Plastic deck for ESK8?

How-Tos & Esk8 mechanics Esk8 Mechanics
#41

At some point I considered using a polycarbonate glass deck but since the flex and lack of shaping can be an issue, I had the following ideas :

  • Adding central wood or carbon arm/rods/splinters across the whole length of the deck would correct the flex issue and add a potent nice hybrid look to the board

  • wood or 3d printed inserts as pockets would correct the lack of footing support. With proper treatment even clear 3d print can be shiny as glass, just maybe not as clear see through.

  • glass frit or grip tape cut to fit the wood/carbon areas would solve the lack of footing grip

With these you could make an esthetically unmatched Longboard.

Now issues with a glass deck :

  • polycarbonate glass weights a lot compared to good maple or carbon.

  • how do you marry esthetic of glass with a fatass enclosure? You need to compromise with the look or range. It is hard to make it look as great as a naked board.

  • all that composite of materials means hours of hassle and custom fitting so if you are skilled, have tooling or know a guy, yes you can go for it else it’s not doable.

Now you know why I didn’t even try :beer: but I’d love to see it happen in the flesh.

#42

I thought I read somewhere it was a basalt composite, but I don’t remember where.

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#43

The current techniques work well. I am just exploring different methods of making a deck to see if there is any cost saving or performance benefit.

#44

I think an aluminum deck is doable. Here are a couple that look appealing.

#45

I think your right. Maybe it was used on the Kaly decks. Basically basalt is volcanic glass fibers that can be added to material to make it stiffer. Lots of volcaic glass in Hawaii.

#46

Yeah the beercan was around for quite sometime, I think it could be done in smarter way