Board Builders

mr ply&wood, in underwood qld...

oh nertz! they dont have em here

has anyone made a completely stiff deck and soaked it in water to make it flexy?

o hell no!!!
soaking in water dissolves a natural chemical in the wood that helps bind the fibres together, you will see this in any dense woods, for instance mahogony will have a massive ammount of this chemical, wheras bulsa will have none of it because it is mostly air.
do not soak any wood, its not good!

thanks man. close call there. i just went ahead and painted it just now. i couldnt wait :P just wondering, what drill piece size do you use for the mounting holes?

anyway, i dunno why but my board does not flex. im thinking its the glue?

lots of concave makes it stiff, moreso than extra plys in my experience. That two part epoxy you said you had probably stiffens it up too, like you said.

you can buy a sk8kings drillbit off boardshop in the hardware section for like 5$or soething.....

@jezza - yea, but what kinda glue do you guys use? normal pva by selleys?

@matthys - haha, yea i have the drill bits but i was talking about the diameter,

If I am building for myself, I use waterproof PVA and preform ply, but if for some one else veneers and a two part epoxy. I go through too any designs to use the expensive stuff for myself, pretty much build a board a month, though if i find something i like ill make it out of veneers. Anyway...PVA works fine 99% of the time, its much stronger than the glue that they use putting together that preform.

also the diameter of the bolts used in mounting hardware is 4.826mm, including thread if its UNC (the fine looking thread), so find something around that and your fine.

i think it should be 5mm, correct me if i am wrong fellas?

oh yea cool. i just need to drill the holes, and ill be all set to ride, except for all the painting and finishing. but man, when matthys said marine ply was splintery.... i did not expect it to be that splintery. wood was chipping everywhere... not very good for drop throughs...

oh yea sufyan, its a real woman to work with.
you just have to tape it up with masking tape or ductape and it doesnt do so much damage,
another hint, when drilling the holes, you might want to drill a pilot hole first, so that not only does the bigger drill bit go in straight, but it also doesnt split as much on the bottom....

thanks for the tip

yeah drill a pilot hole and clamp a bit of scrap to the bottom, stops the splintering. Same for dropping it through.

can you guys eplain to me how drilling a pilot hole help prevent the splintering? do you just drill a hole in the centre?

if you drill a tiiny hole to begin with, it wont splinter as much, then you can drill up half way from both sides. ducktaping the bottom also helps

hey first time board builder
i've tthough the entire tread and i have a couple of questions
1. whats this about soaking? ive heard mentions about it but not sure on details?
2. Whats this about prelam? do i have to laminate my board or something after ive pressed it?
3. im making a board this weekend out of 9 plys of 3mm marine how would this go for a for a 90kg rider? more ply? less ply? its ok?
and finally 4. what the best wood for a slight flex? the rider is around 80 to 100 kgs

thanks sorry about the hundred questions cheers

1. dont worry bout it
2. Prelam is plywood. Its prelaminated. The alternative, but more expensive version of this is using veneers. If your using 3mm plys then its prelam. Using plywood then pressing it again is okay, its just the glue that is used in it isn't that great, and will cause the board to flex over time (and not that nice reboundy bamboo flex)
3. 9x3mm plys is probably overkill. I use 6 for me, so probably 7
4.If your using marine ply then you dont really have a choice, its marine ply or marine ply, best bet is to check it out in store, fid something that will bend a bit and use that, if it flexes too much, add some more layers

Pilot hole not required if you use a wood-bit, and like Jezza mentioned, always have a pice of scrap clamped underneath.
Wood-bits have a sharp point which allows you to accurately centre the drill.
I use a jig so no markout or wood bit required. Adjust within a mm and just shoot down the tube!
Wood-bits look like this for those interested.

what type of jig you using fitz???
care to give us a pic???

a fitzym'cjig

Jig blocks are able to slide up and down guide strip to whatever wheelbase you want. Clamp in place and drill. Perfectly aligned and centered every time.

woah

I just use a string, dipped in chalk. Pull it tight along the board and pluck the string, gives a straight lines. Then put lines to each side of that one for the bolt holes. Position the plate on those lines and drill away.

Its got nothing on Fitz's method but its gives true (enough) holes.

thats sick fitzy!!!
i can see how an old baseplate could have the same effect....

baseplate would only centre the holes for each truck.
You still need something to align the front and back together otherwise your deck will pull to one side rather than rolling straight.
Don't use your fave trucks as a jig either. The drill will thrash the aluminium after a couple of goes. Your nice baseplate with end up with oval and oversized holes.
I use steel tubes, press fit into alum plates.

should sell those... would make drilling decks 1000000x easier

yeah

steel>aluminium

I try to rotate which baseplates I use, cause you can see the aluminium shavings mixed in with the sawdust :S

chalk isnt really that great either, as it makes quite a fat line

yea, how much would you sell a fitzimajig for????

Hi ya Builders- from the Painters
Get yourself along to this!
It's my first exhibition.
Cheers
Paul

anyone think 1.5 cm radial concave is too much?

not enough!
naa, it should be pretty nice

really?
wow, everyones been saying that its way too much to be normal

no way man, 2cm is what i like!

it feels a bit funny to me when i stand on it. i still havent tried riding it though. i have to wait for my grizzlys. oh well, ill get use to it

ive read that bunnings fibreglass is shit.

is this cos it cracks or comes off or something??

its polyester. poly isn't as flexible and strong as epoxy and can be very brittle.

polyester resin melts most types of foam cores aswell. And when I say melt, your foam board ends up mushy goo.

got the photo on my phone Adam got no credit to reply haah
looks super rad man!
new logo?

Dylan up or down?, i wanna try down or concave rocker deepest at the front foot.
I've been glassing today and yesterday, it's funny you learn something new every time you build a deck, and you also remind yourself at some stage during a build how little you really know, or how much more you have to learn. Glassing actually went really well but, little things to learn and tweak:) Cheers all.

Rocker usually refers to down. Camber refers to up (like and arch).
2" is pretty heavy over that length of deck however it's entirely up to the user. Don't forget you'll get more flex with rocker compared to flat (even less with cambered). This will naturally wedge your truck angle also making for a turnier truck which may result in stability issues if that matters.

hey

i was wondering if anyone here would pssible make me a custom deck, maybe something slighty similar to a BC moray or a tan tien. would anyone be up for this and how much do you reckon it would set me back dollarwise???

cheers
AJ

heres my newest build that i finished a couple of days ago

looks really nice matt!!!

thnx man

Really nice deck you got there Matt!
Clear grip would keep it in natural look theme.

Dave from FSU does custom decks Andrew. He's in the homemade thread on the forum.

yes im leaning towards clear grip but i think im gonna end up getting wat ever i can find cuz i really wanna finish it and skate it some more

What are that little numbers dimensions, length and wheel base? Looks cool btw.

length=35"
width=9"
wheelbase=24"