Here's a question:
I currently cut my snowboard wood core straight accross at the contact point, then I layup with place a straight piece of tipfill. I've noticed that some ski manafacturers apepar to do this, and I've also heard it's common in snowboards. I once asked someone if they thought the seam was a weak spot in the board, and was told that this design adds a little dampening, and is in fact less prone to breaking because the joint has a little give and won;t snap as easily.
Any thoughts? Is this a common tipfill shape design, or is there some big advantage to extending the wood core up into the nose/tail.
I've not broken one yet, and like the way it rides.
Tipfill Designs
Moderators: Head Monkey, kelvin, bigKam, skidesmond, chrismp
I think it makes it easy to layup, and easy to shape your cores and tip fill. It is what I do with my skis and I have not had any issues as yet.
I think definitely that this type of joint has more 'give' in it, but that that is also what makes it prone to breakage (the only thing stopping breakage at that point is the upper and lower layers of glass). I think this might give the tip of the ski/board some shock absorbtion as the joint flexes to absorb impacts/vibrations, but on the converse when it takes a large impact it can't transmit all that energy throughout the full core and this makes it prone to snap when its elastic ability is overcome.
There are definitely manufacturers of snowboards and skis that use this method. However, the 'full length woodcore' catch cry is common too. I read a thread on here that ON3P skis started doing a full length wood core in their skis in the 2010/11 season as it was less prone to tip breakages - the thread didn't say whether they had actually had any breakages.
Each to their own I'd say.
I think one thing is for sure is that having the wood extend beyond the contact point into the tip shape puts more pressure on the efficacy of your press and also on how solid your resin sets. If you struggle a bit to get good pressure in the tips with only ptex there then adding the stiffness of the wood may worsen this problem. The other thing is that once you bend the wood to the tip shape its natural tendency will be to want to return to flat. The ski holding its tip shape relies on the resin setting and holding the wood in the new bent shape.
In my skis there is a very gradual rocker from the contact point. the woodcore extends into this rocker area, but not into the sharper tip "kick" right at the end. My press handles it well, but I don't know if it would really force the wood into a tight (say 200mm) radius that well. I think skidesmond has a few photos on his posts of what he thinks occurs from having a wood core that extends the whole way - he calls it edge drop.
I think definitely that this type of joint has more 'give' in it, but that that is also what makes it prone to breakage (the only thing stopping breakage at that point is the upper and lower layers of glass). I think this might give the tip of the ski/board some shock absorbtion as the joint flexes to absorb impacts/vibrations, but on the converse when it takes a large impact it can't transmit all that energy throughout the full core and this makes it prone to snap when its elastic ability is overcome.
There are definitely manufacturers of snowboards and skis that use this method. However, the 'full length woodcore' catch cry is common too. I read a thread on here that ON3P skis started doing a full length wood core in their skis in the 2010/11 season as it was less prone to tip breakages - the thread didn't say whether they had actually had any breakages.
Each to their own I'd say.
I think one thing is for sure is that having the wood extend beyond the contact point into the tip shape puts more pressure on the efficacy of your press and also on how solid your resin sets. If you struggle a bit to get good pressure in the tips with only ptex there then adding the stiffness of the wood may worsen this problem. The other thing is that once you bend the wood to the tip shape its natural tendency will be to want to return to flat. The ski holding its tip shape relies on the resin setting and holding the wood in the new bent shape.
In my skis there is a very gradual rocker from the contact point. the woodcore extends into this rocker area, but not into the sharper tip "kick" right at the end. My press handles it well, but I don't know if it would really force the wood into a tight (say 200mm) radius that well. I think skidesmond has a few photos on his posts of what he thinks occurs from having a wood core that extends the whole way - he calls it edge drop.
Don't wait up, I'm off to kill Summer....
I used this method for my first three pair. The third pair snapped right on the junction of core to tip spacer. The skis didn't have topsheet, only fiberglass, but I can't imagine a topsheet making it that much stronger. My cores now use a "tab" that extends up into the tip so the junction doesn't just go straight across the tip. This adds about 1/2 hr of labor per pair but is worth in my mind.