Finished Longboard

Finished Longboard

Griptape On Longboard

Griptape On Longboard

Griptape About To Be Laid On Longboard

Reflections Term 4 Week 5

This is the last week of the year. On Monday I lacquered my longboard and I let it dry for two days. Wednesday was the last day so we spent the period in the com lab. I have not finished my longboard yet so I will have to stay after school and finish it

Longboard Being Lacquered

Problems Encountered & Things I Would Have Changed

I couldn't start my calendar until about the fifth week of term one because there were computer problems so I fell behind. When I was told to draw a mould on a block of wood I thought I was supposed to draw my longboard so I had to start over. I never learnt how to use Solidworks properly so I never finished everything on the checklist that had to do with Solidworks. When I primed my board I may have laid it on too thick as it took a long time to sand back.

Near the end of term four I was starting to run out of time so unfortunately I could not apply any artwork to my board. If there was one thing I could change about this year's work, it would be that I worked a bit harder.

Reflections Term 4 Week 4

On Monday I had to prime my longboard for a third time because the white paint on the edges of my longboard had worn away. I had to sand the prime for the whole of the second period. On Wednesday I started writing my description of the technological process. On Thursday, Terry spray-painted my longboard black. Next week I will finish my longboard. The fact that I had to prime my longboard a third time this week was a major drawback. I now have very little time to finish my longboard.

Descripton Of Technological Process

The first step of the technological process was creating a mock-up that represented a half scale of what our finished longboards would turn out to be. The instructions were to cut out the shape of our board on a firm piece of cardboard. This was a very straightforward process and I completed it within 5 periods. Terry decided we were going to weave flax together to put inside our longboards to make them stronger. The first step was cutting down some flax so we could use it. Then we started weaving it together. First we had to strip the flax with a craft knife, and then we had to weave it all together to make a mat of flax that was very strong. This became a very laborious process which took over 3 weeks to complete.

At the start of term 2 Terry informed us that we could not use the flax we created because it had something to do with not being strong enough. It was time to start creating the moulds for our longboards. First we got a long block of wood each and then we drew up the designs for our moulds. Next we used a machine to cut out our moulds. My mould was cut out unsmoothly so I had to spend a few weeks sanding back all my moulds to the desirable shape. This took until the end of term 2.

Now we had to get another long block of wood to stick our moulds on. It didn't take long to find a good piece of wood. I used a drill and some nails to fix the mould onto the block of wood so I could form a longboard out of it. Now I had to find the right types of wood to make a strong longboard. First of all a group of people helped me put epoxy resin on the sides of the wood that would stick together, then once that was done we placed the wood on the mould and clamped it using some clamps so that the wood would form into the shape of a longboard. Now I had to cut off the extra sides of the wood that I didn't need. I drew the shape of my longboard onto the wood and then I cutted it out using a machine. Now it was the full shape of my longboard. All I had to now was sand my longboard so that it would become smooth. This took very long. A total of four weeks plus one if you count the mock exam week. By then it was the end of term 3.

It was time to start the painting process of our longboards. We only had five weeks for this term so we had to get a move on. First we had to prime our longboards two times and sand them back for each prime. I think this was supposed to make our longboards stronger. I managed to prime and sand my longboard for the first time in the first week and the second time in the second. By the fourth week I was told that I had to prime my longboard for a third time because the paint at the edge of my longboard had worn thin. This annoyed me a lot but it had to be done nonetheless. It was the end of the second-to-last week of the year and I managed to get my longboard spray-painted black by Terry. On the last day I applied my griptape and drilled some holes for some trucks and put on some wheels. My longboard was finished.