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
Posts (Links)