Build Off #3 ENTRY thread 2009.

[sniffleless]

So here it is. The ENTRY thread for Build Off #3.

Post your entries up here.
We want to see AT LEAST 3 photos of your board during different phases of the building process.
Basic entry photo format would be: photo of the board while being pressed; photo of the board during shaping; photo of the finished board.
We do need photos showing the features you used on your board.
More photos never hurts.

Remember our "theme" this time. You have to have followed the "theme" rules to be eligible.
Please tell us which features you chose.
For those asleep at the wheel, here is a recap of the "theme" rules this time.

Build Off #3 has a twist on the theme this time. Instead of a set style or a truly open theme you are asked to incorporate a combination of features. I give you a list of features and you as the builder must use at least TWO of those features. Feel free to use more if you wish.

"What are these features I have to choose from" you ask?
Here they are. You have to use at least TWO of these features to enter.
1. Flexy
2. Concave
3. Rocker
4. Kick
5. Camber

It's simple. Yet wide open.
No restrictions on materials or type of board. As long as it's a skateboard with at least two of those features it's all good.

You have until Oct. 10, 2009 to get your entries posted.

So get out those cameras and get to posting!

[LeSueur264]

Alright, guess I'm starting things off!

I'm entering this in Expert, being my 9th build. The deck is 32" x 8.5" with about 1/2" of rocker and a decent amount of concave (didn't measure...). I stained it with Rit dye.
Layup:
Fiberglass
1/8" BB
1/8" BB
Fiberglass
2 1/2" BB stringer 1/8"
Fabric epoxied onto stringer
Fiberglass

I was pretty pleased with the way the glass came out since I'm not using a vacuum bag. There is very little flex, no spring to it, just a little bit of dampening. Onto the pictures...

Of course I forget to get a shot in the press, but here's a picture of the press that I used.

And the original blank, I ended up chopping the nose and tail a little thinner after this picture was taken.

After laying down the first bottom layer of glass and the stringer on top.

Aaaand the end result!

Close up

And proof of rocker

[benmasters]

veryy nice. must be pretty light? i also really like the pattern on the fabric.

[bakersfield90]

This is my second build and my first time contesting.
This is a 58 inch by 8.5 inch dancer with some nice flex and camber.
Lots of wetsanding and poly into this build. Composed of 5 pieces of 1/8 B/BB.




I got the nice matte finish I was going for.


Bonus: The grip glows in the dark!

[kraffft]

Just a heads up.. to be fair. I'm gonna be including a video of my board being gnarred and steezed as hard as possible. Be psyched to see some other builders bring it.

[TwinTown Skater]

[TwinTown Skater]

Here are some build facts and pictures.

It was pressed with my homemade “Roarockenstein” set up. It took me 3 attempts to get a somewhat airtight bag built. While fiddling with my bag construction methods, I saw Ted post up something on the vac method not doing compound curves very well, so I built the platen and cut the air channels in the foam buck to get as even a vac distribution as possible.



I sanded a buck out of 2” pink foam to provide the concave which changes from 7/16” in the front to 9/16ths in the rear. I attempted w-cave in the front but it didn’t work out as well as hoped.




To create rocker, I added a ½” piece of foam under the buck, thus curving the buck upward. The rocker foam was tapered more aggressively in the front to provide some negative wedging terminating at the front truck, and feathered out nice and smooth ending about under the rear foot. You can see the rocker wedge in the picture of the first two plies in the bag in the previous post. ( the front of the deck is to the left) The picture below is hard to make out, but the shiny metal straight edge is resting on the truck mounting cutouts, and there is about 3/8" below the straight edge.




I cut a template out of fiberboard, learned a couple of tricks there as well. I used the template to cut the deck out with a rotozip. In this picture, you can see the hole at the lower left that I had to drill in my plies to fit the rubber vac cork that I was using in my vac setup.




I glassed the bottom, and added cloth on both front and rear mounting for strength. I added a second hot coat to get a better finish, and I also put a layer of finishing resin on top of the board for water resistance.




The paint is rattle can, with low tack frisket film cut into stencils, placed over the white first coat, and red painted over the top. In order to peel the stencils off, I had to cut the edge of each stencil so that I didn’t peel the paint off. A final coat of finishing resin finished everything off and added the shine.

Any and all comments are welcome.

[fehlbergo]

This is my first time entering in the build off, but my 11th build.
I choose to incorporate camber and a kick. The board comes in
at 35" long and reaches 9" wide with about 1/2" of camber with 1 1/4"
of kick. I used four pieces of 1/4" ply ply for the build. I used an
airbrush to do the graphics which turned out pretty well.

Over all it turned out well and is quite a good slalom board.

[fehlbergo]

for some reason the photos wouldn't attach to the last post so here they are.

[hoch92000]

Twin Town, I am amazed you devised this. This is one of the key elements to making a good vacuum veneering system, a flat board with 1/8" grooves in a grid. I simply use a lot of breather cloth. Way to go. BTW, nice deck. We could use a better rocker/camber/cave shot, to better appreciate your efforts.

[TwinTown Skater]

We could use a better rocker/camber/cave shot, to better appreciate your efforts.

Hooch, thanks for your compliments. As I said, I have been taking inspiration from this forum for years. I really appreciate the knowledge that everyone has shared. Over time, my aspirations grew from trying the toothless, then a rib press, then I saw Ted's stuff and realized that I had 2 of those Vinotek pumps laying around, and my course was set. Some might describe me as an*l; in my mind if it's worth doing, it is worth doing right!

Here is a post that I threw up a couple of months ago when I first got the idea for the Platen, I'm updating it with some additional info and the results:

42 Inches of Platen, ummm.... - Silverfish Longboarding - The Longboard Skateboarding Community


Here is a shot of the blank just out of the press, we are looking at the concave at the front end of the board. If you look down the left side of the blank, you can also get some idea of the rocker:




Here is the concave on the finished board. First from the front, then the rear.I attached some masking tape to my straight edge so that the gap would be more evident.






The rocker. Note that the straight edge is sitting on the baseplates, so the total rocker is about 1/8" less than it appears in this photo.

[hoch92000]

[TwinTown Skater]

Completely and totally sick. And I'm extremely jealous of your set up.

If you tell me where you live, I'll help you get rid of some of that junk in your garage, starting with that delta planer......

[piedogger]

I tried!

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to hoch92000 again."

[deathfrog]

Hoch that deck looks sick. Can you give a short performance review? Expected durability? Quality of flex? Weight? Dimensions?

Here's my entry. I've been making boards on and off for four or five years or so, but this is the first build off I've entered. This was one of the final prototypes of my Giant Squid shape. It has a 1/4" bamboo core, with pretensioned fiberglass sheets top and bottom, with camber, concave, and flex. I ended up giving the deck away for a race prize, so not many finished/flex pics.

I don't have any pictures of making the skin, but this is a picture of the bottom skin with the core material. I made the skin before I saw the build off thread, so I didn't do much in terms of graphics either. The SLAB logo, Stickman Skates text and texas grown logo are all printed on rice paper and lammed in. Super easy to do any custom graphics this way, it's how all surfboard logos are done, and any of the builders that offer free custom graphics top and bottom do the same thing, (bc, xvd, ect)


Then, I press it all on a foam mold in a vac bag.


A few hours later, I post cure in a black plastic bag or in the trunk of my car under the hot texas sun for about six hours. I don't know the exact temperature it gets to, but the bag can partially melt.


After, cut, sand, wheel wells, bolt holes, ect.


And done! This ended up being too flexy for me, but has an amazing snap. maekhamin has it now and is really diggin it. Again, sorry for the less than glamourous pictures.

[hoch92000]

I tried!

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to hoch92000 again."

HaHa. Thanks.

Completely and totally sick. And I'm extremely jealous of your set up.

If you tell me where you live, I'll help you get rid of some of that junk in your garage, starting with that delta planer......

Ha Ha. There is a lot of junk in there, believe me. That Delta planer is sweet. At 250 bones, it is much cheaper than the rest on the shelf. Works great. Just don't plane anything you think might have some metal staples/nails in it. Changing the blades is apparently a pain. If you are working with wood cores rather than veneer plys, a planer is needed. you also need a fractional caliper to measure thickness with. This is one similar to mine.

It is nondigital but is accurate to 1/128" of an inch. Absolutely brilliant piece of old school engineering. I am also proud of my new vac setup. Pieced it together myself.

That scored board you use: For the perfect vac veneer system, you make it a bit larger, perhaps 2 to 3 times wider than the mold, then apple the vac valve off to the side, directly on to the wood base. The channels distribute the vacuum effectively. Alternatively, there is a way to elegantly drive your valve through the bottom of the wood base, then bolted on top. This would require permanent fixation of the bag to the wood base. Elegant but not necessary. It is hard to put this into words.

That rocker looks perfect. Stiff rocker/concave is great for a short pumper. Locks you in. I've wondered how it would do for a speed deck.

Hoch that deck looks sick. Can you give a short performance review? Expected durability? Quality of flex? Weight? Dimensions?

Here's my entry. I've been making boards on and off for four or five years or so, but this is the first build off I've entered. This was one of the final prototypes of my Giant Squid shape. It has a 1/4" bamboo core, with pretensioned fiberglass sheets top and bottom, with camber, concave, and flex. I ended up giving the deck away for a race prize, so not many finished/flex pics.

And done! This ended up being too flexy for me, but has an amazing snap. maekhamin has it now and is really diggin it. Again, sorry for the less than glamourous pictures.

Bamboo is such a good choice for flex. I wouldn't give away my Loaded deck. Feels like riding in a hammock. I prefer poplar, but that's just me. The wheel well/cutouts look perfect, similar to what I use on a topmount. I've tried the new Landyachtz bamboo topmount cruisers recently, two plys of boo with glass. Really nice ride. I'm sure yours will ride nice.

Never knew exactly want pretensed glass was until now. Thanks.

As far as my deck goes. I'm out for a 7 mile stretch here in a few. I'll let you know. The cave and camber is a bit more than I bargained for, but it flexes. I like cave in an LDP, a good bit. It locks you in and cuts down on wheel bite. It fill fatigue your arches, but hey, I'm not going 50 miles.

BTW, where's everybody elses entry?

[Dro.Pru]

[Dro.Pru]

Composed of 5 pieces of 1/8 B/BB.
I got the nice matte finish I was going for.


Bonus: The grip glows in the dark!

nice ass finish! And 5 plies of 1/8 is perfect. I made a dancer with 6 plies, and it's too heavy.

glow in the dark grip is pretty cool too.

This is the first board I have built, and it is my entry for the September build off. I call it Chiye Tanka. I’d like to thank all of the builders who have posted up their work and ideas here, they have been my inspiration and lesson plans.

first-off, congrats on a first build! (Very meticulously well done, and it shows. It doesn't look like a first build's quality but way better!)

also very good paint/stencil work!

only thing i'm concerned about it that point in the nose.

nice build hoch!

a planer is great tool for any cut that needs to be perfectly flat. As much as you try it's really hard to keep all the plies flush while pressing. I ended up using an end planar to make the side perfectly straight/even out the plies.

[Everett McCord]

Well I guess its my turn!

When I saw the requirements for this buildoff had 5 options and you only had to do two of them i thought that was crazy and that I should do as many as possible so I decided on making a Concave, Cambered, Double Kicked, Flexy Dancer/All Around fun board. I was at first gonna build the deck out of solid birch but then I decided that I should try something new and go with a flexy vlam. I decided on a poplar vlam with 3 purpleheart stringers. The layup ended up like this. 1.5" poplar/1.5" poplar/.5" purpleheart/1.5" poplar/.5"purpleheart/1.5" poplar/.5" purpleheart/1.5" poplar/1.5" poplar. I got this pressed out (which i forgot to take pictures of) and then planed it down to a nice flexy 1/4" and it was ready to be pressed.



I pressed it with a 1/8" sheet of baltic birch in order to hold the shape of the concave, camber, and kicks. Which I actually do for all of my vlams that have bends, and it turned out incridibly nice!





I then cut out the blank and sanded in some wheel wells.



Then I glassed the top and used some treadtex ontop of the glass and epoxy for a nice clear grippy grip!!



Then I stenciled my logo on the bottom and glassed that side too.



Sanded down the edges and sealed them with some Minwax Polycrylic and put some reinforcement on top of the grip with some more Polycrylic. And walla my board was done!!







I then thought about what I should set it up with and decided that some 50* Randal 180s and Gravity Drifters would be a fun set up, and boy was I right this thing is FUN!!









Here is the proof of the flex...





All in all this board RULES!!! It really is an all around board that I can use for anything from DH to Dancing to LDPing and even to a little bit of pool skating if I feel like doing so.

The Dimensions are:

42" long x 10" wide

1/4" inch of concave and 1/2" of camber. It has about 10* kicktails and a 24.5" wheelbase. I took this deck for about a 3 mile skate yesterday and all I can say is that it ripps. It pumps like a dream, standup slides are really really fun, and attempting to pull off manuels has never been easier.

Well that's pretty much it! Great builds so far! I hope mine passes in ya'lls books!!

[SoloRider]

Well, here it is. I built this deck because I wanted something to mount my Originals to, it needed to have a drag hole, and it had to be freestanding.

I ran right up against the deadline on this one and was not well equipped to begin with(more on that later). I had a lot of different projects(skate and non-skate alike) going at the end of the month, this was by far the least important so finish suffered some. Also, I lost a batch of my build photos so I'll take the DNF without protest if that's what's called for.

I built my press with about a week to go and rushed it, building out of materials I wouldn't normally use. When I went to find my clamps(after glue had been applied to my plies and they wee ready for pressing) I remembered that I had loaned out a bunch of my bigger ones and I could only track down four that would reach over the press. My press that was going to put a pretty radical flatcave in my deck ended up as a rail press since I couldn't apply the correct pressure.



You're just going to have to imagine a blank here, ready for cutting.

Now picture it cut out with some twill kevlar/carbon fiber draped over the top.

Now we have a prepped deck ready for sanding and final finish:



Camber:



Concave:



Bottom:



Top:



Oh yeah, and freestanding: