Im making a longboard deck

whoa-dere

Active member
i started today, i'll trace it onto plywood tomorrow and make the press sometime this week.
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i cant wait for it to be finished to i can ride it

 
that rectangle i drew has the length of the board and half the width. i'll actually draw the shape tomorrow im gonna use maple veneer or baltic birch, maybe some aluminum strips sandwiched?
 
all jokes aside, order some fiberglass fabric. aluminum only makes it difficult for the veneers to properly bind while fiberglass actually helps it. if you're dead set on using aluminum it can be bolted on around the trucks after the board has been pressed for added torsional rigidity.
 
baltic birch or canadian maple are the 2 relitively inexpensive options. You have to make a good dimm press, which is the easiest press to make, before you start doing anything. What shape are you planning on? what kind of riding? concave? are you going to want to do a drop? the birch and maple are 2 different kind of woods for different styles and uses for decks
 
if thats 1/2 the width, that is extremely skinny for a board. your length:width ratio is off, most boards use like a 4:1 ish ratio i think
 
it will be 41.5 by 8.5, exactly like a dervish lol, should be fineim not going to make a drop deck but i am going to have holes at the ends for the trucks, the shape is also going to be similar to a dervish

do you think i need a lot of concave if all im going to do is slide around and commute?

 
i've built two; this isn't done in this picture, it now has crushed glass grip.
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and

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concave helps keep the board stiff as well. personally, i like mellow concave. if you're gonna slide a lot, consider building in gas pedals.
 
concave will hold your feet in well when sliding. I would widen it by 1 inch if i were you, i think the dervish is really skinny and kind of wierd, but i that may just be bacuase i have larger feet. If you want to to sliding and commuting, think about a 1/4 or 1/2" drop. This will make it easier to lock your feet in for slides and downhill shennangians, and beacuse your doing a topmount it will bring you closer to the ground making it easier to push. if you want a commuter, your looking at larger wheels, and with a straight topmount i think you would be to far off the ground and in an awkward pushing postion. just my 2 cents
 
what size are your feet? if i make it drop the press is gonna take a hella lot of time.. how long did it take you to make a press?
 
11.5. It takes me around 45 min to an hour to make a good drop deck press, 30 min for a straight deck. I think it's worth it though cuz you get a cooler, versatile, unique board that looks awesome and you can say you made it. Straight decks arnt as cool as drops in my opinion
 
thats cool. last year my friend made a skate deck, it was a good first attempt (was a little thick). tha paint job he did was sick!!!
 
No. Too much drop will be hard to slide. The more drop, the more stability as the center of gravity is lower. Nails and screws for what?
 
Use blue insulation foam and cut your desired shape using foam in 1 ft pieces to make cutting easier. Take two stiff boards, like 14 inches by 45 inches by 2 inches thick and put one male piece of your press on one side and the female on the other. Use nails and tite bond glue to hold the foam on. For clamps, I use angle iron and threaded rod because I press a good amount of boards, but you could use 5 clamps made up of 2 2x4s with threaded rod and bolts and it should work fine. Good luck
 
does anyone know how long i should make those nipples at the nose and tail?

those nipple sections the trucks mount on

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For your first board, don't even bother.

I've made a few boards in my day, and i'd reccomend going very simple at first.
 
Making my first board this week. almost done the press, heres a little pic of what its looking like so far, Im STOKED to start making and testing out boards.

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2 layers of 1/4 inch will result in a wierd flex and it wont be durable, meaning easy to delaminate. i would do 3 or 4 sheets of 1/8th or 7 layers of 1/16th.
 
well, how do you plan on attaching and pressing said aluminum sheet? it can't be like tinfoil or something, it's gotta be decently thick. You should probably look up soe of things on silverfish. if you can get thinner veneers i'd do that.
 
If it's to thin it won't add any structural integrity, to thick it will add to much weight. Go at least 7 layers of 16th and a layer of fiberglass, fiberglass is not really needed but it will add some springiness and make it tougher to destroy. Better yet, go with kevlar and make it bulletproof. Aluminum just sounds awful and dangerous if there's any burrs and one catches your leg while riding
 
that's a frame i made last year, me and two other people stood on it and it was fine :)

yup im coating varnish once im done

 
Definitely use baltic. i made a dh board using it and i love the board. i would post a pic but ns photo uploader isnt working -_-
 
What are you using for glue? Titebond 3? And i would not use 1/4 inch bb. Find some 1/8 inch and do 3 or 4 layers with a layer of fiberglass on the bottom. If you are going to use glass you will need epoxy.
 
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