Project - Disposable Toe Stops
I'm used to rollerskating indoors in sports halls, where you can stop by using the tomahawk stop (or derby stop). This is where you spin round backwards and put your toe-stop down behind you, to act as a brake. When rollerskating outdoors on rough surfaces like asphalt, however, this can lead to your toe-stops getting worn down very quickly.
I wondered if it was possible to make a toe-stop base which I could attach a cheap replacable section to, so that when the toe-stop wore down, I could replace it really cheaply.
I took an old toe-stop and removed all the rubber. This left a threaded metal core. I lathed it into a threaded cylinder. Then I took a square of 3mm aluminium, and attached it to the end of the cylinder by drilling and tapping three holes and screwing in countersunk machine screws. Then I lathed the aluminium square into a circle, and drilled four holes to attach the disposable part using countersunk screws.
As for the disposable part, you could attach whatever you had lying around which was cheap. I'd like to try rubber from a car tyre, but I don't have one. So far I've only used scrap wood - specifically MDF, or pine.