Geometry

Anatomy of a Skateboard Ramp: 3D Visualization and Materials Math

I have a joke that if you ever meet a skateboarder over the age of 40, you’re likely looking a reasonably accomplished amateur carpenter. It was historically a DIY sport, and many of us learned how to build ramps more or less on our own, with mixed results. Building a skateboard ramp isn’t necessarily expert level carpentry, but there are important details and some common conventions that matter a great deal. For many of us, it was an exercise in optimism meeting carpentry. You start with a vision, a backyard quarterpipe or maybe a garage mini ramp, and quickly drown in questions. How tall, what radius, how many sheets of plywood? What about Skatelite or some other composite surface, even remotely in budget? What lumber lengths do I need? Will it actually look like the thing in my head?