The King of D.I.Y

Chris of Good Roads Collective is the uncontested the King of D.I. Y. skateboards. In the photo above he’s holding a board where the only things he didn’t make himself are the axles, mounting hardware, bearings, and grip tape. Yes, that is a home pressed skateboard, hand poured urethane wheels, 3D printed riser pads, and home cast trucks complete with hand poured urethane bushings and pivot cup. Let that sink in. He essentially made the whole damned thing himself, and he’s got videos and products that can help you do the same thing. Aside from the stuff he sells, he’s also got open source projects with files you can download for free if you want to save some cash or modify them in any way. In addition to skateboards, he also tackles fingerboard pressing and snowboard construction. It’s an arrogance-free channel. He doesn’t claim to be a definitive expert in any of these concentrations, and freely illustrates the mistakes he makes. If you’re interested in any of this, I’d recommend following any of the links in this paragraph, but be prepared to disappear down a rabbit hole. Chris has a Patreon account if you feel like helping him out. About 7 years ago or so I had the idea to make spoof video about a grisly guy who hand milled his own paper and made trips to the coast mine the perfect sand for his artisan griptape. His whole spiel would have been about how any can do the easy stuff like pressing boards and frying trucks… you know, big deal, aluminum can be melted in a campfire… Well, add that to the long list of concepts I never fully realize. I wouldn’t be surprised if Chris makes his own grip tape at some point, or even his own hand tapped mounting hardware… Theres a bunch of screencaps after the jump. Again, follow the links if you want to see more.

Most of his work involves some 3D printing at some point, but almost everything has analog roots and methods that can be used to replace that, as often mentioned in his videos. There are certainly beefier and more permanent ways to do some of the things Chris explores, especially board presses and molds. However everything he build actually works, and is a good jumping off point for getting started quickly/cheaply.