This is my first project submission on Instructables, and also first contest entry "Make it glow". Listed below are the steps it took for myself to build the ILLboard, you can use this Instructable to make a Light-up longboard of your own design. This project took many different resources and equipment to complete.

Supplies

Mirror Glass Film

12V DC plug in Battery holder

Epoxy resin

LED light strip

Clear Acrylic Sheet

Plywood 1/8"

Plywood 3/4"

Hot Glue

Caulk

Step 1: Step One: Board Design and Cutting

Determine what kind of design you'd like to have in the center of the board and create template for the longboard and cut out design on a scrap piece of wood to transfer onto final project.

Using the cut template I was able to transfer the design onto my final piece using a top bearing flush cutting router bit.

After cutting the design all the way through, it was then time to route out a slot around the design on the underneath portion of the board. The depth of the cut was the board with minus 3/16 inch. The width was the sum of my led lights width plus the acrylic cover.

To get the mirrored effect I had to sandwich the bottom of the routed board with an additional board underneath. To save on final board width, there is a routed slot for the bottom Acrylic sheet width.

Step 2: Step 2: Create the Mirrors

With each portion of the board having the routed out portions for the plexiglass glue up, it is time to create our mirrors.
Cut your plexiglass to size. Using store bought window tint, cut out a portion large enough to cover the plexiglass, plus extra room. Using the instructions, attach the tint to the plexiglass and cut off the excess I found it easier to lay the tint face down, adding the plexiglass on top, then cutting it before squeezing out all of the air bubble. The tint tends to move around when cutting so upside down I could keep more pressure on the edges. Once that is complete, glue them in place.

Step 3: Step 3: Add the Lights

With our mirrors in place, it was time to add in the led lights to get the final desired effect.

The lights I bought came with a peel and stick backing, but to be safe I added some hot glue to make sure they weren’t going to move.

After the lights comes the plastic acrylic face. The acrylic face was glued in front of the lights to give the LEDs more of a glow, the glue was only applied on the edges of the acrylic, not to the lights.

Additionally, A small bead of caulk was added around the acrylic face and on top of the LED strip to avoid the possibility of resin affecting the lights. (I don’t know if resin would effect the LEDs or not but I didn’t want to take the chance).

Step 4: Step 3: Epoxy Fill

With the top portion of the board, we have our routed out
portions with lights that need resin to fill the void. Before I could begin the resin pour I needed to created a drying template for the resin. Using acrylic plastic board I cut out some 2 inch strips perpendicular to the hollow slots running vertically. I did it that way to have the ability to release pressure when wrapping it around the board avoiding creasing in the material.

Tape was applied to the board top and using hot glue I taped the template to the board with the appropriate amount of length on bottom for the resin to fill the void.

Lay the board down on a level surface, mix up the epoxy to fill our voids.

Allow the appropriate amount of time to cure, add more if still needed, otherwise flip the board and pour the other side.

After the epoxy is fully cured, it needs to be planed to match the width of the board.

The effect we want is an infinite number of lights, so our epoxy needs to be crystal clear to not affect outcome of the board.

I sanded both top and bottom of our epoxy fill from 120 – 2000 grit (Wet sand after 320)

Between each sanding grit I wiped it clean to check the scratch marks which were going in different directions by grit to make sure I was ready to move forward.

With our top half complete its time to add the bottom. I cut the dimensions close to the final to help with lining up the mirror, but used a flush cutting bit after it was all glued on.

The lights connect to power with a piece that is about ½ wide, so need to drill that hole into the bottom.

To glue the halves together I used more epoxy, and really caked it on the make sure all of the surface area possible would get glued well.

Clamped it down and allowed proper time for the epoxy to cure.

Flush cut the bottom portion of the board to align with the top.

Plug in the light to make sure that it works.