by breckbunny1
Hi guys! Me and my friend are going to show you how to make a homemade
Tech Deck (look-alike) mini-skateboard.
Homemade Fingerboard Requirements
You're going to need:
- duct tape
- sandpaper or grip tape
- hot glue gun
- markers
- index cards
- filing folders
- Tech Deck fingerboard
Trace Your Tech Deck Skateboard, Cut
What you want to do is take your filing folder - if you're using index cards, I'll show you how to do that also - and lay it down opened. Take your Tech Deck and put it on top of the folder as close as you can to one of the folder's edges; the Tech Deck should be facing up. Trace around the fingerboard. You're going to make another tracing about one inch away from the first one. Make a third one next to the second one. You're going to want to get 6 or 7 tracings. I'm just going to make 3, because I actually already made some index card ones.
What you're going to do if you're making the index card ones is make one tracing per card. Then cut the tracings out. You might want to have an adult with you during this fingerboard creation process, because there's a hot glue gun and a lot of cutting involved - in case you're not allowed, you know...You can use an X-Acto knife, or whatever, to cut the Tech Deck tracings out. So just cut them out like that (part I, 1:46).
After you get the index cutouts, what you want to do is take your filing folder (which has the skateboard tracings), and cut the other half (the half without the tracings) off at the fold. So if you're doing this project with your friend, your friend can use this other half instead of wasting it. What you want to do is cut out the entire section of the filing folder with the tracings on it, so now you have a sheet with all the boards on it. Now what you do is cut that sheet into (roughly) equal-sized rectangles, each with a skateboard trace in its center. So now that you have 3 rectangles, you're going to cut the boards out. If you're going to use index card boards, you might want to add 1 or 2 of these folder ones, because the index card ones are not so strong...If you use a filing folder, the boards are really strong, it'll make the Tech Deck strong.
I'm going to pretend that one of my filing folder rectangles is my grip tape. Say this is your grip tape or sand paper (I, 4:05). Take the Tech Deck again, and trace it on the grip tape or sandpaper. Then cut the skateboard tracing out of it, like normal. The grip tape or sand paper tracing has to be cut out the best; it can't be sloppy (but you don't really want the other cut-outs to be sloppy, either). Put your sandpaper board cutout away for right now, don't throw it out or whatever...
Now what you're going to do is - if you did a couple of the index card skateboards - take one of the folder boards and put it on top of the stacked index card ones, and another folder cut-out on the bottom of the index card stack, for when you're gluing. It makes the skateboard-making process much easier.
Glue Your Mini-skateboard Cutouts
I'm going to move over to the gluing station - it's not really a gluing station, but just a glue gun set-up - and I'm going to show you how to do this. Grab the leftover large folder sheet (from which the 3 board rectangles were cut)...What you do is place one of the 2 folder board cutouts - i.e., the ones on the top and bottom of the fingerboard stack - on the large folder sheet and apply glue all around the perimeter of one face of the cutout, like that (I, 5:45). Take one index card cutout and place it on the glued folder cutout, trying to overlay the latter exactly as best as you can. Now apply glue to the index cutout you just overlaid (and is now showing), and place another index cutout on top of that. Again, superimpose this second index board as best as you can. Apply glue to this cutout, then stick on a third index cutout, etc...
Remember, if you have little bits of the folder or index cardstock sticking out of the side of your fingerboard stack, it's fine. You can trim those bits off after you're done stacking. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you what else you'll need: 2 little axles with wheels on them...Keep putting the index card board cutouts on the stack - glue then paste - until you use them all. It does take a little while to glue them all...
Finish Creating Your Finger Skateboard
After you've glued all the cutouts together, what you do is bend the stacked board in the middle (with the bottom of the board poking out). Then bend the 2 ends of the board up. Don't worry if there are wrinkles on the top cutout, because it won't show up on your grip tape. Get your grip tape ready; I have mine with me. Glue the top of the skateboard stack. Take your last cutout piece (the grip tape) - remember, this piece has to be your best cutout because it's the one showing how good the fingerboard really is - and place it on the stack.
After you do that, your board is nearing completion. If you want to make the old school gap, rip off a sliver of duct tape - try to keep your scissors clean while you're making your mini-skateboard - and lay it across the top. Now what we have is our old school gap, right here (part II, 1:51); you see that I put my grip tape on. And now, you're going to put the wheels on. I'm already holding mine on...What you're going to do is apply glue to the under side the board, at each end, and put the wheel axles on. Just press down on one axle, and hold while you count to 50...Then do the same thing to the other pair of wheels: 1,2,3 (etc)...
Now that you have that, if you want to cover the bottom of the fingerboard so that it doesn't look like the folder it came from, you can duck tape it or color it. Now cut out a piece of sandpaper. Apply glue to the sides of your new skateboard, and let the glue dry. After the glue dries, take the sandpaper piece and scrub the sides of the board with it. The glue makes the sandpaper easier to grind, and grinding makes the sides much smoother. After you do that, your imitation Tech Deck is almost completed. You'll just want to peel off the folder or index card bits sticking out from the sides, then sand the sides (again).
And now your finger skateboard is finished...
Tech Deck fingerboard
