started playing with fonts and designing my own to spell out “Abbster” (my friend’s nick name) on the board. Additionally, I was doing research into the exact shape I wanted for the board, since its shape affects functionality and style of riding. This pushed me to consider what type of wheels I would purchase (size, shape, hardness, color).

April 6: Found hard rock maple wood veneer and wood glue. I also ordered the hardware I would need for the trucks and wheels.

April 13: I Glued and pressed/clamped the wood to shape. I Scanned my hand drawings and redrew them on Adobe Illistrator so they would be vector graphics, so I could infinitely resize and keep quality.

April 14-17: Spent days in the Makerspace cutting and chiseling and sanding and crafting the board.

April 19: Laser cut the art into the board and set the trucks perfectly square. Drilled holes.

April 20-22: Polyurethane process. (4 layers on each side of the board to protect it from the elements, also using steel wool to smooth the board)

April 22: Test Ride! (adjust trucks to get ideal turn shape)

April 23: Design EXPO

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