POWER PLAY The Skating Life SMB Bearing Offers Unique Solutions for NorthwoodsFB There’s skateboarding and then there’s SKATEBOARDING. The difference sim- ply comes down to passion and desire. Some skaters attempt the occasional trick on a park bench, half-pipe or emp- ty swimming pool. SKATERS eat, drink and sleep skateboarding. When they’re not skating, they’re working out in their “Taping a graphic torn from a Gear that included reworking the heads what they need to do to expand Thrasher ad (Ed.’s Note: for those of a trucks, wheels and bearings to make and promote their sport. How else certain age, a popular skateboarding them more like their full-size skate- could you explain the phenomenon magazine), wheels and a thin metal board counterparts. “I demanded a known as fingerboarding? axle from Hot Wheels brought count- strong, smooth rolling wheel and bear- “Fingerboards are small skateboards less hours of joy. Shortly after this ing that can take repeated impacts,” one can ride using their index and mid- time the clear plastic skateboard key Hadden said. During his research to dle finger as legs and feet. Every trick chain was introduced followed by the design a better fingerboard, he contact- that can be done on a skateboard can household name TechDeck (www. ed SMB Bearings (www.smbbearings. also be performed on a fingerboard,” techdeck.com) a few years after that.” com), a U.K. bearing specialist known said Jared Hadden, owner and opera- 20 years and 200+ TechDeck’s later, for unique miniature applications. tor of NorthwoodsFB. “Fingerboard- Hadden had the desire to solve all the “We like to support our customers ing is perfect for rainy days, challeng- problems he had ever encountered in where we can, sponsoring them with ing yourself, sharpening your focus, the design of fingerboards. His basic bearings and publicity for their hob- developing muscle memory and im- intention was to design fingerboarding bies, passions and pastimes,” says proving hand-eye coordination. What equipment that met his own lofty expec- Emma Hoskisson, sales and marketing is often misunderstood as a toy is re- tations for the sport. Thus, Northwoods- administrator at SMB. “These bearings ally a tool for precision art-of-move- FB was born (www.northwoodsfb.com). are often used in bespoke, high-end ap- ment and by all definitions—a sport.” “This serious approach is what I felt plications, limited only by the custom- Hadden first became involved in fin- was lacking in the products out at that ers’ imagination.” gerboarding around 1986, when he and time. I wanted to take it further by con- It was no surprise that Hadden’s his brother started making small skate- sidering the needs of the fingers, not imagination—and a knack for using boards out of index cards. the feet and solve the long running Solidworks—helped create a new con- problems I had with the gear that was cept for fingerboards. “I designed a du- available,” Hadden said. al-bearing wheel that prevents wheel damage from trucks and disperses the side impact from the center to a much larger area of the wheel.” The results of Hadden’s design, cou- pled with SMB’s micro bearings, have produced a wheel that will take tremen- dous abuse and still perform perfectly every time. With the right deck and equipment in hand, Hadden can now concentrate on promoting his sport through learning workshops, dedicated events or just teaching kids how to ride. “My main mission is to grow the sport of fingerboarding by giving it the respect and consideration it deserves. I person- ally owe my best efforts to fingerboard- ing for all the pure and private joy it has Jared Hadden performs an ollie nose-grind, nollie-flip out using his fingerboard brought me throughout my life.” PTE (courtesy of NorthwoodsFB). 56 Power Transmission Engineering OCTOBER 2012 WWW.POWERTRANSMISSION.COM]————.