Wheel Wells Skateboard Tool

A skateboard tool for making perfect wheel wells on any deck in a few minutes. This tool fits on the truck and allows a drill to be connected to the other side.

The tool should be ideally about 30mm bigger than the diameter of the wheels. I provided two versions:

• 80mm for street setups (50-59 mm wheels)

• 100mm for cruisers/longboards (60-75 mm wheels)

Required hardware:

• ~100 mm piece of M8 threaded rod

• 2 M8 nuts + 1 M8 nylock nut (or normal nut is ok)

• 2 old skateboard bearings (608)

• For the clamp, an M3 screw and nut

• A piece of sandpaper (100 grit recommended)

• The 3 3D printed parts: tool, clamp and spacer.

Imperial alternatives to M3 and M8 should work (untested).

You may also want wood lacker or oil to prevent protect the wood.

Instructions

To build the tool:

1. Insert an M8 nut in the cavity and thread the threaded rod from the bottom side until it is flush with the nut. Screw a nut from the bottom side and tighten it well. Use the third nut to jam the second in place.

2. Insert a skateboard bearing from the top, then the 3D printed spacer, then another bearing. Note: you may not be able to remove the bottom bearing from the tool after use.

3. Cut a piece of sandpaper to size and secure it around the tool using the clamp. There should be a very small overlap of about 5 mm when the sandpaper is wrap around the tool.

To use the tool:

1. Remove all wheels. Untighten the trucks to the maximum possible. You may even want to remove the bushing cups if it is too difficult to push the truck down.

2. Insert the threaded rod into the drill chuck and secure it.

3. Run the drill at a moderately high speed and lower it on the deck. You should sand until you barely hit the middle layer (which is conveniently tinted on a lot of street decks) and finish by hand, ideally with a finer grain. Refer to the picture, the middle layer on the Creature board is black.

4. Make all 4 wells that way.

Warning: you must keep the bushings and the kingpin nut in place when using the tool. It is what keeps this process consistent by preventing side motion! If your bushings make it too difficult to use the tool, use softer bushings.

Print settings

Printed with my VORON v0 with the following settings:

• Filament: Generic PLA

• Layer height: 0.4 mm

• Nozzle: 0.4 mm

• Outer perimeters (walls): 3

• Infill: 25% rectilinear

Credit goes to reddit user u/WendyArmbuster who described this tool in a reddit comment.