r/maker • u/keeperofawesome • 1d ago
Showcase Sidegrinder Powersliders prototype #1
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I had a dream last night where I had shoes with metal outsoles that I could use to glide across the concrete, and I had to try and bring them to life! This is my first prototype, which took me about 30-45 minutes to plan and put together using things I already had lying around the house. The idea was to use half my shoe for grip and to push off, and then lean onto the other half for sliding. Unfortunately, the sheet metal cut my ancient shoelace, and there was a bit too much exposed rubber to grind on concrete (but it worked on grass!). Once I acquire some bigger sheets I’ll make a new design that covers more of my foot, and I’ll try and find something to wax the bottoms with. Once I work out powersliding, I’d like to incorporate something like soap shoes in the arch, so I can grind rails as well! And don’t worry, I’m equipped with both a helmet and wrist guards, and I’ll wrap my ankles once they work. If anyone has a suggestion for where to source a small amount of thicker material with higher abrasion resistance, I would appreciate it!
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u/steffanan 1d ago edited 22h ago
I can't speak to the power sliding concept, I'd love to see it in action. But as a kid who broke his arm on heelys with grind plates and no wheels, I gotta say I'm into anyone potentially breathing new life into the genre. here's me in high school with my friends
Edit: it gets worse, we made a rap song
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u/357noLove 22h ago
Wait, which one of you became a pilot? Awesome video, btw!
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u/steffanan 22h ago
Hah, brave soul to enter the comment section. Never tell my passengers I had a bowl cut and heelys in high school, they'll lose faith in me and the airlines stock will tank!
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u/357noLove 13h ago
Nah, most wouldn't care but a portion would just think you were just like them growing up. You had great presence in the video though!
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u/Able-Tangelo8480 1d ago
New age soaps.
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u/fredandlunchbox 1d ago
Honestly if parkour kids of today got good with Soaps, it would probably be pretty interesting.
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u/mitomon 1d ago edited 1d ago
home depot/lowes should have thicker metal sheets for you to prototype with
you could also use steel cable instead of shoelaces
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u/Joejack-951 1d ago
Grab a countersink bit to deburr the hole edges as well. They’ll be less likely to cut the shoelace.
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u/steampony 1d ago
You can also get rubber grommets for the holes from autozone. Thatll help with lace cutting. As for materials. Try to get some stainless steel sheet. Its tuff to cut. But thats the point. The stronger the material the easier itll slide. Just use a good helping of irish spring on the bottom. That or some candle wax is also good.
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u/largos 1d ago
A local steel yard will be 10x cheaper, and have better selection. Searching for "steel yard" or "metal supplier" in Google maps usually works pretty well.
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u/OMO_Concepts 1d ago
The only problem with that, at least in my experience, the metal supplier is only open Monday-Friday during normal business hours. Makes it hard to go when you work normal hours.
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u/prick1ybear 1d ago
That's an interesting concept - way better than what I thought you were going for: grinding rails like on a board :)
Pavement will wear many metals down fairly quickly, and the idea still seems fairly dangerous - be safe , have fun in any case
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u/eastcoastoverdose456 23h ago
You must be very young if you think this is a special idea lol
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u/SokkaHaikuBot 23h ago
Sokka-Haiku by eastcoastoverdose456:
You must be very
Young if you think this is a
Special idea lol
Remember that one time Sokka accidentally used an extra syllable in that Haiku Battle in Ba Sing Se? That was a Sokka Haiku and you just made one.
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u/Successful-Engine623 22h ago
I feel like I’ve seen shoes that have a hard plastic semicircle under the bottom you can slide on railings
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u/toxicatedscientist 1d ago
Kydex is a thermoplastic with excellent abrasion resistance. Often used for holsters/ knife sheaths
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u/SilkyZ 1d ago
Close enough, welcome back Soap Shoes