cassettes: quick and dirty method
Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 7:53 pm
so any REAL cassette is completely uneconomical for anyone unless you're at the point where you have a set design and you're going to make over 100 + skis/boards with the one cassette.
How many of us are really going to do that?
the $350 ones that some people offer up by cnc-ing one sheet and tacking it to another sheet are more affordable, but after building a handful of boards it may fall apart or get jammed up with glue.
Here's an idea I came up to make a cassette LIKE the 350ish dollar one above. For like $30
1) get yourself a sheet of steel, 16ga or 18ga is fine
2) cut your base, tack your edges on, get that sucker ready as if you're going to build a board.
3) use some of that spray adhesive and stick your base onto the sheet, in the correct spot you want it.
4) get some more edge material. Get it bent as close to shape of the board as you can, go around the base with it, teeth sticking OUT. No need to go completely around the board with the edge, but at least go along the sidecut and SOME of the nose/tail curve. When you get it all bent nice and you're ready, just tack weld it every few teeth right down onto the sheet. If you cant weld, try JB-Weld? that liquid metal stuff. I'm not going to guarantee that stuff will work, these are just ideas.
5) now you have a cassette that will hold your base in place. You can take it a step further by adding rails just outside those edges to hold the core/sidewalls in place. If you keep it super duper clean and mold release it well every time then spend time cleaning it IMMEDIATELY after pressing, you should be able to get some use out of this i'm sure.
when you're designing and R&D, using a shaped cassette is not as necessary, just use lots of clamps, center lines, dowels, etc. Once you finalize the design and you want to make a small handful of them or even a bunch, this method of making cassettes will hopefully help you with repeatability while lowering your overhead costs.
I'll let you know when I have one
.
How many of us are really going to do that?
the $350 ones that some people offer up by cnc-ing one sheet and tacking it to another sheet are more affordable, but after building a handful of boards it may fall apart or get jammed up with glue.
Here's an idea I came up to make a cassette LIKE the 350ish dollar one above. For like $30
1) get yourself a sheet of steel, 16ga or 18ga is fine
2) cut your base, tack your edges on, get that sucker ready as if you're going to build a board.
3) use some of that spray adhesive and stick your base onto the sheet, in the correct spot you want it.
4) get some more edge material. Get it bent as close to shape of the board as you can, go around the base with it, teeth sticking OUT. No need to go completely around the board with the edge, but at least go along the sidecut and SOME of the nose/tail curve. When you get it all bent nice and you're ready, just tack weld it every few teeth right down onto the sheet. If you cant weld, try JB-Weld? that liquid metal stuff. I'm not going to guarantee that stuff will work, these are just ideas.
5) now you have a cassette that will hold your base in place. You can take it a step further by adding rails just outside those edges to hold the core/sidewalls in place. If you keep it super duper clean and mold release it well every time then spend time cleaning it IMMEDIATELY after pressing, you should be able to get some use out of this i'm sure.
when you're designing and R&D, using a shaped cassette is not as necessary, just use lots of clamps, center lines, dowels, etc. Once you finalize the design and you want to make a small handful of them or even a bunch, this method of making cassettes will hopefully help you with repeatability while lowering your overhead costs.
I'll let you know when I have one
.
cut to the correct height to follow the profile of your sidewall. Using a centerpunch mark the center of the standoffs, by positioning the edge of the standoff where the line you traced previously is. Drill a hole. Use countersunk heads and countersink the bottom of the plate. Attach the standoffs. Now you have your bottom plate with standoffs that are positioned in the shape of your board and the height of your sidewall. No more base, core, or sidewall shift.