This cool board was made by prototyping service, Solid Concepts.  It is made using SLS and is manufactured out of Nylon 12.  The boards were made to show that 3D printing could be both beautiful, but also functional and stand-up to the abuse expected from a commercial product.

We talked about another board sport a few weeks ago, wakesurfing and my cousin Zoey, and we’ll keep it in the family talking about my cousin Andrew Schoultz and skateboards.  Andrew is a former pro skater turned artist, that has painted some amazing skateboards and gone on to do sculpture, large multi-story wall paintings and outdoor murals on building exteriors among other things.

Example painted skateboard decks (Courtesy of Andrew Schoultz)

Andrew’s work can be a bit difficult to describe, so I’ll lean on his self description:

“Andrew Schoultz combines meticulous rendering with imagery both familiar and fantastical. Themes of chaos and destruction forewarn current political and environmental climate, taking form in large-scale installations, murals, paintings, sculptures and works on paper.”

More awesome decks (Courtesy of Andrew Schoultz)

Andrew’s boards have been featured in places like Complex magazine and can be purchased places like Uprise Skateboard Shop with 100% of the proceeds going to charity.  Just like no girl wants to wear the same dress to a party, no skater wants the same look as the other guy and things like deck art can differentiate them.  Where painting is just 2D, a 3D printed board would allow new textures bordering on sculpture to allow even more individuality.

Hand painted skateboards were part of a exhibition/ fund raiser at a skate shop in Chicago called Uprise. All proceeds were donated to the non profit After School Matters (Courtesy of Andrew Schoultz)

3D printing in sports is in its infancy.  Between cost and durability concerns, it is just beginning to gain momentum.  People like Solid Concepts are starting simple with the deck, but are also looking at printing the trucks out of titanium (you can already find people using 3D printed wheels with humorous mixed results).  I don’t know if a skater would trust a 3D printed board enough to do an acid drop like this, but he would sure look cool trying!

Set from 2007 that makes me think “Voltron” as 5 boards come together as one (courtesy of Andrew Schoultz)