A lot of skaters just buy pre-made grind rails. These are great, but they can cost a bit and aren't always exactly what you might want. Building your own grind rail is a lot easier you might think!
The next few pages will walk you through a basic skateboard grind rail design. You can feel free to change measurements and tweak it as much as you want! But for the basic design, here's the material you'll need:
- One 6.5 foot long piece of rectangular steel
- Two pieces of 2 foot long square steel
- Two pieces of 3 inch flat steel that are a foot or more long
Next you need to figure out how you are going to weld the rail together. If you or your kids are students, you might be able to use the tools in your school's metal working class. Just ask the teacher. They can also help you with making sure you do the welding part correctly.
You can weld it together yourself, but if you've never done it before, then you'll need to learn how - HowtoWeld.net has some great help, or these welding instructions are good too. The only tools you'll need are the welder, and a grinder to clean up the weld lines (if you want to).
The next page has a sample blueprint you can use for your skateboard grind rail. Once you've used these instructions and built your rail, check out the How to 50-50 Grind instructions and start grinding!
