/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Also, anyone have advice on making slide gloves?

I've built several, its pretty easy and very rewarding(and cheaper). The swerving you're experiencing is speed wobbles. You can fix that by tightening up you trucks, and/or replacing the bushings with stiffer ones.

>>271171
How should I go about tightening up my trucks? Like should I use a wrench?

use a wrench on the big bolt on the center of each truck. make sure you loosen them evenly. also, putting weight towards the front of the board, almost on the trucks even, can really help with your wobble issue.

>>271164
Speed wobbles

>what level of diy are you interested in?
You can build your board from parts-cheaper and much more rewarding than buying a pre-built one.

If you want to make your own decks however, this is a fairly simple but time-consuming thing to do. The result is much more satisfying, and you might be able to sell your own custom designs.

>look up steam bending (of wood) and board presses.

>>271194
I actually found an article in one of my older makezines about making a longboard. I might give that a try sometime.
Also, I just tightened my trucks. Gonna go give it a test and be back.

>>271164

Your gonna need to go to your local pac-sun and pick up all the douchey clothes you can find that don't fit you.

Preferably backwards hat, popped collared shirt, and khaki shorts. Put all these on. Your almost ready to become a "long-boarder".

Next your gonna wanna skate around your college and try and find pods of girls. Skate slowly (Your a noob remember). Try to look like a douche. Stupid trust-fund college bitches love that shit.

When your ready to let your balls drop, go pick up a smaller board and actually learn to skate.

>>271200
I actually lol'd. I've never once shopped at a pac sun. I actually prefer custom made clothes. When I'm not wearing a custom made tee shirt, I'm wearing a marc anthony button up with a pair of tighter (but not skinny) jeans. Don't wear hats. The majority of skaters at my school do shop at pac sun though which seems to be quite ironic.

is there shortboarding

>>271211

This doesn't even need to be answered...

>>271210

Why do you think shops like "Pac-Sun" exist?!?! Cause it's "cool" to where skater shit. It's a fad now, just like longboarding.

Long boarding. Going more than 10mph on a skate board
ishygddt

If you want to go down hill fast, get a Dirt surfer. Specifically that brand it has two wheels and disc brakes

>>271164
made one out of fiberglass once. was a total pain in the ass. stick to plywood. however they have really nice presses 'n stuff to shape them. which you won't have access to.

the only way i know of shaping plywood is soaking the fuck out of it and clamping it into shape. my bro made a trick deck like this. but the tail only lasted like 4 ollie's...

#1. use baltic birch if you cant get maple
#2. use tightbond 3 glue
#3. put some effort in building a press
#4. if you can, add fiberglass

It's very rewarding to actually build one without being a complete failure. Feel free to ask me questions about this stuff. i've built a few.

Pic related: the first successful one i built

you really shouldn't have to worry about speed wobbles on a long board. just make sure to do wide carves down the hill to avoid them....instead of letting your board lose control and turning randomly, by carving you will be purposefully turning in a consistent back and forth manner, thus staying under control of the board. It will also help slow you down a little.

Speed wobbles go away with experience. Tightening your trucks will do nothing unless you weld them in place. All you need is practice and slow progression, so don't try anything retarded because you will get hurt and people will laugh. Good luck.>>271164

>>271184

So your a girl?
Post pics

>>271417
lol

>when i started gaining speed it started swerving left and right and I didn't know if I should try to fix that or not.
Those are called speed wobbles. Stay away from hills, even slight ones, until you are more comfortable and confident on your board.

It's not something you can fix except by tightening your trucks. Tight trucks are good for going downhill HOWEVER for the average longboarder riding amongst pedestrians and traffic, you want loose trucks. LOOSE TRUCKS SAVE LIVES. Keep your trucks loose. It will be harder to learn but you will be better able to react organically and instinctively in an emergency.

To make sliding gloves:
Get a plastic cutting board and a pair of work gloves
Cut the cutting board with a jig saw. You need a big square piece for your palm and smaller rectangles for your fingers
Sand down the edges where you cut
Superglue to the gloves
The end.

Buy two sheet of baltic birch. IT HAS TO BE BALTIC. Lay them on top of eachother and cut out the design you want. Then using wood glue, glue them together with a very heavy weight on top. Use a level and a stencil to drill truck holes.

Slide gloves: Buy a pair of nic(er) $10 work gloves from home depot. Also buy INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH velcro while you're there. Next, buy a solid plastic cutting board or ask a tile place if you can have some scrap corian. Cut it out to the desired sizes, then put one side of the velcro on the gloves, and one side on the pucks. Then put something heavy on top of the gloves. Also makes for replaceable pucks

Id recommend flat ground sliding as a starting point. Find an area where the ground is pretty slick and wont hurt your hands and try to power slide.

Touch the ground the first few times and pull up on the opposite side of your board. Slide to a stop, then try to do it more often without stopping and without having to kneel down.

Once you get comfortable start going down hills, power slide those hills a little, as to speed check yourself. Then get sliding gloves and return to massive slides around sick corners that'd destroy your hands if you didnt have gloves.

Power Sliding: Looser back trucks then the front, kick out with your back leg and make sure most of your weight is on your front leg.

Google longboard dancing if you have a stiffer board.

And the most important rule, youll fall. Its going to hurt.

good luck!

the speed wobbles should not be fixed by tightening your trucks. having trucks that are too tight is dangerous because you can't turn quickly in case of an emergency. instead, learn how to keep the board from wiggling and build up your ankle muscles that you have never used before. in a few weeks you will be able to ride down any hill on loose trucks because your ankles get used to it, and this is a much safer way to ride

I'm in the middle of making my longboard out of an old wooden water skii. I picked it up at a yard sale for $4. it has some nice inlays which look great. just needs some more sanding and then all that's left is to put on the finish and grip tape.

pic related, it's the board now