research
First I had to decide on a project, this was very hard for me to do. I did decide on a long board, even though I don't skate as I thought it would be fun to build even though. The first part of this project was researching how to actually go about building a long board. Most of the resources I found said you should use plywood, any kind is fine. From there it is just a lot of measuring, cutting and drilling. I decided I wanted my long board to be 36 inches long and 8.5 inches wide. The plywood I chose was 1 inch thick oak plywood. I also designed risers based off the trucks that I bought for the board.
Timeline
Next I started working on the vinyl decal I was going to put on top. I decided on a white and blue decal. the white was the highlights of the mountains and the blue was the sky behind it. The wood I placed it on would make up the rest of the mountains. designed this in Adobe Illustrator then cut it on the vinyl cutter. I then weeded all the extra material and saved it until the rest of my board was done to apply it.
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Then I started working on laser cutting my grip tape. Even though the grip tape design is fairly simple I still decided to laser cut it. It is basically a square hole around where the hardware goes into the board and a diagonal cut around the top to allow room for the decal. I designed this in illustrator, it didn't take me too long as it is so simple. I then used the laser cutter to cut it out. then when the board is complete I will use a razor blade to cut along the edge of the board.
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Finally, the meat and potatoes of this project... the deck. I will be using the CNC router to cut out the deck and drill the holes for the hardware. I need to make sure while making this that all of my measurements are correct. This doesn't matter quite as much with the deck itself, but it matters a lot while drilling the holes as once their drilled there is no going back. I will start by designing this in inventor, then transferring it to fusion 360 to make the tool paths for the CNC router. Then I will use the CNC router to cut it out. This is what I wanted to do, but the fusion 360 took me very long to do and I ran out of time. I got all the work done to use the CNC router but this was too late. What I ended up doing was designing the board in illustrator then printing the image to scale. I traced it on the plywood and used a jigsaw to cut it out. Next I drilled the holes out. I then sanded the deck to make everything smooth.
Finally I put it all together. I started by putting on the trucks and risers. then I put on the vinyl decal. Next I applied the grip tape and trimmed off the extra. The long board is done!
summary
Overall I really enjoyed working on this project. Although I was working on this during a time I felt really burnt out with school I still got it done. While not everything went according to plan I think that I adjusted to these changes well. I found it hard to work on this project at school, but when I was able to take it home I really picked it up.
The most valuable skill I learned through this was time management. I have always been someone who struggles with time management and procrastination, but working on this project showed me how important it is to stay on top of things. at the beginning of the semester I wasn't very invested in getting the work done as I thought i had plenty of time. This time however dwindled very quickly. At some point I realized that I was going to have to really use my time the best I can or else I will run out. And because of that I was able to get the project done, but barely in time.
The most valuable skill I learned through this was time management. I have always been someone who struggles with time management and procrastination, but working on this project showed me how important it is to stay on top of things. at the beginning of the semester I wasn't very invested in getting the work done as I thought i had plenty of time. This time however dwindled very quickly. At some point I realized that I was going to have to really use my time the best I can or else I will run out. And because of that I was able to get the project done, but barely in time.