Soap Shoes!(make your own)

These are my own version of Soap shoes, which can grind on rails, ledges, and anywhere else a skateboarder or Agressive inliner can. They use a pair of shoes, a sliding material (some sort of plastic is probably best),and some glue.

You can buy "real" ones for $50-$80 but that's expensive, I don't like how they look, and I think mine are as good or better than store-bought ones.

This is my first instructable, so bear with me.

Step 1 Materials

These are the materials you will need:

Shoes: I used my old New Balances, any shoe that has a relatively thick bottom layer (everything under your foot) would work

Slide material: I used a UHMPWE cutting board. It is perfect for this use, other dense, smooth plastics would work,(PVC, teflon, etc) I don't really know about metal.

Glue: I used "Welder" glue. It was really cheap, and it has held up well. Barges glue is probably perfect for this, but it is kind of expensive/hard to find. WARNING: Shoe Goo isn't good, although it sounds like it would be.

Tools: Hacksaw, bench grinder, vise, belt sander, sharpie, xacto knife. You can probably substitute for some of these.

Comments

[adelplanque]

how easy are these to walk around in? does the plate make it hard to walk?

[l99roufs]

Can we use hockey pucks instead for the bottom?

[Ikkalebob]

I thought of making something like these, but with metal on the bottom. Do you think that would work?

[zebsolo]

what glue did you use

[Eddie101]

have you ever though about sending the plastic piece (for people who cant make it) to them

[zebsolo]

i cant post comments any other way, so MKohen what glue did you use if this will post send me a message or something

[SKYNET 2.0]

UHMD plastic works best (Ultra High Molecular Density)

[auntsheilakins]

I think he meant to put UHMWPE (ultra high molecular weight polyethylene).

[tetsuxxx]

wow.. thank for the idea dude,,

[Eddie101]

mine are really nice. i put some "mr.zoogs sex wax" (its a skatewax) on itt and i can impress all my friends

[wailenhalen18]

So you say that "you can buy "real" ones for $50-80"  I've looked around on google and couldn't find any good leads.  I found a wiki page about it and Soap Shoes is out of business.  :(

[5533888]

Cool how well do they work and how long did it take?

[afandjegudiel]

I heard that uhmwpe repels all glues. Is that glue a temporary solution? Are you using screws now?

[MKohen]

the glue on mine's doing great at the moment. You might be right though. I'll check. If its bad, I guess screws or something would be better.

[matroska]

Wow that's pretty cool! I got a pairs of casual shoes I wear all the time, and I think I'll "sacrifice" them so I can slide where ever I'm not suposed to! By the way, would metal work better? Probably that it will slide better and make the same sound as skateboards on rails, but the hard part is ... how can we easily work metal in that shape? Until this is resolved, I'll stick with UHMPWE..

[H3xx]

try aluminum plate on top of plastic. hold the two together with a clamp and beat it into shape with a hammer. be sure it's clamped to a stable, solid surface so you wont break them.

[Cann0n]

Actually, I'm going to build pads for my old Adidas tomorrow.

[Cann0n]

K so I cut my pucks today, like I said I would do. I used use my shoes for skating. The soles are worn out pretty good from foot breaking and board walking. Instead of actually cutting my shoes, I'm going to glue the puck to the soles, and the rest i will fill in with an old tire, kinda like retread.

[H3xx]

Cool idea actually. It'll make you taller too. I might try this with my boots. :)

[Pichihime7]

Cool! Ever tried making a business out of it? Like someone sends you their shoes you make them and get paid for it?

[icantthinkof1]

how thick should plastic be

[MKohen]

depends, 2cm is how thick mine is, but thinner might work if it can bend without shattering...

[killer77]

when you bake the pvc it gets the consistency of rubber

[Pandevivacidad]

This is the best idea i've seen so far on the site. Why spend $80 bucks on some cheap soap shoes? When I used to play Sonic Adventure 2 I always wanted the same kind as sonic. Great Job, 5 stars.

[brewtendo]

So did I! i always wondered why it said SOAP on the first level when i was 9 and was laughing because i had no idea wut soap shoes were, but loved the idea of sonic grinding down those million step stair hand rails! and i made some, but not this way, i never saw this instructable then, and i used this old binder with this pretty thick plastic and put it on some old shoes and grinded around on them, but the plate was flat because i didnt cut anything and i used skateboarding shoes, so the sole wuz flat, and i used hot glue and it worked for a week and finally wore off, and have always wanted to make a better version of em, and i think i found the instructable to do just that! thanx!

[boogiemanspud]

I will give you PVC guys a tip. Get PVC pipe, (not cellular core, it will be crappy). Cut through one side of the pipe, lengthwise. You can put it in the oven at 300-350 degrees and it will get really soft, like clay. It will transform the pipe into a plastic sheet. You could also use some kind of a mold to shape it with a slight curve or similar. It works real well and doesn't stink or anything. Cool instructable, never heard of them before!

[killer77]

hey thats a really good idea thanks alot

[killer77]

target sells some 1in cutting boards that worked for me

[cowscankill]

Very cool, but I don't have thick plastic and don't know where to get it D: Can I just use like metal tape on the bottom of a grooved shoe? XD

[pandaboy292]

i did this all the time when i wore asics. they had plastc in the middle. there called gel nimbus. they were like $130.

[theshawn]

I actually saw the Soap Shoes in an exhibit at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal (of all places!). The website is interesting though, and the Soap Shoes are definitely one of the coolest pieces!

[MKohen]

yeah, I've been working with the CCA for that exhibit. theyre pretty cool, check out some of the other entries.

[killer77]

uuuuggggghhhhh i tried this with pvc and now im down one pair of shoes but im going to get a cutting board and now this should work btw nice instructable people dont really know about soap shoes but im tellin every 1 about them and they think that they are cool

[killer77]

ive got a pair of addidas that have a flat sole but do you think that this will still work?

[MKohen]

if its thick enough, yes.

[guitarmonk15]

mix in this instructable with a pair of heelys, and you got yourself heelys with a grind plate!! optional: running around like a chicken wearing a darth vader helmate bashing people with a club.

[asda653]

Yeah, so this is my progress on the first shoe. I've run into a problem, using my dremel puts a ton of rubber fumes into the air, so much so that I've almost got a headache (even while wearing a dentistry mask). It'll also take so much dremeling (in sections) that I'll be putting out much too many fumes. How long did it take to do the whole hack-sawing thing?

[MKohen]

if you're talking about cutting the hole in the shoe for the plate, go with the hacksaw. Cut a slit at the front and the back of where the hole will be, then bend open one of the slits and cut along the bottom of the shoe till you get to the other slit. Then clean it up with scissors or a utility knife.

[asda653]

Just a side note, if you have a Dremel, use it. I got a single speed basic dremel for this project and it's hella fast, maybe 35000x as fast as what I was doing before. Then I somehow managed to break 2 cutting wheels and put my project on hold indefinitely till my next trip to home depot. Careful kids.

[asda653]

And if you do end up using one, cut large blocks using the cutting wheel and use a sanding wheel to fit your tracings.