The team at Hacksmith Industries specializes in over-the-top builds. In this video, mechanical engineer Jeff got his hands on an off-road capable electric skateboard and upgraded its motors, battery pack, and circuitry to produce way more power than most people would feel comfortable with beneath their feet.
Skateboarder Lance Lynn is an expert at riding on Freeskates, an unusual kind of roller skate that’s like a tiny skateboard for each foot. The have no foot straps, so he can take his feet off of them while riding to pull off some sweet tricks. More tiny Freeskating action here and here.
Bob Maddox, aka The Rocketman, is back with another insane jet-powered ride. This time, he mounted one of his diesel-powered pulsejet engines to a skateboard. It takes serious balls to ride this thing, but imagine if he tried to stand up and ride its deck like a regular skateboard. EA, when can we have Tony Hawk’s Jet-Powered Pro Skater?
In 2011, Vagabond Works created a skateboard like no other. The Land Crawler eXXtreme is a robotic skateboard that walks using a mechanism based on Theo Janssen’s Strandbeests. It uses two motors and 24 legs to scurry along and has a load capacity of 300 kg or about 661 lb. We imagine its battery doesn’t last long.
Mountain bikes are fun to ride, and so are skateboards. So is riding twice as fun if you combine the two? Master of weird bikes Sam Pilgrim put the idea to the test by grafting skateboard trucks onto the front fork and rear end of his bike. It works surprisingly well, though we think he should have welded the pedals in place.
An isogrid is a kind of metal structure that uses hollowed-out triangles to provide strength while reducing weight. Barry from Titans of CNC Machining used the technique to create a truly awesome skateboard. He started by plotting a design in SolidWorks, then used a CNC mill to carve the board from a block of aluminum.
At a speed of 30 MPH, a skateboard wheel spins at about 5000 RPM. The guys at the Waterjet Channel wanted to see how quickly they could get a wheel to spin under the pressure of their 60,000 PSI waterjet. After realizing that ordinary plastic wheels wouldn’t hold up, they milled their own out of aluminum.
The Q has a love for Formula 1 racing. But we’re guessing from his past projects that he can’t afford to own a real F1 race car. He does however have a single F1 wheel and tire, so he got to work building a custom electric skateboard that rolls on it. It works much like the Onewheel, though it’s a bit trickier to straddle.
We love the rainbow gradients on these mid-century modern cabinets built by Ben from Woby Design. He created the curve-fitting sliding doors by gluing strips of colorful skate decks to a fabric backing. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen him make unique furniture from used skate decks.
Stop your cat from clawing up your couch, and train them to do a 360 Varial Kickflip instead. While we’re not certain that SuckUK’s skateboard cat scratcher will turn your kitty into the next Tony Hawk or Bob Burnquist, it should keep their claws trimmed and their desire to destroy your furniture to a minimum.
The last time we checked in with Bob “Rocketman” Maddox, he was grinning ear-to-ear on his jet-powered go-kart. Now he’s riding an even more dangerous-looking vehicle – a skateboard with a Maddoxjets Cyclone 50 Pulsejet engine strapped to its deck, and barely a place to sit. It tops out around 50 mph, but it might as well be 300.
Ben Paik of Woby Designs makes furniture and other objects by recycling skateboard decks. This time, he made something more complicated – a bicycle. The process involved stacking and laminating decks, then routing, sanding, and finishing the frame. We appreciate how he shared and explained his mistakes along the way.
Woby Design shows off another unique build he made from recycled skateboard decks. By arranging the wood pieces in order of color, he was able to create a sweet rainbow design across its seat and up its legs. The build starts around the 4:30 mark in the video.
Ben from Woby Designs in an expert at making things by recycling skateboard decks. Watch how he made this awesome looking dining table by stacking thin slices from more than 30 skateboards on edge, nailing them together, and then sealing them with clear epoxy. The metal table legs came from Semi Exact.(Thanks Zico!)
Evolve’s pricey all-terrain electric skateboard features a “chassis” skateboard deck made from forged carbon fiber – the same stuff in jets and supercars. Bluetooth tech remotely controls speed (31 mph max), board diagnostics, and lights for indicators and brakes. Travels up to 43 miles on a single charge.
Every time pastry artist Amaury Guichon creates a dessert, we can’t decide whether to stare at our screen or drool on the keyboard. For this bake, he created a set of tiny edible skateboards, each with a faux wood cookie deck layered with gooey caramel, riding on chocolate wheels, and sparkly “deck tape” decoration on top.
Motorized wheels aren’t the only way to make a self-propelled skateboard. Integza shows us how he built a 3D-printed water pump to propel a skateboard. After a couple of failed attempts, he was able to get enough water flowing to move the skateboard. It seems to be more effective as a water gun than as a skateboard.
Burls Art has built some really interesting and unusual guitars over the years. His latest design features a body made by laminating together used skateboard decks, then assembling sections into a batwing design. The colorful cross-sections remind us of his jawbreaker guitar.
The guys from Braille Skateboarding love to test out unusual skateboards. In this clip, they show off an insane custom board with 10 trucks and 20 wheels. You might think that would make it faster, but all of those wheels increase friction and also mess with its maneuverability. Still, it’s fun to watch them attempt to ride this mutant.
A few years back, Lexus created a working prototype of a Hoverboard. But it required a special supercooled track. Hacksmith Industries worked with engineer Jimmy Zhou to create a version that uses rapidly-spinning magnets. Plus it looks like the board that Marty McFly rode in the movie. Check out part one of the build here.
“Surf your skate” is Bureo and Carver Skateboards’ motto for The Ahi, a performance board made from recycled fishing nets. Combining Carver’s tech with Bureo’s NetPlus materials, it’s a 27”x 9” concave-deck, double-kicktail cruiser. Made in Cali with a reverse king-pinned truck system and roundhouse wheels.
Maker Ivan Miranda’s electric off-road vehicle is built more like a tank than a skateboard, riding on motorized, 3D-printed tracks instead of wheels. The drivetrain engineering is impressive, but is it powerful enough to climb a hill while he’s riding on it?
Inspired by the gigantic skateboard that Rob Dyrdek used to show off on, metalsmith Paul Pinto set out to build one that’s not as fancy, but still ridiculously long. The finished metal and wood skateboard measures 25 ft. long. It turns out that Dyrdek’s ride was over 36 ft. long, so it still holds the world record.