my wakeskate :D

As many others have done, im building my own wakeskate. yesterday i went out and bought a 4x8 sheet of 1/4" plywood. i also got fibreglass resin and $30 worth of spray paint for me to play around with graphics for the bottom of the board. now i just have to make the jig that presses the board into shape while the fibreglass resin dries. so... i have a few questions:

1) My board is going to be 43" long, how wide should it be at the widest point?

2) How big of a rocker should it have?

3) How much will the rocker spring back after I take it out of the jig? (generally)

4) How thick should this board be? I was thinking 3 layers of this plywood. the thing is going to turn out to be like 3/4" thick.


Anyways, next step... jig building

(Message edited by afxsguy on May 26, 2004)

my homemade skate was 42" long and its about 15.5" wide. as for the rocker, mine is 2" and the board did not spring back all. i also only used 2 layers of 1/2" plywood and it worked really well. i think 3 would be too thick

hope that helps

2 layers of 1/2" plywood? that would make it about an inch thick. im using 1/4" plywood. 3 layers would only be around 3/4" thick.

...or did u mean to say you used 2 layers of 1/4" plywood?

thanks

i think that 3 layers of 1/4" would be best. let us see some of pics of the final product

yep. just have to get hardener for the fibreglass resin... then im off to the races. so far ive been playing around with spray paint on a scrap board. it looks good... but even after the clear coat and everything, you can still see it has that wooden texture. my dad suggested that i fibreglass resin the bottom of the board also (thats a given i guess) and palm-sand it so that it is smooth. then he said i should paint and clear coat it.

how do you guys paint the bottom of your boards to get the most professional results? i'd like this thing to look like it was bought at a store... but that prolly wsont happen my first try haha

if you can paint right on the wood. sand it flat and prime it first. If its not flat enough put a thin layer of the figerglass resin down, and paint that. Then when you fiberglass over the top of that the fiberglass becomes clear. Then you graphics are protected from everything.

k thanks.. ill try sanding and priming a layer of the fibreglass, then painting, then fibreglassing again.

yeah sorry, i meant 2 layers of 1/4 inch not 1/2

i would recomend only one layer of fiberglass. it is some what heavy and one layer will be strong enough. just put a layer of the resin and hardener mix down. paint on that and then fiberglass over the top of that.

okay, ive finished the jig... and i just got the hardener for the resin today. tomorrow after work and night school im gonna start the wakeskate bending process

i am bending my skate differently than what i have seen people do on the net. instead of having lifted ends and weight pressing down on the middle... i made concaved rails that go down the length of the jig. two at the sides, and one in the middle. the middle is just for support, but the plywood will get screwed to the side rails will will hold it in a bent position. then i fibreglass and screw on the next sheet of plywood. make sense. the outside rails are positioned outside of the width i want my board to be, so then after i am done, i can just cut out the board with a jig saw. maybe this sounds confusing... i will post a picture tomorrow before i start so you can see the jig.

here's a picture of the jig. it is made to fit sheets of plywood that are 2x4'

the jig is overbuilt... but i had to build it with bracing to stop the jig from warping diagonally. ideally, i would have a huge sheet of 1" plywood... but that would cost me money. the idea of building a wakeskate is to save me money. all the wood used was scrap a got from a stair builder i know.

anyways, yah... you lay the board in, screw it down to the 2 outter rails, fibreglass, then screw another board down, and repeat.

Here is the jig...
http://www.aurorafxstudios.com/files/my_wakeskate_jig.jpg

well, this thing is 3/4 done. it is bent, and cut out to shape. i just have to rout chamfers on the edges, then put a few more coats of fibreglass, sand, paint, clear coat, then grip tape. all the hard work is done though.

oh and the curvature of the jig, and the shape of the board were all drawn up on autocad, then printed to scale on a plotter. that white paper on the skate is a template i plotted and cut out, then stuck temporarily to the board. then i just cut and sanded to the edge of the paper.

here are a bunch of pics i took while doing it. tell me what you think.

http://www.aurorafxstudios.com/files/wakeskate/

i should almost put together a wakeskate building tutorial haha.

That looks great,giving me some good ideas. I may try one soon.

Jesse, looks cool.
if i could make a suggestion...
...buy a sheet of formica and glue it on both sides when you lay up your board. This way it will be sealed and protected top and bottom. Then cut out your shape and rail shape... brush in light coats of epoxy resin on the rail till it's sealed. let each one dry fully before the next(this could take up to 6 coats)Formica will last way longer and make it slightly stiffer. also marine grade plywood will help.

but the epoxy fibreglass resin will seal top and bottom completely. that is what they use in boats. i have put about 5-6 fairly thick coats of resin on each side and letting it fully dry before applying the next coat. i will then sand about i leyer off to make it perfectly flat. then i will paint and spray on clear coat.

the only way i could see problems is if i took a chunk out of the board hitting a rail or whatever.

anyways it sounds like it couldn't hurt to do the formica... but is it really necessary? i might try it on my next board as im almost done this one.

thanks a lot

it will slide like a champ...
and it will cut down all your glassing/sanding steps... even make it stiffer.

(Message edited by schmaltz on June 15, 2004)

schmaltz... thanks for the advice! i saw your limited edition board on wakeskating.com ...it looks awsome. a few questions.

-how did you do the graphics? are they printed on some form of paper or card, and then laminated in?

-how did you shape the 3 stage rocker? i guess i could shape the rails differently on my jig to do that.

-how do you create the concave on the top?

-and on many wakeskates... there is about 1" around the edge on the top that is bevelled or round. did you use a router to do this? custom bit, or jig?

thanks a lot! i understand these answers would be giving your secrets away haha... so if you dont want to, that's okay. since i am am pretty much finished this skate, i will not be doing a concave, or anything more to it. however, i'm just looking at ideas for my next skate. anyways thanks a lot... your skates look great!

(Message edited by afxsguy on June 17, 2004)