Vans Roller Skates

Step 4: Bolt on the plates

After you've drilled the holes, bolt the plates on, re-intall your trucks and wheels, put the insoles back in and lace up the shoes. You're ready to skate! 

Comments

[noileum]

how did you get the insoles out of your vans?

mine seem glued in using some military grade stuff and don't want to budge

[tk1314]

Mine came out easily, a little bit if the insole stayed in the shoe but not much. If you damage the insole while removing it, you can by a Dr. Scholl's insole to replace it. If you go that route, I would look for something that is a little stiff. I plan to put something stiff under the insole anyway.

[swaggbot]

like i already have skates but the boot of mine ripped. can it still work and does it have to e vans only or can i use any shoe i want?

[tk1314]

You can use almost any shoe. I like high tops best but I've seen low top shoes used as well. I've made them out of Vans, Converse and some other no name shoe.

[swaggbot]

Hey can i use any shoe or does it have to be vans?

[XoXWHITEXoX]

My uncle has a pair of boots his dad designed where there is a washer with a notch on the bottom of the boot and when he buys new boots he drills a hole in the heel and has skates (the part his dad designed) that has a pin about (1/2 - 3/4" in diameter) that slides into the washer and he slides a lever over and locks it into place and the front just lips over the sole. When he's done skating takes the plate off and has boots to walk in. He's had these since he wore a size six shoe when he was a kid he's about 43 now. Great build!

[kenny70]

Would this work with inline skates

[tk1314]

I'm not sure how the inline skates attach to the boots. Give it a try and make an Instructable.

[beeedy]

Suregrip actually sells an inline plate designed to be mounted on skate boots so with some slight modification it could be mounted to shoes. keep in mind though that with blades/inlines you want as much ankle support as you can get, and most shoes simply don't offer a lot of ankle support so your shoe choice will be key with these.

[beeedy]

I've actually built quiet a few pairs of shoe-skates before and this is an awesome instructable! one suggestion however is to build a wooden sole for your shoes, especially with such narrow plates. It will help make the sharp turns and severe leaning a lot more comfortable because with such a floppy sole you will be able to feel the plates. also you won't have as high a chance of the sole of your shoe ripping out!

[tk1314]

I'm going to give it a try. The front bolts have a plate that keeps it from pulling through the sole (you can see the "U" shaped thing in my pictures). The heel is a problem. So far only one of the three skates I've made have pulled through the heel. I fixed it with washers.

[Spokehedz]

You can also use a plastic cutting board from Walmart for $3.

[tk1314]

good idea

[greatpanda]

I was wondering about that...

[beeedy]

Yea it works great! just remove the insole of the shoe and trace it on to either 1/8" or 1/4" plywood and cut it out, sand down areas so it fits nicely into shoe and then redrill your holes through the wood. Then see if your local rink will be willing to give/sell you a pair of skate insoles for on top of the wood (just a piece of felt actually) and slip them in on top of the wood soles! and tada! If inserting a wooden sole your not gonna wanna start with tight fitting shoes however so if your shoes were tight to begin with I would not recommend doing this. if the shoes fit perfect or were a little big this would work perfect then!

Attached is a picture of one of my skates that I made, only difference is I bought all parts new rather then buying a used skate.

[tk1314]

I like your checkers. Cool skates. You can remove the insole and put the wooden insole in, drill the holes for the bolts and put the original insoles back after you've mounted them. I think I will try that with a thin cutting board as "Spokehedz" suggested. If I do, I'll post the results here.

[beeedy]

Yeah that is also a possibility, keep in mind though that most shoe insoles are actually pretty thick, and with the addition of the piece of wood the shoes will most likely no longer fit correctly, hence the thin felt insoles. Tell us how yours go though!