Ski Builders Forum

I am looking for some pointers on tuning a snowboard. I have a grindrite sander and I have tried to sand the base of my board and it doesnt really come out looking right. I dont have a auto feed and maybe that's the problem but I know others sand without one. What grits do you use? How long do you spend/board sanding?

As for waxing, I tried that as well and dont think I did it right but I dont know how you can screw up waxing. All I do is drip snowboard wax all over my board, take my iron and spread it out, then scrape it with full length scraper.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Get a scotchbrite belt for your grinder. That will help with the waxing. Waxing is kind of an art form. You need to get the board hot enough to absorb the wax, but not hot enough to bubble up. If you get it so hot it bubbles, it actually pulls away from the epoxy and effectively ruins your board. I don't scrape, I just take it right to the scotchbrite belt, but I don't let the wax glob up on there.

What issues are you having with grinding? What do you mean it doesn't look right? Pics?

When you say heat up the board do you do that with your iron first?



Here is a pic, not sure if you can see it but I get a lot of variation in the sanding. I try to keep a consistent pressure on the board as I pass it over the sander but it never comes out looking like a shop sanded board. Do you have this same issue?

put a true bar across your base and make sure it's flat.

My guess is though, that your main issue is dry spots on your belt from not getting enough spray to the belt.

Also, make sure you break down any new belts by running a piece of metal across the belt.

Thanks dbs, I do have issues with my sprayers. Hopefully fixing that will solve the problem.

yep, definitely.

As far as the iron, just use it to heat the wax once it's on the board. Don't heat the board up before waxing it. Although having the board in a nice 70 degree room before waxing is a plus.

I will say having an autofeed made my grind quality go WAY up. They key is constant pressure and constant speed. If you are getting "pockets" where it isn't getting ground, that just means your base isn't flat and needs more grinding. Get a true bar like DBS suggested. Just be careful that you don't go too far, you only have so much P-tex to grind through before you a) find the teeth of the edges, or b) find the core (well, fiberglass).

I could get pretty decent results before I made my autofeed, but I'm also only doing skis which are a bit easier to manage. With the autofeed it's cake now, and the grinds turn out perfect, uniform, and straight.

is there a thread on how you made your autofeed?

yeah, the autofeed and a fresh (but still broken in) belt does the trick. we were having problems with our autofeed and did a bunch by hand, results were pretty shitty, snowboards just have so much surface area that its almost impossible to get it perfect without accurate machinery. even two passes thru with the wheel will leave tracing lines and whatnot.

i think that a proper wax job can make up for an imperfect grind as well.

feel free to come measure and check out our autofeed if you are trying to build one.

tom
nightmare