Steel Decks
Hey guys
After deciding i wanted to get into longboarding then realising i couldn't afford a deck i figured i'd build my own. After a failed attempt using bunnings ply and realising decent ply is hard (and expensive) to come by i got a little cross and so spawned the idea of an unsnappable board and the steel decked longboard was born.
The first build was a longboard made from 14mm tube with a 2mm wall. There is little to no flex which makes is footnumbing over crappy roads but it has resulted in a very responsive deck which my mates labled "not as bad as they thought it would be." The deck weighs in at 1.9 kilos which is lighter than most people think it will be. I tried to build in a bit of concave but it didn't really turn out that great.
I also did a cruiser deck for my girlfriend. Slightly different tubing for this (an old camping chair to be specific). The only issue with it is because of the way it's built it ended up being kinda heavy for a cruiser, but still not ridiculous.
Currently building a double drop deck using lessons learned from the two builds with a much simpler design, should be finished soon.
Anyway the point of all this is to show that you can build a board out of almost anything and to not be put off because you can't buy 1/8" baltic birch, building a board a deck is a really rewarding experience.
Sorry, that was a bit of a novel. Happy building!
Views: 683
Replies to This Discussion
-
Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Steve on -
Nice one! Yeah 1.9kg is a lot lighter than I thought it would be. A lot of timber boards weigh more than that so you've done well there.
Have you seen Cindrich boards? Fully cnc'd aluminium worth a look
Look forward to seeing your drop deck. I wouldn't mind building a drop deck with metal drops and a carbon, foam platform, one day..
-
-
Permalink Reply by Colby on
-
I did something similar a while back... full aluminium. Used to get alot of comments on how industrial it looked.
Unfortunatley I used rivits to fix all the sheetwork and some of them flexed after a few months of riding and worked a bit loose creating an annoying rattle.
My second experiment was a drop deck using a few pieces of aluminium, hollow core and outer shell of fibreglass. Been using it for about a year, have improvements to make on the shape, but construction is solid (and rattle free).
Both cost under $40
I love building unconventional boards, good to see that I'm not the only one.
-
-
Permalink Reply by Lloyd Jones on
-
Colby
those things are sick as, that first one is so cool, shame it didn't work out, i'd love to do something with aluminium tubes sandwiched between to sheets but thats for another time i think.
Steve, thanks for the props and yeah i saw those Cindrich boards a while back, they are genuine pieces of art, love the drop deck water jetted one. Shame about the price tag though...
New board is coming along nicely, should have all the welding done today
Cheers
-
-
-
Right folks the drop deck is done
The deck itself weighs in at 1.9 kilos, the trucks are dropped through simply because i thought it'd be fun (turns out it wasn't, just a substantial amount of extra work for not much difference - but hey it looks cool) Grip design was seriously >9000 hours of cutting and sticking hopefully it'll hold up ok.
Got some concave into it this time, i think it's about 14mm with a 220mm platform. Wheelbase is 725 which is what my last one was.
So far i've only ridden it up the road cos as anyone else in brisbane will attest it has been pretty much non stop rain for the past week and a half. So a full report when it's been tested properly is in order.
Cheers -
-
Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Steve on -
That is one cool looking ride, love the bar code grip, I want a go!!
-
-
Permalink Reply by H_Can on
-
great to see someone doing some different, well.
(or at least well enough to make us go whoa xD )
-
-
Permalink Reply by Dad's Do Skate! on
-
Lloyd you have to give us a full report on how this rides as i love the look you've achieved & that grip job takes the prize for commitment.
-
-
-
Shoot i started writing out a report for this the other day and i must have gotten side tracked by something and i guess it slipped my mind, sorry folks.
Well first impressions is that i personally adore it. I've had a go on a selection of conventional boards, loaded dervish, original freeride plus a few others and nothing matches the bizarre combination of precision and liveliness of this deck. This may have something to do with the seismic trucks which i've learnt to ride on and as such i've always ridden (btw i'm looking for another set of 180's and a 105mm set if anyone has a set lying around drop me a line) but i haven't quite got it set up perfectly yet may need to spring (no pun intended) for a set of stiffer springs.
When i jump off this and get on someone elses the wooden decks just feel dead perhaps its because the dampen out all the minute vibrations that resonate with a steel deck. But that might just be me, although someone did mention that it rides like a big z flex which in a way i guess it does.
The concave is superb, the dropped deck has resulted in a more drifty deck to the ladder design but that was of course to be expected and i like it that way. The rails are the best cos you can hook your fingers right around. I do most of my riding on the G5 (while i'm still on holidays i'm there a couple of times a week) and this deck with my 3dm Avalons is the fastest around there amongst my mates, just got to learn to nail that bottom corner and it'll be a force to be reckoned with.
Anyway thats probably enough. As always thanks for reading. I'm thinking of doing a mini next (hence search for the little seismics) so i have something easy to skate around uni.
-
© 2024 Created by Bugs.
Powered by
