DIY Plexiglass Cruiser
The late 70’s gave birth to the plexiglass skateboard. They were fashion over function, more heavy but cool looking. I always wanted one. Somebody over at Pleasant Home made their own. There are no instructions, but I imagine it’s simple enough. Cut it out of thick plexiglass and heat up the tail with a torch and bend it over a pipe. My plexiglass working knowledge is limited to something I saw on TV once, or imagined I did, so take it with a grain of salt. I do know you need a extra fine tooth saw blade to cut it. I’m not sure how that works with a jigsaw though. The old plexiglass board I remember appeared to be molded rather than cut from a solid sheet. Maybe they weren’t technically plexiglass. I wonder if this board is too flexible. Come on Pleasant Home, let’s have a tutorial. That kicktail needs help.
Plexiglass is a brand name associated with ‘acrylic sheeting’, much like Tylenol is actually Acetaminophen.
Anyway, when plexi’ breaks, it shatters similar to glass and it breaks easy.
What you would want to try to use is ( I believe ) is polycarbonate sheet. Often found under the brand names of Lexan and Hyzod.
This stuff, is the material used to make the Pope’s bubble car and is commonly known as bulletproof glass, though it’s not glass, and it’s only bullet proof when it really thick.
Sign companies use the stuff to form internally illuminated sign faces. If you were to run by a sign shop they’d probably let you have a piece.
Cut offs that small routinely end up in the trash.
Is that the red headed bastard child of Stacey Peralta?
SCphotog – Thanks for the info. I printed it out and then made a Xerox copy. I got a bad paper cut that made me cry, so I blew my nose in a Kleenex and applied a Band-Aid. I typed this on my PC.
the internet sucks
The Flexdex folks have been offering something like this for ages: http://www.flexdex.com/flexdex-clear29-skateboard.html
looks really cool to me. this would be a cool blog entry on BoardJoy http://www.boardjoy.com/blog/
SC, I roomed next to Lexan (though I’m not sure that was how it was spelled) in college, and thought it was weird that someone would name their kid after a plastic, but it turned out to be the other way around. And, well, in ninth grade I had a broken/road-rashed/amnesia-concussioned experience when towing behind a motorbike on one of the plastic boards Randy’s on about here (my impression was more “toy” than “cool”)… and now you have me pondering if I rode Lexan before I met her.
Toy for sure, but cool to a kid!
“this would be a cool blog entry on BoardJoy ”
Uh, it already makes a good entry here, on Skate and Annoy.
in the 10th or 11th grade (86 or 87)I made a deck out of something I thought was plexiglass in crafts class. for starters my teacher was this football coach dude, who was not into me from the get go. I made a board with a side cut like the Gator of Jeff Phillip’s boards, out of about a 3/4 inch thick chunk 10×30 of colorless clear “plexiglass”. it was very heavy, even by the standards of the day!
my teacher was so pissed! he said it was a $45 chunk of plexiglass. his fault for letting me get the thing built before he noticed! it was very flexy and not functional. I can’t remember what happened to it. I know I never put griptape on it, cos I did not want to mess up the clear look. I used some kind of bandsaw to cut it out. the teacher was a dick, but right about the board I made. cos it sucked
I poured some seltzer then hit the touch tone to dial a chick. Fired up the Jacuzzi, made some jello, and put on my speedo. It going to be a good night.
Hey – that deck in the picture is made from polycarbonate sheet. Trade names are like Lexan, Makrolon, or Tuffak. How do I know? Cuz we make them at Flexdex Skateboards (see note above – thanks!) and they are smooth cruzin decks. I love that anyone can cut up anything and bolt some trucks on for a ride. Keeps skating real. Before they outlawed colored glues, we used to laminate some hippy trippy decks from Plexiglas and Lexan….. but you can still use acrylic paints on these decks and cover with a clear grip!
Peace.
This is an old thread but that guy in the green shirt is actually me.If anybody still has questions or what not let me know. Me and my brother found that sheet of polycarb. on a friends burn pile, no joke. other wise they’re like 80 + for a 2ftx2ft sheet.. Thanks for the post even though this is kinda old..
Andy,
I have a question. Did you fix your haircut yet?
Love youm,
Mom
I’m really hot right now.