how to make a skateboard for under 10 bucks!

In this instructable i will show you all the steps i took in making my super cheap skateboard!. My board worked out to be about $2.50 but my goal was to make it as cheap as possible. With a few extra bucks and tools you can turn this into something very custom, in a relatively short amount of time! 

This style of board is more or less based on the old way skaters used to make skateboards when companies stopped making them because they were deemed "dangerous".

tools:
hacksaw
screwdriver
dril
ruler
pencil

material (i used):
piece of wood
roller skate
assorted screws

Disclaimer: if you injure yourself with whatever creation you make using this instructable as your guide it is not my fault in anyway or form, its sad i even have to put this in but you get hurt skateboarding, it just happens.

Step 1: Roller skates!

Do you like roller skating? Neither do I! I got my roller skates at goodwill for four bucks. All you want from these are the wheels and the screw if you don't have any layin around. If your a metal head like me the leather is nice for arm bands!

Note that these are roller skate not roller blades, HUGE difference, roller skates have trucks and flatter wheels which are basically mandatory on a skateboard.

Comments

[peresa]

This is like my first skateboard, ahhh ... memories... you made me go back in time! =D

[wobbler]

This takes me back to about '66 when this new fangled thing called a skateboard was shown here in the UK on Blue Peter. I was about 12 and made one just like this, but I could never stand up on it due to its tendency to stop suddenly and without warning. The skates were probably pre-war anyway (the Crimean) so in the end I screwed a piece of wood across the front like low down handlebars and knelt on it pushing with one leg.

It wasn't exactly a craze that took off then and for a long time I suspect I was the only kid in my town with one. I always was a visionary, ahead of my time, although my family just thought I was a little odd.They still do. Now if I could only just get this damn rocket pack to work!

[OrienteeringGuy]

My dad and I saw a news clip about this new fad in California (also 1966), so dad made us each our own board. He used good solid oak. The trucks were from a pair of roller skates. Didn't turn too well, but we didn't know we were supposed to turn!  Without pads, we would go down the local soap box derby hill. Since the wheels were made of wood, the vibration was tremendous which made everything blurry when we were at top speed. I still have the skateboard and use it to roll heavy things around.

[wobbler]

You wanted one that turned? I'd have been grateful if mine just went in a straight line, although it did do that when I went one way and it went the other. After numerous bruises and bits of lost skin I gave up trying to stand up on it. I don't think I ever achieved its potential top speed, but I suspect that was only possible down such a steep hill that most people would describe it as a cliff. I did once pass a bemused snail though.

Unlike yours, mine wasn't made of ancient hearts of oak but old floorboard of pine and it's long gone to skateboard heaven. It's happily residing there, along with my urge to stand upright on a skateboard, a skill I never mastered. I am heavier than then though and I suppose I'm lucky to be still rolling around, even if it's now the snail that passes a bemused me.

[randofo]

How does it ride?

[expensivenoodle]

really well actually, i didn't even have to replace the bearings.

[nomorebots]

does it turn well??
also, does the smell wheels transmits more shake to the feet?

[expensivenoodle]

the wheels soft so i would say no, and mine does because its very short. Also if you want the board to turn well just make the deck around an inch wider than the wheel base.

[Retro Correct]

How well does it turn? Roller-skates always seemed have a fairly low turning radius to me.

[expensivenoodle]

these ones were well worn so the bushings were soft but if thats the case just spend like 5 bucks and get new ones, besides that my board is really short so it turns on a dime :p

[MoustacheCat]

I would have never thought of it to use roller skates for a skateboard! Genius!

[expensivenoodle]

well its not an original idea, If you look up skateboard history it was very common because companies would stop making boards because most places made it illegal to skate cause it was to "dangerous"

[Dave A]

I even read that it started there! Surfers "invented" skateboards to ride when there was no swell and just took some 2x4 and added the rollerskate trucks: The Skateboards was born and was later adopted by companies who made special trucks for it.

[MoustacheCat]

Skaters are a wacky kind of people..

[expensivenoodle]

i also read that they would use shopping cart wheels which is probably terrifying :p