Build Off contest 2: Expert Class Entry thread

[jestah]

Big big big big BIIIIIIIG respect to EVERY single board here..... my manties are soiled and i feel happy!

[Everett McCord]

Well I guess its my turn so here goes my long and probably boring explination followed by some hopefully eye appealing pictures of a board that is a blast to ride.

My entry is a 41" by 10.25" speedboard whith wheel bases varrying from 31"-33". It is constructed in a several step process that was long and a bitch to do because well I didnt have a vac bag. I have made this model of board called the 'Blueridge' which originaly had a vlam torsion box and was wraped in fiberglass. For this board I decided to make the deck even lighter, as light as I possibly could with out a vac bag. So I decided that I would make a Balsa core version that would be wrapped in carbon fiber. First thing i did was press my blank, which is the exact same as that of the normal Blueridge, 2 sheets of 1/8" BB pressed into Night Skateboards signiture 3/4" deep 'Taco Cave' which I sadly forgot to take a picture of I then glassed that sheet individually and let it cure. While it was cureing I got to work on my balsa core. My original design had a balsa core running along the length of the entire board, but i realized that there was going to be to much pressure on the core if I were to do that so I decided to make some birch inserts. Since the balsa is just some random 4"x 36"x1/4" sheets I found at Michael's that where glued together to make a 1/2" balsa core I had to make some 1/2" inserts. I orginally was going to flush cut the board but relized that the cf would not be able to hold to the sharp curves of the underflush (it didn't even hold to the edges of the torsion box because of the angles) So I made inserts of birch with 45 degree angles so that it would have more surface area to hold on to. Once the glass on the 1/4" blank deck was cured I alined my torsion box up back in my press layed down some epoxy and pressed the blank back on top of that. After all of that was cured I filled the voids between the torsion box and the blank with clear liquid rubber (comes in a caulk tube) and let that dry. I then layed down my cf and wrapped the torsion box and blank with sexy carbon fiber goodness. After that was all said and done I cut out the deck and sanded it down and drilled the holes out. I then put a couple of coats of clear down on the top and bottom and put the logo down. The logo leaked under my tape because I did not hot coat the board and I like the way it turned out because I was going for more of a 'raw' look. I really like the way this board preforms and rides all in all. Its set up with 190 Smokies and Venom Shocker Protos, which makes for quite a sexy combo on the 32" wheelbase. I infact took that setup up to 45 the first weekend I had it and it preformed beautifully.

All in all the board is stiff as hell, has awesome concave, looks great, and is extremely light weighing in at 3 pounds and 5 oz. Yes thats right 3 pounds 5 oz and no vac bag was used... Now imagine if I were to use a vac bag

Well enough talk

Here are the pictures that I have... I know I should have more of the build process but I forgot about it sorry

Glassing the Blank



All the Balsa



UnCut Un Carbon Fibered Deck... You can really see how I went around making the birch inserts and where the balsa is in this pic.



Cut and Sanded blank... Undrilled



Bottom



Top



Concave



Balsa Core Detail Shots





Extra Random Pictures

[originalrider99]

Strictly designed for cruising (and catching attention).

Thanks for your consideration.
DitchDodger
ditchdodger.com

Your finish work is gorgeous. Teach me. Great job man. I love it.

[Work in Progress]

I just wanted to say that I've only been skating a month or so but the workmanship and ingenuity that I've seen in the beginners thread and especially in this one has inspired me to undertake my first build: I'm shooting for a 36" drop deck commuter for campus cruising and small hills. Keep up the stellar work.

[Everett McCord]

Lets see some more entrys I know there are more than these few. I know of one I cant wait to see. Yes rus I am talking about you...

[homedepotpro]

I was going to post in the beginner section but I figure that wouldn't be as much fun. This is my first comp and I'm stoked to be in it with you great builders.

This is my latest version of a birch freeride/speed board that I call the Dew Drop.
My Goals for this project were:
Build it lighter
Make it stiffer
And do it using composites

I had never used fiberglass or carbon fiber prior to this build, so this was a huge learning experience.
The board was built in three stages. First the initial platform was pressed and shapped with three layers of 1/8" Baltic Birch in a vacuum bag using Titebond wood glue.





Next a 4" wide birch stinger was made by sandwiching a layer of 3.7oz S glass between two pieces of Birch.



Finally the whole bottom was laminated with alternating layers of 3.7oz S glass and 4.5oz uni-directional carbon(G,C,G,C,G), while the top was given a single layer of 3.7oz S glass.



The board was then sanded and painted so the carbon would still be seen on the stringer.



The finally result achieved all of my goals. 39" long by 9.5" wide and a 8" waist. The final weight of just the board is 4.2lbs, saving me three ounces while the rigidity is comparable to my friend's loki. To finish it off I set it up with 42 randals, yellow eliminators and sector nine race formula wheels. I'd have to say I'm very pleased with the result and I hope you are too.

[dap209]

I was going to post in the beginner section but I figure that wouldn't be as much fun. This is my first comp and I'm stoked to be in it with you great builders.

boy am I glad you decided to go expert...that build is incredible for your first time with composites! very good work, mate.

[817]

homedepotpro- awesome build, however awesome Rube Goldberg on your site man. you are man innovative, and I also think you should do a tutorial with pictures of the modifications to your compressor so that we can copy your sick vacuum pump design.

Peace.

[Dimm]

Alright guys. You all know who I am so I'm not gonna do the whole introduction thing. And I know you're gonna look at the photos first and read later so I may as well post all the photos first.

FEAST YOUR INFIDEL EYES! BEHOLD AND BOW DOWN BEFORE THE GRAND MASTER OF ALL LONGBOARDS!

















And the proof that I built it....









Alright so let me give a quick overview!

This board constructions is glass/birch/bamboo in the following order from top to bottom.

12oz triaxial
1/8" BB
1/8" BB
1/8" bamboo

I was going to put the glass on the bottom but I decided against it in order to preserve the beautiful grain of the bamboo.

The board is about 42" long, with a wheelbase of 31/35". It is a little over 3/8" thick and has 10 - 9.5" tapering. And about 3/8" of concave (no, not 2")

If I left out a detail don't be shy to ask.

Now... this board is inspired by my skatecations ("skate vacations" for the not-so-bright ones out there) in which I struggle to decide what type of setup to bring. Downhill or freeride? Beefy and heavy or light and frail? I never know... so I decided to make a board to solve this problem. This board is a combination of art and practicality and I think that is what makes the best board. I designed this board to be great at both freeride and downhill. NO COMPROMISES. It has just a bit of flex to make freeriding fun but not enough flex to make it unstable at speed, it is beefy enough to take a beating but light enough to carry around when I travel.

There are two baseplates on the back of the board. This is not for two trucks! This is to switch hangars between the two baseplates. The front is a 50 and the back are 50 and 35. If I want to do downhill I put the hangar in the back where the slightly longer wheelbase and the low baseplate makes speeds highly stable. And if I want to carve, commute, or freeride I simply switch over to the inside plate where the Randal 50/50s make this a fun-as-hell freerider.

I've taken this board up to 90k and it feels great. I can take it to 70k with the inside plates. I switch to the outside only for the really fast runs.

And I drew my standard DKLB MONTREAL graphic. Simple, clean, and ####### sexy I love it. I'm gonna do it for all my boards.

To conclude, this board is a combination of artistic beauty, advanced construction, and unique and practical design. I think that is what makes the best board. I love this thing to death and I hope all of you do too.

Thanks!

[homedepotpro]

homedepotpro- awesome build, however awesome Rube Goldberg on your site man. you are man innovative, and I also think you should do a tutorial with pictures of the modifications to your compressor so that we can copy your sick vacuum pump design.

Peace.

I can draw something up if you guys really want something. I actually switched from an air compressor to a fridge compressor and changed the design up a bit since I posted that. You can see the setup in the pic of it where the board is in the vac bag. Till I get around to posting my design, here is where I got my idea.

[radchad]

dimm your board is straight sex. I love the simplicity. If I could a board it would look something like that

[SoloRider]

Great collection of boards so far! Rep all around.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to ***TWITCH*** again.

...cept for you Twitch.

[Dro.Pru]

dimm, what radchad said before me, pure sex.....

i have a lot of respect for you "experts". keep at the great work!

[boogaloo28]

Been away from building from a while, here's my latest tho. Went back to basics with some basic baltic (probably where most of us started).
3 sheets of 1/8" pressed into a concave camber mold:


Resulting blank:


Lil Concave shot:


Cut out with a jigsaw, smoothed out with various abrasives and the trusty block plane, laminate trimmer for rounding out the rails on the bottom, decided to go for a harder edge top and just did a bit of smoothing with some 100 grit sandpaper.
Unfinished board + my fave tools:


Finished using some hard-oil, an eco friendly alternative to a poly finish. Graphics were kind of an experiment in creative reuse, I work at a custom button shop and used the leftover papers that the art is cut out on as a stencil. Turned out not working that well since it gets crinkly in the cutting process and didn't lay super flat on the oiled wood. Added some splatters to go along with the style and set the whole thing up with some bennetts and tunnel tarantulas.


Shape is kind of inspired by the timeline and EW boomy/MM (really diggin Brian's shapes right now) Dimensions are 34.5" by 8.75" Didn't have cambered flexy boards in my quiver so this one filled that need nicely, pumps beautifully and the combination of flex and soft wheels makes for a super plush ride.

[Dro.Pru]

OMG i love that graphic!

kudos on a great build, simple yet elegant, back to the roots (BB) but executed nicely!

[scratch]

Lets see some more entrys I know there are more than these few. I know of one I cant wait to see. Yes rus I am talking about you...

I have to pic one of 3... nothing too crazy...I hopefully will have time to write it all up tomorrow... been crazy busy.Summer is the busy season & customers before contests is the policy...
Everyone else has fantastic looking entries... I'll be in the back of the pack this time for sure..
but, It's sick to see all the cool stuff! Solo... wow!

[mbease]

hello all, this is the first time I've entered a board building contest here on the fish but this is my 17th board I have made.

I decided it was time to make my first dancer since I have never rode one or even seen one in person and have wanted one for a while now.



I used my ribbed press and sort of extended it to compensate for the added length. the nose and tail were pressed a tad bit higher than the body to have a barely noticeable rocker nose/tail, but there nonetheless.



after cutting the board out with my jigsaw and devotedly rounding out the edges with a belt sander for an hour or two I was ready to measure out and spray the stripes on the bottom.





it rained for most of the day but I decided to work anyways, spraying in the garage. a fan helped with most of the fumes but I did still end up getting a headache/other effects involuntarily.
also, the last photo is of the black and orange mixed stripe. it turned out decent enough.



next was to measure out where the fabric was going to go and also to efficiently draw on the chosen image to wood burn.



eventually everything came together just right and I was on to laminating, clear coating and adding basilica sand for a nice, light grip.
the fabric was laminated with polyurethane, rather than epoxy/epoxy resin since polyurethane is just as strong and much easier/cheaper to work with.

and the results...



presenting: THE SKANKER.













stats:
length - 59.75"
width - 8.5"
thickness - 15 plies = 3/4"
wood - Baltic Birch
camber - none
concave - 1/4"
flex - it feels really flexy at times but not enough to bottom out - just the way I like it.


as you may have noticed, my main influence in this board, as well as a few other boards, is Longboard Larry. I really like what boards LongboardLarry makes and the way they use fabric to enhance their boards.

the wood burned image is from Operation Ivy, a quintessential ska band, in case some of you didn't know where it was from or know of it at all. ska dancing is called skanking, hence the name.

also, the photos were taken a few days after it was finished and I got the chance to take it out for a few long rides. the board is a great cruiser and extremely fun.

thanks very much Silverfish Board Building peoples. I learned everything I know from these forums and am proud to be a part of this forum. I hope you guys like!

[Dro.Pru]

hello all, this is the first time I've entered a board building contest here on the fish but this is my 17th board I have made.

I decided it was time to make my first dancer since I have never rode one or even seen one in person and have wanted one for a while now.



I used my ribbed press and sort of extended it to compensate for the added length. the nose and tail were pressed a tad bit higher than the body to have a barely noticeable rocker nose/tail, but there nonetheless.



after cutting the board out with my jigsaw and devotedly rounding out the edges with a belt sander for an hour or two I was ready to measure out and spray the stripes on the bottom.





it rained for most of the day but I decided to work anyways, spraying in the garage. a fan helped with most of the fumes but I did still end up getting a headache/other effects involuntarily.
also, the last photo is of the black and orange mixed stripe. it turned out decent enough.



next was to measure out where the fabric was going to go and also to efficiently draw on the chosen image to wood burn.



eventually everything came together just right and I was on to laminating, clear coating and adding basilica sand for a nice, light grip.
the fabric was laminated with polyurethane, rather than epoxy/epoxy resin since polyurethane is just as strong and much easier/cheaper to work with.

and the results...



presenting: THE SKANKER.













stats:
length - 59.75"
width - 8.5"
thickness - 15 plies = 3/4"
wood - Baltic Birch
camber - none
concave - 1/4"
flex - it feels really flexy at times but not enough to bottom out - just the way I like it.


as you may have noticed, my main influence in this board, as well as a few other boards, is Longboard Larry. I really like what boards LongboardLarry makes and the way they use fabric to enhance their boards.

the wood burned image is from Operation Ivy, a quintessential ska band, in case some of you didn't know where it was from or know of it at all. ska dancing is called skanking, hence the name.

also, the photos were taken a few days after it was finished and I got the chance to take it out for a few long rides. the board is a great cruiser and extremely fun.

thanks very much Silverfish Board Building peoples. I learned everything I know from these forums and am proud to be a part of this forum. I hope you guys like!

OMG YOU ARE MY HERO!!!! I lOVE SKA, and totally got the reference! lol

i made a dancer too, its in the beginer thread, not as cool looking as yours though. congrats on such a sick build!

[ibombhills]

skank it up dude! its all about the bad manners! THE SPECIALS!!!! TO MUCH TOO YOUNG!

[rodgon]

god damn,,,,

wow.

WoW.... amazing work everyone! experts indeed. voting is going to be a pain. lol sooo much talent its ridiculous.