Sanding wheel wells

[bpz]

I've been holding back on my 57" long cruiser I made because even with 1/2" risers, all trucks get wheelbite pretty quick. I was running R2 180s but switched them out for a pair of Tracker 219s today and really want to start pushing it. The 3/4" thick wood bites into the wheels quickly and I'm tired of not having wheel wells. What is the simplest, most efficient way to get into the board smoothly?

I really want it to look nice, where the wells are deeper towards the rails of the board and all take the same shape. I already marked off where the wheels bite and plan on cutting a semicircle template which I'll trace around, however I'm not sure what to use to sand them out. Surely a hand held sander would be very inaccurate? Would something like a sanding drum I could attach to my drill work well? Let me know how you do yours or any methods you've heard of. Thanks guys.

[Edit] I just purchased a router I didn't have when building the board and I'm wondering if that can help me in any way. I was thinking of going back and rounding the now "sharp" edges around the entire profile. Is there anything wrong with doing that now, after I stained and sealed both sides? I could also route out some wells deep enough to allow for wheel space, but not deep to cut through the entire deck (perhaps 1/2" leaving 1/4" left?). Not sure what to do.

[ol'dude]

Let's see if I can do this without pictures...

I'm guessing you want tapered wells, not cut-outs.
So in that case, I woud say rotary oscillating sander (or drum attached to drillpress/drill). Figure out the angle you want, and make a block to steady the deck. Then take small bites, chew thoroughly, clear dust often.

Now that you have a router, you can make pretty edges.

As for customizing after finishing; just tape off the good stuff, and hit the fresh wood with the same treatment as before.


Tip o' the week; if you lay up your own plys, and plan on tapered wells, dye some of the layers a couple o' days prior. Makes for a nice effect.

[bpz]

Yeah, I wanted to shave out pieces of the deck, not cut out areas to avoid bite completely. I'm trying to picture semi-circles of the infinished birch peeking through against the stained and finished wood. I might just use the router to cut out those pieces where it would bite, somewhat like flush mounting trucks. Anyone get what I'm saying? Maybe I'll tape it off and then stain the cut out portions a different color than the bottom of the deck.

Tip o' the week; if you lay up your own plys, and plan on tapered wells, dye some of the layers a couple o' days prior. Makes for a nice effect.

My PPS slalom deck is like this. Got some red and blue showing, very nice effect.

[Longbord1]

i used a belt snader. some have a curved front and its not a very big curve. IT worked great for my boards wheels wells

[supercarver]

I sanded deeper wheel wells in my belly racer to accommodate caliber 44s. used sand paper wrapped around a wheel and spun wheel. made perfect looking little bit deeper wells