Balance Board for Sports Training and General Fun!

this ible will show you how to build your very own balance board to almost the exact same dimensions of the leading brands product (think surfer nickname for indonesia). however instead of costing you GBP 80 or howaver many dollars that translates into it will only cost you the basic materials and a few hours of projecty fun.

Props to my man Sam Noyoun for the idea, check out his video, he made it first im just adding my angle with a few more building tips and tricks allong the way.

also check out my new group - Surfer's Paradise

Disclaimer
this is a relatively cheap and easy instructable but the use of power tools comes with a risk as does working with MDF so wear a mask and if possible goggles whilst cutting, drilling and shaping the wood. likewise, the finished product, like most fun things, is a little dangerous. use a little common sense and use your balance board in an open area. if you break yourself or expensive items around you - you have been warned

Step 1: Hunt and Gather - Things You'll Need

MATERIALS

- wood - i used cheap MDF from my local DIY store, check the pic for dimensions
- 6 small bolts and nuts long enough to fit through the thickness of your wood x 3
- Wood glue
- An unopened 2 Litre bottle of coke or similar

TOOLS

- a Template - use mine for exact dimensions or experiment and make your own
- a jigsaw with wood cutting blade or a hand saw and a lot of patience
- a drill
- a screwdriver and ideally a countersink
- a hammer if you need it
- a metal hacksaw (or dremel)
- a G-Clamp or similar
- a plane and/ or sandpaper
- a facemask is using MDF as fibers in your lungs is very dangerous

Step 2: Template

ok so you have all your materials more or less to hand time to get going

Template-
Download ABC.rar from below and extract onto your computer and print. cut around the shapes A and B then tape the two shapes together (edges marked with an X) to make the template of quarter of the board. if you want you could make 4 of theese and stick them together or just draw around it 4 times to make the egg shape needed!

** this next step i didnt do myself but by rearranging the order it will make life a lot easier down the line. With rest of the wood you have spare, mark out 4 rectangles measuring 4x13 inches which will eventually become the stoppers. This is where my instructible changes from what i did. I cut 4 shapped stoppers then attached them and spent half a day planing and sanding them to the same shape as the top board. v pointless.**

Step 3: Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Time to cut the beast!

*** remember you can follow my pics and do as i did but i would reccomend a 'do as i say, not as i do' approach my reccomendation would be to cut out the blocks and glue and bolt them to the ends of the main area of the board before cutting out the board! see steps 4 and 5 for glueing and bolting***

However i will show you how i did it and let you decide your method yourself.

OK, after marking out the main egg and the 4 stoppers you are going to use (mine were the same shape and width as the front of the board and 4 inches long - see template C from ABC.rar if you want), cut the lot of them out. you will need a fairly good jigsaw for this, it would take a LONG time by hand.

Step 4: Glue and Wait

my next step was to glue the front and rear end pieces to act as stoppers. to do this i liberally applied wood glue, stacked together and clamped them. i left this mess till the next morning to ensure the glue had fully dried

Step 5: Drilling and Bolting

ok so by now you should have something resembling a balance board, here is where your lesser DIYer would say "what the hell, that'll do"... but were not like that, were the geek elite of DIYers, were instructibles members goddamnit! and we make our projects better, stronger and better looking!

for the next step grab your drill with a bit in it the same size as your bolt. now mark on 3 equally spaced targets like in the pics below and drill away. now countersink those holes a little bit (i couldnt find my countersink so i used a slightly larger drill bit :P) as we dont want and socks, carpet or feet getting snagged on the bolts.

now place your nuts (no rude jokes please, especially when you hear what your goin to do to the nuts) in the holes inderneath and as with most real life projects, if it doesnt fit... hit it with a hammer. screw in your bolts and with a hacksaw or dremel, cut off the excess bolt and if possible file down the metal to a smooth finish to avoid snaggs.

Step 6: Finishing Touches

now if your perfect at template copying, marking, sawing, glueing and drilling then your done! if your human, the edges are a little uneven to say the least.

** this is where attaching rectangular blocks to the main board brior to cutting would save time as now you would just have to cut out the board and the stoppers would automatically be the same shape.**

at this stage i hacked away with a plane and scrubbed with sandpaper untill all the edges were nice and even and smooth. every edge and corner got a little bit of attention so there were no sharp edges to scrape yourself on.

so there you have it a finished balance board, great for improving your sports balance or just great fun. learn tricks and moves - so far i can hang 10, do a 180 or a skateboard style shove-it.

this is also good for improving core muscle strength a bit like yoga or pilates, id know i have a dodgy back!

all you need now is a cylinder to use as a roller. i personally just use an unopened plactic 2litre fizzy drinks bottle. make sure its a good brand as cheaper brands use cheaper bottles. The thinner plastic is likely to wear and eventually break. this happened to me once using an ASDA (UKs Walmart) own brand lemonade bottle. It wasn't too messy but not something id repeat.

other good tubes are drainage pipes and the like but make sure its rigid and can take your weight. if you have a tube try filling the middle half full with sand and sealing the ends to provide a more stable roll.

I have plans to use different coloured thin wood to create a decorative surface to make this baby look like a retro wooden longboard. i have recently moved to a sea front location with limited storage space (Jersey... not new jersey... the original jersey in the channel islands, google it) so dont have it with me. If you make one be sure to post pics of your finished product with cool design work! also pics and videos of moves and tricks would be great!

hope you like this Ible! thanks again to Sam Noyoun. Keep on rolling!

If you like this idea or your a keen surfer, join the New and Shiney Surf group!