Inquires about building a snowboard

[KAlex]

Hi guys, I am Alex. I am currently trying to build my own snowboard for the first time, and I encountered some problems that I hope anyone could help me with this. Thank you. Here are my problems.

1. Wood Core. I decided to use a CNC to machine the wood core to the desired sidecut and the round nose/tail before I assembled all the other materials. Will this work?
2. Wood Core. Is it necessary to make the tip and tail of the wood core thinner than the middle part? I am currently using AutoFusion360 to 3D model my wood core design. However, I don't know how to do it. I would like some help.
3. Construction. Since it is my first time building a snowboard, I want to make things as simple as possible, so I decided not to use any reinforcement like fiberglass or carbon fiber. Here is my desired construction from top to bottom: Topsheet(What could it be?), Wood Core, Inserts Pack, Sidewalls, Base, Edge. Would this work?
4. Inserts pack. How to mount these nuts on the board? Should I make some holes on the wood core and put them in? But how to glue them? Should I drill the holes before putting everything together?
5. Wood choice and thickness. Which kind of wood is relatively damper than the others? Heavy is fine. Also, I am wondering about the thickness of the wood core. How thick should it be? I want to achieve a stiffness like 7/10.
6. Pressing. Since, I can only do all the things in my garage, so I decided to use a vacuumer with heavy stuff to do it. But I was thinking that if I press the board after I drill the insert holes, will the distances between the holes change? Like the inserts are 4*2 before pressing, but when the board becomes camber shape, the distances would change. Would it?
7. Process of putting everything together. Should I put everything together with the epoxy including the edge, and then press the board? Would the metal edge bend properly?
8. Material Suppliers. I live in Toronto, Canada. Is there any good suppliers in North America?


Last thing last. Thanks to everyone for helping me. I really appreciate your help.

[chrismp]

Welcome to the forum, Alex. Pretty much all of your questions can be answered by using the search funtion and doing some reading on this forum. A good starting point for TLDR is watching all episodes of Every Third Thursday by Signal Snowboards on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... d+thursday.

I'll give you some short answers to your questions:

1. Wood Core. I decided to use a CNC to machine the wood core to the desired sidecut and the round nose/tail before I assembled all the other materials. Will this work? - Yes, this will work.

2. Wood Core. Is it necessary to make the tip and tail of the wood core thinner than the middle part? I am currently using AutoFusion360 to 3D model my wood core design. However, I don't know how to do it. I would like some help. - Yes, this is absolutely necessary! Try using youtube tutorials to learn how to do this in Fusion. There are many ways to achieve this. If you're using a CNC, you can also profile your core with that.

3. Construction. Since it is my first time building a snowboard, I want to make things as simple as possible, so I decided not to use any reinforcement like fiberglass or carbon fiber. Here is my desired construction from top to bottom: Topsheet(What could it be?), Wood Core, Inserts Pack, Sidewalls, Base, Edge. Would this work? - No, you need some sort of reinforcement fiber otherwise the board will break instantly. The core's main function is being a spacer for the reinforcement fibers, which give the board its strength and flex.

4. Inserts pack. How to mount these nuts on the board? Should I make some holes on the wood core and put them in? But how to glue them? Should I drill the holes before putting everything together? - This will be answered if you watch Every Third Thursday. Yes, they're put in pre-drilled holes. The epoxy holds them in place after lamination.

5. Wood choice and thickness. Which kind of wood is relatively damper than the others? Heavy is fine. Also, I am wondering about the thickness of the wood core. How thick should it be? I want to achieve a stiffness like 7/10. - This is where it gets complicated. Many people on here post what core thicknesses and wood they used for their projects. Have a look at them and you'll get a feeling for what is appropriate. Stiffness also heavily depends on the shape of the board and rider weight.

6. Pressing. Since, I can only do all the things in my garage, so I decided to use a vacuumer with heavy stuff to do it. But I was thinking that if I press the board after I drill the insert holes, will the distances between the holes change? Like the inserts are 4*2 before pressing, but when the board becomes camber shape, the distances would change. Would it? - A vacuum cleaner will not give you enough pressure. Have a look at the vacuum kits offered by Roarockit using the hand pump. This is probably the cheapest way to achieve a proper vaccum for pressing. Insert distance will be the same after pressing - there is hardly any bend where they're located.

7. Process of putting everything together. Should I put everything together with the epoxy including the edge, and then press the board? Would the metal edge bend properly? - Yes.

8. Material Suppliers. I live in Toronto, Canada. Is there any good suppliers in North America? - There's a post with a number of material suppliers - http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1818