How to Make a Skateboard for Under 10 Bucks!

by expensivenoodle

24K7718

Intro: 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.

STEP 2: Cut Some Metal!

This is where the hacksaw (or whatever other device you wanna use) comes into play. Pick a nice looking spot and cut the bridge between the trucks.

STEP 3: Gotta Get Some Wood

Any plank of wood or plywood should do, for my board i bought a shelf at goodwill for about 50 cents, its about a foot and a half long and its approximately the same width as my trucks. Now you don't have to use wood, anything that can support your weight can be used get creative!

After you acquire your wood draw out your board shape (or leave it as is) then draw a center line. A center line is a straight line a that is in the middle of you board, it runs length ways and with it you can line your trucks up to make sure they are straight. Now don't drive yourself nuts trying to line the trucks up, they can be a little off.

STEP 4: Start Screwing Around

Once you've decided where you what those trucks to go you gotta screw them down. I used the screws from the shelf and the roller-skates cause i'm cheap and i didn't have other screws to work with. To fasten my trucks to the board i used to preexisting screw holes on the trucks and i made another hole near the cut just to stop the truck from loosening with use. Now screw the trucks down!

STEP 5: Go Forth Skate Rats and Ride!

Decorate, paint, tape... do whatever you want with it now your done! heres mine i had some crap laying around and super glue and duck tape.

STEP 6: Show Instructables Your Creation!

Since this instructable has become popular (i honestly thought i was gonna get 100 views) i would like anyone who has made a board using my instructable to send me a photo of your board and i'll post it on this page for everyone else to see, i personally would love to see what you guys can make and extra examples would help other people who are making there own boards. I'll also make sure to cite you guys so that you can gloat to your friends, or your mom or anyone else for that matter hahahha. Send the photos to flip-freak@hotmail.com

18 Comments

Team_Panic 10 years ago

Cool Instructable, wish I had seen it while prepping to build mine. Good work man

peresa 11 years ago

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

wobbler 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

How does it ride?

expensivenoodle 11 years ago

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

nomorebots 11 years ago

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

expensivenoodle 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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

expensivenoodle 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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

expensivenoodle 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

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 11 years ago

Skaters are a wacky kind of people..

expensivenoodle 11 years ago

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