I was thinking about going to an all new board with flywheels and caliber trucks instead of the old beater I’ve been basing my build on, but I did not realize decks were $100-200. So… has anybody tried making their own decks?
My builds getting a lot pricier than I was planning so I wouldn’t mind saving that money, but I’ve only got an MPCNC about 3’x3’ wide. I’m thinking I could either play around with a 2 part board joined before finishing somehow, or just skipping the CNC and cutting it by hand.
Just curious if anybody’s gone this way and how it turned out.
I made it out of a sheet of aluminum. 6061-T6 is too hard to bend. You have to buy an O-temper and heat treat it to T6 or just buy some T4. It’s probably the best deck I ever made aside from using a fiberglass sheet because it acted like a large spring. I bent the edges lengthwise to get more leverage.
Sounds impressive, unfortunately I’ve gotta learn how to use my CNC before trusting myself to cut aluminum. I was thinking a few sheets of plywood glued together poured with a resin finish. Now you make me want to go for metal
The best way you should pick your material for your next deck is if you want to integrate the batteries into the deck itself. The second is which will give you the lightest setup when completed.
And to make sure everyone is on the same page. When you say CNC, this is a large table CNC like a shapeoko and not a CNC like HAAS, correct?
Although I have not tried yet, there are videos on YouTube about tiling. It basically consist in cutting your parts in multiple operation. You can cut half of it and than slide the workpiece to a designated position and cut the second half or more depending of your cutting area. Now if you have a router table you could just make a jig/template on the cnc and use a flush trim bit to cut your board to shape.
Someone posted some PDFs of lifesize printed decks you can use as templates and save the CNC job. Learning how to use a cnc will leave a lot of scrap as does any machine so practice on the scrap left over and you can push out a second better deck in no time
I have made 5 boards and 2 of them have a own made deck. I was actually much easier as I tought.
Just a couple layers wood glued together and bended so they could dry in the bended position.
Then cutting the shape, drilling holes and sand it so it’s very clean looking.
Then put the varnish on and let it dry, and the next day just clean it and it’s done.
That s how I did it
Also another option to consider, get an oversized, inexpensive board and cut it to shape. Im going to cut down a $50 38" fiberglass+bamboo pintail to make a 30" shortboard. Fully DIY, the materials would have likely been only $30 or so, but it would have cost me another $100 in vacuum bagging tooling that I would then also have to find a place to store in my tiny apartment.
Hey @beherit I made my board from scratch using a board kit from https://roarockit.co.uk/ - UK link
http://www.roarockit.com/ - US link. The kits provide the ply or bamboo depending on your choice of board thickness etc. Roarockit also sell tools and provide tips. I personally bought some titebond 3 wood glue (titebond 2 also works) to glue the ply veneers and then built a former using bits of scrap wood. You can DIY vacuum chambers and pumps but I just used loads of wood clamps.
This saved me a lot of money but did take some time. I also used boat varnish satin mat finish for weather proofing and to enhance the grain.
I bought a 40" Volador board for $50 and sold the trucks and wheels to a guy from school for $25. Its a pretty decent quality deck with a good amount of flex. I’m still ironing out a few electrical issues but pictures will come soon. This seemed to be the most cost effective option for a decent deck that will last some time. I’ve been researching making custom decks and if you use cheaper materials like standard plywood or do not use a press/vacuum bag when gluing it, it becomes significantly weaker. Once you either invest the time to build a press or the money for a vacuum bag, it probably ends up more expensive than a loaded vanguard.