How To Make Your Own Indo-Balance-Board

• Tape measure, pencil, newspaper
• 1x piece of plywood (80cm by 50cm)
• Jigsaw - with wood cutting blade
• Sandpaper
• Wood glue OR a drill (and screws)
• 1x pipe tube (9cm - 16cm in diameter)
• Varnish + brush
• Paint (if you want to decorate the board)
  
  Indoboard retail price: £95
  THIS home-made board cost: £20

Using a piece of newspaper draw the shape of the indo board onto the newspaper. Indo boards are 75cm in length and 45cm in width. To help you get the correct curve and shape, cut a rectangle with these dimensions, fold the rectangle into four, and draw a curve along the outside edge. Cut along this curve and you should have an even oval shape when you unfold the newspaper. Picture 1. Will give you an accurate measuring guide so you can get your oval shape similar to one displayed here.

Place your oval shape on the plywood, then trace the pattern in pencil onto the plywood. Place the oval on the edge (so that you don’t have to cut any extra – see picture 2 and 3).

Cut around the Oval shape using the cutting device of your choice, such as a jigsaw. Don’t worry too much if it is not exact, as you can sand it down afterwards.

Once you have cut the the oval shape, sand down the edges with regular sand paper. This can be done using sand paper manually – or by using an electronic sander.

There are two ways to accomplish this:

Trace around each end of the board (Picture 4) onto another piece of plywood, 8cm in width, so that you end up with a semi-circle shape (Picture 5). Do this for both ends. Cut the traced shape with the jigsaw and using wood glue attach these strips to each end. Glue the pieces in place and wait for several hours for the glue to dry. Once the glue is dry, sand the edges so they are smooth.

Alternatively, you can drill four holes in each semicircle and drill screws in to keep the plywood in place. Again, sand the edges for a smooth finish.

The bottom of your board should look similar to the one in Picture 6.

To finish off your Indo board and ensure longevity - varnish your Indo board.
Make sure to dust off any saw dust and also sand down your board once before you start varnishing.

For the first coat of varnish you can use any quick drying varnish. A good technique to use is to first apply the varnish horizontally and then varnish in long strokes length ways (see video). This will ensure the varnish is absorbed into the wood grain and that the coat is smooth and evenly spread. This also creates a professional finish on the wood. Varnish both sides of the Indo board and leave to dry.

When the varnish is dry, sand the whole Indo board once again (with fine grade sand paper), and apply another coat of varnish. This will make the board extra smooth. Repeat this process two or three times until satisfied with the finish.

If you wish to paint designs or logo's on your board (see step 7) - then varnishing will ensure that the paint does not bleed into the wood and create streaks and uneven edges to your art work.

The pipe used in this example is a high density polyurethane pipe, 10cm in diameter, and ideally needs a relatively thick wall of at least 5mm.

Cut the pipe tubing to 46cm using a hacksaw.

You may use the pipe as it is - or add friction tape to it as well, this will ensure the pipe does not slide from under your board.

You can customise your Indo Board with your very own logo or text. There are two main methods you can choose from when making a design:

1. Paint: Using acrylic paint (make sure the board is varnished first or the paint will run)
2. Using permanent marker (again - only use over a varnished board)

One final step if to then varnish over your design. If you have used paint, then you can use any good quality varnish. If you opted for the permanent marker method, it is advisable that you use spray varnish, as the permanent marker may streak with normal varnish.

The video below shows illustrates how you can design your board with both paint and permanent marker.