Long Board Actually Complete!

I finally beasted out the under glow modules for the board.

 I decided to make two separate modules because I didn't have a way to run wires across the board in a clean way. Since the deck is clear everything is visible. KLUDGES ARE UNACCEPTABLE! (unless you can hide them =D)

 The parts were all machined from acrylic because it was the cheapest thing in the scraps bin at the local plastic store. I hadn't CNC'd any acrylic before. Its harder to cut, but it looked a lot better after machining.

There are four blue LEDs per module. I tried to keep everything as waterproof as possible, but it's more water "resistant" than water proof. The LEDs are all run in parallel from the two AAA batteries. I looked at the data sheets for the LEDs and found I didn't need a special LED driving circuit because the maximum voltage from the two AAA batteries was less than the maximum voltage the LEDs could handle without burning up. I attempted to seal the LEDs with hot glue into the modules. The machined paths for the wires look amazing especially when lit in the dark.

It's nice to complete a project for once. I always seem to get a project mostly finished but then move onto something new. The under glow was really fast to machine. I guess I was just a little lazy and put it off because it wasn't necessary to use the board for transportation.

Here's a list of PROS and CONS for the board:

PROS
-Looks hella beast (that means it looks great in Northern California)
-Extremely smooth ride. The incredible mass of the board keeps it from getting stuck on the usual pebbles and other junk on the ground that can stop a normal board.
-INDESTRUCTIBLE! The 1/2" polycarbonate combined with the two 1/2" x 1" solid aluminum rails give this board 0 flex. Some FEA simulations in SolidWorks suggest it may be able to handle up to around 800 pounds. That's plenty strong enough to stop me from breaking it while jumping. (I have tested by stomping on it... It's not going to break)
-It's reliable. The components were all made from high quality non-corrosive materials (aluminum, plastic, stainless steel). Water and other things in a normal environment won't cause this board any problems.
-It has headlights for night riding. The under glow's position and brightness lights up the road ahead for a good 20 feet.
-It's safe(er). The under glow makes it visible at night so your'e less likely to get run over.

CONS
-It's HEAVY. By the end of spring semester I'm going to look like the hulk after carrying this board where I'm not allowed to ride. Pushing off is also going to bulk up my legs. You can SERIOUSLY feel its mass.
-The wheels suck in wet conditions. I found this out with the wooden board. If its even slightly damp you will   beef it on a corner. The wheels hydroplane really easily.
-It has terrible ground clearance. Some of the bolts in the trucks hang down too low. They catch on minor cracks in the ground. I've already chipped some concrete while riding. Thankfully the mass of the board kept me going without falling.

Overall I really like it. Even the weight of the board has become somewhat of a feature to me. When this board gets moving it doesn't want to stop, so I don't have to bail as often. I guess I'll see how it survived during the coming semester.

Long Board Nearly Complete

I finally got around to finishing up the parts I made during the fall semester. I polished the rails on the long board to a near mirror finish. I also bought the necessary window film to protect the deck from getting scratched to hell while riding.

 No project is complete without a good transformer name and a logo!

It looks better than I had imagined it would look. I just hope it stays looking good after years of riding every day.

Black Friday Computer Upgrade

I had an EXCELLENT Black Friday. I didn't want to distract myself for the last few weeks of school, so I shipped my amazing find home instead. In the end my Black Friday deal turned out to be a great "survived" the semester gift. This became one of my few impulse buys. I saw the deal on Newegg and couldn't resist. Who wouldn't want three monitors?

 They work great for CAD. Those wide format assemblies like my long board can be put 1:1 on the screens.

Ok... I'll admit they are somewhat ridiculous, but they finally gave me my "Command Center". I had been running two monitors for a few years before getting these new monitors. I found I have trouble using a computer with fewer than 2 monitors. I usually put whatever program I'm using on my main screen and something I need to use often on the other. When designing stuff I put my CAD on one display and the file browser on the other. I never have to minimize the CAD in order to open new files. With the three monitors I use the center and right monitors as I always have. The new left monitor gets used for "research". Research is usually Google for whatever information I might need for designs or homework.

Now I just need to figure out how to fit the monitors and my rather large speakers on my small desk at school... I'll probably have to hang a bit over onto my roommate's desk. Hopefully there won't be too many complaints =D

Long Board Deck

After a long Friday with the CNC router I finally added the clear plastic deck to the chassis of the board. I hadn't worked with a CNC router before this, so it was an interesting experience. The setup was fairly different from what I do for milling. The 12"x40" sheet of polycarbonate was held on one edge by wood clamps, while the other was held down by a 2x4 screwed directly into the router's table. The setup took a few hours, but the cutting out of the board only took a few minutes. Hopefully I'll be a bit quicker with the next part I do on the router. Now I just need to finish the under glow and the board will be complete!

This was right after the cutout finished. The circle in the bottom of the board was a test cut. The default feed rates were a bit too quick on the machine. Although it cut out the circle just fine, the noise made by the router attracted a lot of attention. The high speed motion also risked the machine losing its position. Drilling the holes took forever because the router's spindle did not want to go below 6000RPM. At this speed the drill bit created a bunch of "stringies" as I call them. I had to pause the machine between every hole in order to remove them from the drill bit. Otherwise they would have melted large areas around the later holes in the deck.

I temporarily added some paper between the rails and the board in order to prevent scratches. I'll remove these once I get a clear protective film for the board. Until then the board will be covered in blue tape! The blue tape is kind of ugly, so I won't post a picture of it.

Long Board Mishap

I was bouncing on the board a bit..... I thought the 3/4" plywood would have been a bit stronger, but I guess I have a reason to finish the polycarbonate deck now.

Long Board Improvements

I decided it was time to add a few new features to the long board. I Threw on some EL wire for under glow. It isn't very bright, but it can be seen at night. I also had access to a CNC vinyl cutter. I stuck my test piece to the bottom of the board. The yellow looks kind of weird, but it's still better than the bland plywood.

Tape always seems to make a good kludge.

Long Board Upgrade Parts

As it turns out, the polycarbonate side plates were not as strong as I had hoped. I hadn't realized this until now, but polycarbonate develops micro cracks that spread under small amounts of stress. Every machined surface has micro cracks, so a number of the parts showed signs of cracks developing around the bolt holds. In order to prevent me eating the ground again I decided to suck it up and machine the plates from aluminum as I had originally planned to do.

 As you can see I attempted to use my material as efficiently as possible, so I crammed the parts into the smallest piece of 1/4" aluminum plate I could. The 1/8" mill bit took as long as I expected it to take. It was around 2 hours a part... Painfully slow as usual in aluminum...

Long Board Finished... not really...

I couldn't wait to get the board into a usable state, So I hacked together a wooden board from 3/4" plywood. I threw on some old skateboard trucks at first in order to see if the shape was what I wanted. I finished the remaining parts for the trucks. All of the pieces came together nicely and looked really clean.

Sadly I couldn't decide how to make the rubber bushings cleanly... As with all of my kludges I turned to my favorite tool in the shop: the 3 TON ARBOR PRESS!!!!!!!!
I had a 1/4" thick sheet of rubber, but I needed to cut somewhat clean circles out of it. I figured scissors couldn't do the job, so I looked around for somewhat sharp tubing. I couldn't find any so I turned to the next best thing... socket sets. The socket heads were round on the bottom so they can't cut you. Normally I wouldn't expect them to cut through a sheet of rubber, but 3 tons is enough force to cut nearly anything. The socket sets cut the rubber like it was butter.
The rubber was too soft.......
I succumbed to speed wobble and became a road pizza..... (there's no need for a picture of my leg... I'm pretty sure I'll have a large scar to remember the test of this long board.) I added more rubber to make the trucks tighter, but they're still alot looser than I hoped they would be. I guess I'll just have to learn how to ride better.

Long Board Progress

After a week of spare time I popped out a few parts. I avoided using the CNC as much as possible because it removes material so slowly. None of the parts were particularly difficult to machine. All of the setups could be done in a vice and they had fairly sloppy tolerances... although I did aim to get them as tight as possible for the fun of it.

 I also started to polish the parts. This is the first time i had a polishing wheel, so I got a bit carried away and started to polish everything. I still need to improve my technique. Machined surfaces polished easily, but the machining marks still remained. Surfaces left unmachined look alot better, but they aren't perfect mirrors.

 I got lazy and decided to make the side plates from polycarbonate. I can cut it at more than 10 times the rate of aluminum and I don't have to baby the machine as much. It should be strong enough and it looks aesthetically pleasing, so it's a win - win situation!

The spherical bearings worked perfectly and aligned up as I hoped they would. The bearing seats were a bit tighter than I hoped they would be. It's not a problem as long as I don't need to replace them. The trucks have really started to take shape, but the whole board is still a long way from being completed.

Long Board - New Project

After a year of walking to class I decided I needed a long board to get to class. In my usual style I figured I should make one instead of buying one. I started by doing some research on the designs and standards for long boards and skate boards. I saw a number of different truck designs that seemed common. It seems that the rubber bushing style of truck is the most popular. In this design the truck is forced to straighten itself out by squished pieces of rubber. These pieces give the boarder more resistance as they attempt to steer the board. My personal favorite design used metal springs instead of the rubber bushings. I like to design things to last. I figured the springs would never deteriorate with time. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to make the trucks small and use the springs. Eventually I decided to go with the standard design for long board trucks. The one thing that really bugged me about this truck design was there wasn't a defined mechanism that caused the truck to turn. The pins in the trucks relied on a loose fit in order to actually turn. I started to look for an improvement when I stumbled upon spherical bearings on Mcmaster. These bearings gave freedom in all directions, which was the exact motion I needed. I designed the trucks around these bearings.  The spherical bearings give the trucks fully defined motion.

After deciding on the components I immediately started up SolidWorks and started poking around with different designs. Eventually I settled with this design for the trucks.

This render of the entire board has an older design for the trucks. I spent a few days changing around the design to make it easier for me to machine. The best looking board in my opinion was one made from 1/2" polycarbonate. I figure this board will really stand out when around the regular long boards.

I split the truck into many different pieces to avoid material removal. The biggest limiting factor when I'm machining is removing material. Splitting up pieces meant a large portion of the parts were extruded aluminum with holes drilled in them. Parts like that are really easy to produce with a manual machine. The design also meant that I only needed CNC work for the bearing seats and the side plates for the trucks. I attempted to locate the parts by geometry instead of the bolt holes themselves. The most critical surfaces required parallel edges, which are very easy to produce in one setup on either the manual or CNC mill. The only new thing for me on these trucks was the use of spherical bearings. I hope they perform as well as I imagined them performing.