HOW TO MAKE AND USE 100% RECYCLED SKATEBOARD RAILS

Deck rails have been used by skateboarders since the 80’s to (1) help boards slide better on handrails, coping, curbs, etc., and (2) to protect board graphics. These recycled rails succeed at both of those things, but offer something that skateboarding has never seen before: a set of deck rails that is made from 100% post-consumer waste.

1+ months

Easy

Needs to improve to be accepted

More Information

1325 views

1 useful

0 comments

7 steps

1 Order / Make the Mold (~$500)

You can buy my mold, or my mold design from the precious plastic bazar or my website (links below), or design a version yourself. (with anything Precious Plastic related that sells on my website, I donate 5% of the sales to https://preciousplastic.com/support) https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/moulds/injection-moulds/aluminum-mold-for-recycled-skateboard-deck-rails/ https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/moulds/injection-moulds/3d-model-cad-for-mold-for-recycled-skateboard-deck-rails/

2 Having the Mold Made!

If you buy my mold, then you’ll receive it in about 4 weeks. If you buy my mold design, then you’ll immediately receive the file, but you’ll still need to have the mold made, which leaves two options: - Make it yourself - Send it to someone to make the mold: - Your local CNC machinist - Whoever is the most local mold maker to you on the Precious Plastic Bazar

3 Reycled Used Plastic

Collect used plastic to shred and shred it, or buy pre-shredded plastic: https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/machines/shredder/ https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/raw-material/plastic/ (I’ve found that type #2 HDPE has worked best for me for durability and boardsliding, but I’d love to hear what other people find if another plastic type works better/differently for them)

4 Get Injection Machine (~$1.5K)

Buy or build an injection machine https://bazar.preciousplastic.com/machines/injection/ https://youtu.be/qtZv96ciFIU (also, I realize that an extruder might be a better Precious Plastic machine for this product. That said, I can’t afford an extruder, so I’ve been using the injection machine. I’d love to hear any feedback if someone out there makes these rails with an extruder.)

5 Education!

Learn how to use your new injection machine and mold and get a better understanding of plastics: https://community.preciousplastic.com/academy/ https://community.preciousplastic.com/how-to/work-with-the-injection-machine When going through this educational step, if you have any questions feel free to email me at preciousplasticpasadena@gmail.com

6 Screws!

Screws are needed to attach the rails to the bottom of a skateboard. Order screws that fit the rails and work with skateboard decks (this took a lot of trial and error to figure out which screws work best). Here's the options I found that work best: - Order these: https://www.mcmaster.com/91555A101/ - If you’re not able to order through McMaster, find screws that match the image attached to this step. I recommend using a plain non-powered phillips head screwdriver to screw the rails onto a board and not strip out the wood. But an electric drill can work if you’re delicate.

7 SKATE & DESTORY

Make your own recycled rails, and anything else that you can think of to have injection molds made of! And happy recycling!

Precious Plastic is a project by One Army.Please sponsor the work or help us build the software.