At first I made vacuum mold. I was inspired by boardcrafter mold. I made MDF frame, adjustable ribs for changing length of a snowboard, and cover it with 6mm thick polycarbonate plate.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/Wte8U2M.jpg)
Then I made 3d models of snowboards:
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/JejElkv.jpg)
With advise of Akiwi I bought on ebay Thomas 2660 vacuum pump, which is maintenance free (without oil). I am very satisfied with it. It can reach -0,9 bar absolute.
I bought materials from skibaumarkt except core and top sheet which is veneer. As I am building powderboards only, I decided to make tip to tail poplar plywood woodcores. All early days snowboards had horizontal laminated woodcore too. I made 5 boards with plywood, tested them on snow well and none of them delaminated or broke. I just put the inserts through carbon patch to secure them against pullout.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/o7SujJ9.jpg)
For centering base and core I made centering extensions outside of board area to see what is going on during lay up.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/M55bcDF.jpg)
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/QZl4gpN.jpg)
As all my boards are extra wide, I had to cut the strips of the base rotated 90 degrees and stitch them together to get 35 cm width.
I profiled core to 2,5 -8 -3,5 mm
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/fV2rcax.jpg)
Nose is pretty stiff, and tail has due to split tail medium flex. Something just like I wanted for pow boards.
Final products:
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/cHqch2X.jpg)
Reverse sidecut snowboard inspired by springbreak snowboards. The most fun powder snowboard I have ever ridden. Super sketchy on groomers:) It has no steel edge and full reverse sidecut.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/fClEuBb.jpg)
Powder snowboard for my wife. Graphics is done by my
friend which is tattoo artist.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/XOtBsZe.jpg)
Another one for myself, which is suitable for the groomers too.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/03uDZvq.jpg)
Powdersurf (bindingless snowboard) I experimented with the base graphics. It is an old t-shirt under clear base.There are some air bubbles caught under the shirt.
![Image](http://i.imgur.com/3I4xb5b.jpg)
And the last one, which was my first regular sidecut snowboard for a female friend.
I am satisfied for my first rides, and have a lot of plans for next winter. At first I have to improve my tools. Core profiler is made out of MDF, bridge is plywood. I will make something more proper with steel profiles. Also the 6 mm polycarbonate plate on my mold was not the best. Some of my boards came out a little concave which was not a problem for powderboards. Although I will try 8mm thick polycarbonate. For the core I will keep the poplar plywood, as I will be building powderboards only.
Jure