Summer is coming quickly. I will be working an afternoon job to bring some $$$ for pressing equipment to press decks.
I’m looking for a good source for wood, carbon fiber, and aluminum. Prices I have seen before are way too steep (Aluminum alone to cnc milling motor mounts would cost ~$70 per mount).
Anyone have some good but cheap sources for raw materials?
Where are you looking/where are you located?
I would just look for local metal supply places. maybe try and find a local maker/hackerspace or a maker/hacker group and ask around there
I’m located in San Francisco.
Perfect, I would bet that there are at least 3-4 maker spaces/groups within a couple miles of you, and any one of them would be a wealth of knowledge on where to get raw materials.
i get my rock maple veneer from http://www.marwoodveneer.com/
wood is heavy, so shipping is a bitch, but they sell 7 ply kits for 10 boards for $170 plus shipping. Shipping for me at my location was $80. There is not a decent source of hard rock maple veneer cut to the appropriate size anywhere near me, so i have to order it.
They’re good people and they will work with you to put together larger kits for higher ply count decks if you want. They let me order enough for 11 ply decks when i was pushing the limits of my press mold. They even hooked me up with the guy who machined my wooden mold that i use in my press.
i highly recommend getting a rockit ruler from roarockit though. ( http://www.roarockit.com/skateboard-building/rockitruler/#.VypKvaODGko ) Yeah they’re expensive, and don’t buy their veneer, its over priced for bulk if you’re planning on pressing pretty often like i do. But that ruler will save you a load of hassle when doing truck placement and drawing your centerlines. ITs a full 4 feet long, so its not a lamo yard stick for trick decks. It will do longboards. My decks are 40" long. I have two of these rulers because one was slightly bent in the mail and they sent me a second one no questions asked, so customer service is good there.
Amazon prime has a ton of aluminum for cheap- you can get all different sizes.
I recently carved an aluminum key chain that is about 2/3 the thickness of an aluminum motor mount plate, and it was like an 18 dollar piece of 12"x12" aluminum. I can’t remember the series, but it was plenty strong- couldn’t even bend it.
What bit are you using? And did you use tapping fluid?
no tapping fluid, can’t remember the bit… its a 1/16 aluminum cutting bit, but it has an 1/8th shaft, so you will need a different collet or an adapter to work with the xcarve.
I used ebay for my aluminium.