Cullen Poulos

Process Analysis

10/12/20

Building a Skateboard

A skateboard is as much a form of self expression as any other piece of art. Each

skateboarder can use their board to show off their creativity and own personal style.

First purchase the materials you will need to build the board. The deck, the griptape, the

trucks, the wheels, the bearings, the hardware, and rails if you so desire. Each of these

pieces is highly customizable from the color, shape, size, and even materials it is made

out of. My preference leans towards a shaped, wider board with a shorter wheelbase,

but everybody has their own preferences.

After finding the parts that will suit your style, it is time to begin assembling. To

start off, you will need to grip the board. There are thousands of designs that can be

made with the griptape, but the overall process is the same. First you will peel the

backing off of the griptape to reveal the adhesive that will stick to the top of the board.

You can apply the entire sheet at once, or cut it into designs and apply them separately.

One fun way to personalize your board is to get a sheet of clear griptape, and place

pictures underneath it as you apply it to the deck. After applying the grip to the deck,

take your trucks and using the axle, grind the edge of the board where any excess grip

may be sticking out. This should leave the griptape feeling smooth and discoloured

along the edge of the deck. In order to remove this excess griptape, take an exacto

knife and run it along the edge of the board where you just filed the grip down with the

truck, the exacto knife should slice through the grip like a hot knife through butter after

completing the previous step. After cutting off the excess griptape, take any piece of the
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extra grip and use it to sand down the edges you just cut, this will prevent the griptape

from peeling up in the future. Next, take a screwdriver and going from the bottom of the

board to the top, poke holes through the grip using the holes in the deck where the

hardware goes through as a guide. Through these newly made holes in the griptape you

will insert the bolts that will secure the truck on. After fitting the truck, with the bushings

facing inwards, over top of the bolts, securely fasten a nut onto eac bolt, holding each

bolt in place with a screwdriver while tightening the nut with a skate tool. Now put to

insert the bearings into the wheel, I find it easiest to place the bearing overtop of the slot

in which it goes, and then using the skate tool, push the bearing in until it wont go any

further. When doing this, it is important to notice the orientation of the bearings within

the wheels, usually there is a colored shield on one side of the bearings, this will face

outwards in the wheel. Now that there are bearings in all four wheels, you can fix the

wheels onto the trucks. There should be two washers on the new set of trucks you have

purchased, take off the nut at the end of the axle to remove one of these washers, as

one washer goes on either side of the wheel. The way in which the wheels are installed

is all personal preference, some enjoy seeing the graphic facing outward while others

like the simplistic look of a solid color. After putting the wheels on, reinsert the washer

onto the axle, then tighten the nut so that the wheel has no side to side play on the axle,

but so that it still is able to spin freely. If you so desire to use a rail or two on your board,

you can install them now. First you find the position that you want them in, usually within

one or two inches of the outside edge of the deck between the trucks. Take one of the

screws provided with the rails, and using a drill, drill it into the middle hole in the rail,

securing it to the deck. Work your way from the center of the rail to the ends inserting all

of the provided screws; while drilling, be sure not to keep drilling after the screw has

become snug, as it is very easy to strip out one of the holes you make in the deck.
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The skateboard is now fully assembled, but there is still one more thing you can

do to make it suit your style and abilities, that being adjusting the tightness of the trucks.

In order to do this you will need to ride around on the board to determine whether you

want them tighter or looser. After deciding on how you wish to set them, take your skate

tool, and turn the nut on the kingpin of the truck, the one above the bushings, left to

loosen the trucks, or right to tighten them. From top to bottom, front to back, a

skateboard is an empty canvas waiting for an artist to pick and choose how it will be

designed and set up in order to express themselves.