Assembling & Testing a 3D Printed Skateboard. Does It Work. Yes. Sort Of. 3D Printing Cool Stuff!

The skateboard I 3d printed using recycled PET filament. The skateboard would be supported by two smooth rods, a threaded rod would hold together the middle parts, and the trucks would attach and keep it all together. Would it withstand me? Or, how about my 9 year old son?

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509 NE 165th st
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[Theerolis]

A: "What time zone you in?
B:"JTZ"
A: "What's that?"
B: "Joel time zone everytime you see me its 1 o'clock"
:D

[paulvo]

Hey Joel, try separating the board into 3 parts to avoid the joint right in the center of the board. The bending moment and therefore strain is highest in the center and that shouldn't be the location for weak points. Engineers know that as 3 point bend. Good luck!

[Valandar]

Aww, we wanted to see YOU ride the skateboard! :P

[toastrecon]

Honestly, I don't think that this design will ever perform well as-is. That threaded rod is really soft and is only "designed" to support a load in one direction - along it's axis. As your son found out, if it's subjected to a bending load, it's done. All of those threads that are rolled into it act as stress risers and concentrate all of the stress at those little valleys. Another danger is: as the board is ridden, that threaded rod could fatigue and harden and then break, which would cause the board to come apart. No way is the remaining rod keeping that thing together.

Some ideas: use steel bar for the inserts. Maybe aluminum, but even that is pretty iffy. You could also print some ribs or flanges into the bottom of the deck so that the steel rods run through the middle, and the segments are held together with the flanges. Most of the bending load would be taken up by the steel rods, and the flanges with nut/bolt pairs (with washers) could keep the segments from pulling apart.

Maybe another cool aesthetic cool be to make the skateboard segments mate via a edges that were a few dovetail joints? Snap them together, push the steel rods through, and then put small bolt/nut combos in the flanges on the underside?

[jasonbaker]

Cool video. Your Son is awesome! Clearly you have been a good Dad because he has such a positive perspective on how he describes the skateboard experience.

[ecbrd]

nice AvE reference with the safety squints

[Brandon_Makes_Stuff]

Awesome! I'm glad the board mostly worked and no Tellings were harmed in the making of this video.

[charlesparmele]

Just found your channel. Love it. Bremerton WA here. That looks like the old school skateboards I grew up with I the 70s and 80s

[wiy]

Use spring steel for the rods. Since the holes are triangular you can also use hexagonal rods

[KuraIthys]

Recycled PET huh.

I hope at some point to have a 3d printer and plastic recycling setup that can handle that...
PET is both by weight and volume probably the bulk of my current recyclable waste...

Being able to re-use it myself would be awesome...

[TylerOstergaard]

man i should have used the safety squints now i have to wear a pirate eye patch :P

[TeamPanicRobotics]

Very cool! You should try printing some wheels for it too

I've been experimenting with some 2 part printed wheels: Pla hubs and TPU tires they seem to hold up quite well.
I might put up a video with my results in a few days

[Willielikesmonkeys]

On Penny boards they're made of a grippy silicone like material with no actual sand paper. Maybe either a dual extrusion or separately printing the top out of a rubber-like flexible material? Also, adding some sort of interlocking system would probably add just enough strength to really make it last.

[shadowcard]

Using aluminum angle iron between the trucks likely would’ve made it so an adult could stand on it. It was a trick used by a DH longboarder to get added stiffness

[robmohnacky]

Great vid. Would love to see more cool practical uses for 3d printing.

[lunaherron]

i would suggest a small medal plate under the board. and as you said some grid tape to traction

[sjbolton]

glad you guys gave it a shot and were both very positive with it. While the obvious bracing would be to add 90 degree angle strips underneath in the model for strength and reprint. But maybe a more practical approach is to make the board like most boards are made: in layers. print the board thinner a few times and sandwich glue them together?

[WeAreMovieMakers]

Gluing the pieces together might help with rigidity. How much infill?

[MrNathanstenzel]

Maybe use a pair of door hinges in the middle or put C beam down the middle of the bottom? The door hinges will probably be cheaper, but less useful. The C beam would make it really strong if the wheel mounts are attached to it. That would make the 3D printed part just a platform on a nice sturdy base.

[buildersmark]

Just out of camera frame add a second monitor & power point a teleprompter for David that you can mouse click to advance for him. Consider printing the 2 middle sections as 1 piece also if that's possible. Maybe add pieces of bar stock from truck to truck.