Project Scope
Build a repeatable manufacturing process to produce quality skateboard decks at scale for my high school's campus store.
Project Considerations
- Registering a curved, pressed blank on a flat spoilboard
- Holding the part through profile and drill passes without chatter
- Ordering toolpaths so the deck stays supported until the last cut
- Datum control, workholding, and cycle time
Design Solution
- Laminated maple blanks, vacuum bagged to shape
- Final profile machined on a ShopBot router
- Repeatable fixturing so every deck leaves the machine ready for finish work
Assembled Project
- Vacuum bag forms for lamination with locating geometry
- Jig that locates and holds the blank for profile machining
Project Summary
This was a personal manufacturing project. The goal was a repeatable process to produce quality skateboard decks at scale for my high school's campus store. I press laminated maple blanks, then machine them to final profile on a ShopBot router with repeatable fixturing, so every deck leaves the machine ready for finish work. An initial challenge I faced with CNC workholding for the blanks was the unsupported nose and tail chattering during profiling. My solution was to epoxy a foam wedge under the nose and tail to tension the board during machining. This was able to sufficiently shift the resonance while not changing the finished geometry of the board.
Manufacturing Process Video
