Quick
update on the build...
I ran into a few snafus, but am making progress.
I think I've pretty much got a plan for the stain finish...and I picked up a larger propane torch at Harbor Freight for about $25 (small one would take forever), borrowed a tank from a neighbor, purchased a nice red oil-based paint that I will thin with mineral spirits and use as a stain after burning, pre-conditioning and applying a natural stain first....Yep, quite a process. But, it's mostly set up ready to go when the time comes.
I jumped back into the
wheel well situation after giving it a lot of thought. I purchased some 1/2", 1/4" and 1/8" risers (Imperial, I know...) from the local skate shop to help me dial in the
optimal truck height / wheel well location. Turns out, I could only manage adding the 1/2" (12.7 mm) risers with the length of bolts I have on hand...
So, I set up the trucks
AGAIN and made notes as to where the wheels hit the deck. It's very difficult to determine where the wheels will go as they turn due to the fact that the kingpin is on an angle.... I wish I paid better attention in math classes...probably could have figured it out with some calculations.
But, I went at it kind of eyeballing, referencing Nozza and JoffaDan's setups, kind of visualizing where the wheels might end up as the rotate towards the deck.
I want the wheel wells to have some
symmetry as I can't stand things that don't!!! This is an area where one pretty much has one shot to make it happen....Once you start making deep cuts in wood, it's hard to reverse...
So, I spent some time figuring it out best I could. I figured the
only real constant reference points (due to the probable differences in rails and risers from one side to the other) is the
centerline I used to locate the trucks and some of the reference points to mark the truck hole locations. So, I took measurements off those to make the wheel wells somewhat equidistant from the centerline and front to back.
I used a free program called SmartDraw to design the wheel wells approx. 90mm x 50mm...per Nozza's specs.
Router guide bushing and bits (1/4", 1/2" and 45 degree chamfer)....The brass router guides allowed me to use a template for accuracy.
The template has to be sized larger than the desired well by the distance from the outside edge of the guide to the outside edge of the bit...
One of the "snafus" came when I realized that the trim router I initially bought does not accept "standard" Porter Cable-style guide bushings... Bummer. The router base has to have an opening of 1 3/16" (30.16mm) to accept them.
So, (after a lot of research for solutions) another trip to the tool department to pick up the Makita router which has the standard opening.
I measured the deck at about 17-18 mm thickness. According to Nozza, his wells are 20mm deep on a 25mm board...I figured I could go with roughly 5mm difference....maybe a little less. I was shooting for 10 to 12mm depth leaving 5-8mm of deck intact.
You can see the double-sided tape to secure the
HDF template. These pictures are actually out of order. This one above shows the final well. I wanted to use the 45 degree chamfer bit, but realized I would have a problem in that it has a guide bearing on the bottom which raises the bit about 9.25mm and limits the cut. I thought I might get 3mm of 45 degree cut at the top of the well, but alas, no go. I barely got any. So, I went to a 1/2" cove bit to get a little detail and more clearance on the well.
At about 11-12 mm depth.
Checking fit
without the 12.7mm riser.
Barely hitting at this height... This is with xtra template height and without the cove bit cutout...
The wheels bottom out before the truck hanger did...so a riser will be required.
Tight fit.
As the trucks are raised, the trajectory of the wheels moves towards the center of the board. So, this picture represents a "worse case scenario" of have no additional riser pads... Likely not possible due to wheel bite.
Before I figured out that the wheel would bottom out without an extra riser (and it seemed like they might not and I could possibly get away with having a lower deck!) I reshaped the template to take off some material towards the rail.
W/ no extra riser...
No extra riser = wheel bite!
With the 12.7mm extra riser...sufficient clearance and not bottoming out...
Makita trim router w/ larger guide bushing and 12.7mm straight bit - removes material a lot faster than the 1/4" but couldn't use it until after making first pass w/ the 1/4" bit... So, I had to make two passes at the well...a bit time consuming...but, hey, what isn't when it comes to building something!
Lots of changing guide bushings and bits back and forth... At one point, I averted near disaster. I heard the router make a "different" sound and immediately shut down the tool... Due to the guide bushing insert, I had to extend the bit out to get the depth of cut. Well, apparently the collet nut had come loose and the bit was dropping down more and more, cutting deeper and deeper...out of control. I caught it just in time...right at the depth (12mm) that I wanted. Phew! That was close.
I was going to stick to 10mm, but the tool made the decision for me!
Due to not being able to use the 45 degree chamfer bit, I ended up removing a lot more material than I initially wanted. I wanted the angled wells for aesthetics as well as structural integrity, but, try as I might (and I thought about it a lot and did a lot of research), I couldn't figure out how to do it. I could not find guide bushings for chamfer bits and don't even know if such an animal exists.
My kingdom for a CNC router... This deck would have been done in 15 minutes...but I am learning new skills along the way, so...
I erred on the side of over-sizing the well due to wanting to reshape the template/well as little as possible. Gave myself a bit of margin of error.
Now that I've got the template and process set, the other 3 wells should go A LOT faster.
Thanks for all of the advice, tips and encouragement along the way. Fingers crossed that this thing works out...lots of time invested...
Aloha _GSave
... CHOP 
