Flotoma Snowboards

nistler · Post by **nistler** » Sun Oct 26, 2014 6:11 pm

So a few good and bad things happened today

First off, I went to Home Depot and picked up a 1"x12"x6' poplar for the core. Then A miracle happened; as my dad and I were picking it out, my neighbor just happened to walk by and asked what we were doing. He is an avid woodworker and has all the expensive machines and stuff. Long story short, he offered to let me use his planer to plane it down from 19mm to 7mm. Saved me a lot of time because otherwise I would of had to use a router.

I finished layering the Hardboard on the mold and I was running my hand on it and I felt a large bump on the connection of the camber mold and the tip mold.(Now the bad) I then measured the mold, 62.5" long, which is 158cm, which is how long my board was supposed to be. I made it like 14 inches wide but somehow the extra length from the hardboard just disapeared. Luckily though, I was able to easily just pull up the hardboard from the mold and I got a huge 4x8 sheet of it so tommorrow I'm sand the mold more and put the hardboard on longer.

My vacuum comes on Tuesday and Im trying to prepare some materials for it; for the hose, could I just use normal vinyl tubing that connects onto the nipple thing on the pump or do you have to use a special kind of hose?

twizzstyle · Post by **twizzstyle** » Sun Oct 26, 2014 7:30 pm

Yes, any hose/tubing will work, as long as the tube doesn't crush under vacuum. Any vinyl tube that fits your nipples will be fine.

OAC · Post by **OAC** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 1:10 am

19mm down to 7mm... it's over 60%!

They didn't have any thinner planks?

nistler · Post by **nistler** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:47 am

OAC wrote:19mm down to 7mm... it's over 60%!
They didn't have any thinner planks?

They didn't, I was going to cut it in half vertically but the only thing I could do it with is a table saw and I didn't want to risk messing up the wood by cutting it crooked or anything.

MadRussian · Post by **MadRussian** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 2:39 pm

nistler wrote:
OAC wrote:19mm down to 7mm... it's over 60%!
They didn't have any thinner planks?
They didn't, I was going to cut it in half vertically but the only thing I could do it with is a table saw and I didn't want to risk messing up the wood by cutting it crooked or anything.

I'm trying to understand what exactly you doing here.
7mm core thickness? 7mm each strip wight?
whatever you doing. Going from 19 mm or 3/4 inch to 7 mm or 1/4 inch it's a lot of waste
IMHO Home Depot worse place to buy wood from

nistler · Post by **nistler** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 3:36 pm

MadRussian wrote:
nistler wrote:
OAC wrote:19mm down to 7mm... it's over 60%!
They didn't have any thinner planks?
They didn't, I was going to cut it in half vertically but the only thing I could do it with is a table saw and I didn't want to risk messing up the wood by cutting it crooked or anything.
I'm trying to understand what exactly you doing here.
7mm core thickness? 7mm each strip wight?
whatever you doing. Going from 19 mm or 3/4 inch to 7 mm or 1/4 inch it's a lot of waste
IMHO Home Depot worse place to buy wood from

I just thinned down a 12inch wide plank of wood to 7mm which will be the thickest section on the core. I'm going to now router down the tips and tail to 2mm. I didnt want to have to glue all then pieces together and It would of been cheaper to just get a 12 inch wide piece.

gav wa · Post by **gav wa** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:27 pm

So are you just using a single plank of wood for a core, not laminated? I hope it is a very even grain or a vertical lam bamboo plank.

nistler · Post by **nistler** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:37 pm

I cut a new piece of hardboard for the mold today. I cut it out longer so now it will extend off the tip and tail by 4". Will help if I wanted to make longer boards too. Heres some pictures;

First off, heres what my core looks like so far.

I made some marking for where I will being tapering. If you look closely you can see I drew some lines and wrote the mm thickness I will router it down to.

Heres what my mold looks like without the top covering

I sanded my mold so now where the tips connect to the middle its actually flat and I shouldn't have a bump like I did before I chose to redo the hardboard layer. Heres a sneak peek of what it will look like, I'm currently pressing the nose now.

MontuckyMadman · Post by **MontuckyMadman** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:41 pm

Wood from depot is usually no bueno. That being said i made my first pair from a decent single piece of non laminated poplar from home depot. The ski was stiff but rather unresponsive in comparison to a vert lam it also softened quite a bit but that could be several varibles. Somthing you get with a vert lam to be considered is the bonding on that grain orientation is the strongest.

twizzstyle · Post by **twizzstyle** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 7:47 pm

Yeah for your first board, a solid piece of wood will be ok. But for follow-on boards, you'll want to laminate a bunch of wood together. Try to fight the ever-present temptation to do things on the cheap. It's better to spend slightly more money/time and get great riding gear, than to spend slightly less money/time to have completely unusable shop art

We all speak from experience. But - for a first go-around, there's plenty else to learn, so skipping the core is fine.

gozaimaas · Post by **gozaimaas** » Mon Oct 27, 2014 10:31 pm

I say put some spacer bits of mdf in between the ribs and put some threaded rod yhrough it all

gav wa · Post by **gav wa** » Tue Oct 28, 2014 6:36 am

That piece you are using for a core looks like a rift sawn outer section. That's got a fair bit of heart wood in it too. You will get a different flex from one side to the other. It could allow you to make an asymmetric flexing board, could be fun.

Skis probably don't show up as much side effects when not doing a vertical lam as they are much narrower, boards are damn wide and torsional flex makes a huge difference.

Don't stress though as you shouldn't expect too much from your first build other than a bit of fun riding something you built yourself.

As has also been mentioned be careful cutting corners and trying to be too cheap. As a new builder myself I totally understand how tempting it is to rush things at times but it just ends up taking longer as you have to do it twice or you scrap a complete board. I started making my press about 7 months ago and have only pressed 3 board since.
Things like molds etc can last you a long time so spend the time doing them right, doing the same mold twice would suck and will also cost you more in money and time.

nistler · Post by **nistler** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 2:00 pm

After waiting all week for the pump to come (supposed to come tuesday-friday), I just looked at the tracking and he just shipped it today. Guys been selling on ebay since 1999 and has about 5000 feedbacks left and it took him a week to drop the package off at the post office. very frustrating.

gav wa · Post by **gav wa** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 7:36 pm

Use the spare time getting all your gear sorted. Anything you thought could be neater, do it while you wait. Bend your edges, cut your glass, is your core profiled, are you heat treating your base?

Always something to do, well I always seem to have heaps to do LOL.

nistler · Post by **nistler** » Fri Oct 31, 2014 8:35 pm

gav wa wrote:Use the spare time getting all your gear sorted. Anything you thought could be neater, do it while you wait. Bend your edges, cut your glass, is your core profiled, are you heat treating your base?

Always something to do, well I always seem to have heaps to do LOL.

I would but I haven't even ordered the stuff yet and I don't want to profile my core too soon because I don't want to break it, it's been really windy outside and I don't have anywhere to store it in my garage. Luckily, there is a light at the end of the tunnel because next week I have Friday, and Monday off and I'm going to be getting the materials tomorrow so hopefully that's enough time to just lay them up. I'm not really in any rush, the ski resort doesn't open until after thanksgiving. Also, what is heat treating the base? What does it do? Never heard of anyone doing it.

Ski Builders Forum

Ski Builders Forum

Flotoma Snowboards