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CURRENTLY WORKING ON: MANUFACTURING SECOND SNOWBOARD PRESS; WILL FORM SNOWBOARD 02
GOALS WITH PRESS 02:
REPEATABILITY
ABILITY TO CREATE DIFFERENT PROFILES ON THE SAME PRESS
PRESS MOBILITY
QUALITY CONTROL
January 2023, we got to ride the snowboard we made. The board rode far better than we had anticipated. The video is of our friend "stress testing" our board. After hitting the hand-rail, our board's structural integrity changed greatly. This was the most fun learning experience I have ever had in my life.
The Idea
Eat Yellow Snow started as a late night basement idea. Jackson, Peter and I wanted to make our own snowboard. After some google searches and YouTube videos, we got to work.
The Press
Our press was a handful of 2x4's cut to size and shape. Glued together and clamped.
The Board Materials
Materials:
UHMW Sintered base
Poplar/maple/oak core
OEM edges
Plastic top sheet
Hardware store resin
T-nut mounting hardware
Fiberglass sheets
Conglomeration of tools
The Design
Classic Twin Profile
Simple, Functional, Stylish
The Process
Drilling for the mounting hardware. We used a ruler and calipers to make our 5x2 mounting pattern and space it correctly.
Laying the fiberglass. This was added for increased flexibility in the board as well as providing a medium for the epoxy to adhere to.
Immediately post-clamping. At this point, our board was sealed in the press and we had nothing to do but to leave it for a day.
The Finished Snowboard:
The Learning Process:
Our mistakes were plentiful - we knew we would run into lots of roadblocks and we planned ahead for it. We told ourselves that the while the first board will be sentimental and dear to us, most importantly it is a learning experience. Some of the problems we faced were as follows:
The core was poorly patterned, and had too many individual pieces
Tooling precision was poor - lack of resources + limited access to tools hindered how precise we could make any given measurement
A corner of the board lost a piece of the core when we were cleaning up the edges post-press (in video)
We took too long to lay the epoxy, and we had a bit cure on us before we were ready
This forced us to apply two coats of epoxy
Our top sheet was too thin for our liking, and we abandoned the thin film in favor of applying a thicker coat of protective epoxy
To clarify, there was much more to this process. Starting from the beginning, our procedure was as follows:
Created a bill of materials for our build
Acquired the materials + documented who purchased what materials
Cut the wood for the press to shape
Glued and clamped the press together
Planed and sanded the press to create a level "bed" for the snowboard to sit in
Cut, glued, and cured the wood for the snowboard core (extremely time consuming)
Planed the core down to ~12mm at the nose and tail, and ~15mm between the feet
Outlined and measured the dimensions for the mounting hardware
Drilled the mounting hardware holes
Hammered the mounting hardware into the core
Laid the edges onto the base, supergluing them and clamping with binder clips
Put 1/8" sheet metal on the bottom half of the press to remove imperfections
Assembled the snowboard in the press, applying fiberglass and epoxy between the major layers
Laid foam on top of the snowboard in the press to remove any "dead zones" between the board and the press
Put the top of the press onto the assembly, clamped in 9 locations to ensure even pressure
Removed the snowboard from the press after two days, trimmed the excess material, and sanded the edges flush
Voila, a snowboard appeared.
Love what you do
Love what you do
I want to thank Peter and Jackson for pursuing this project with me. This project was an amazing, meaningful experience that showed me something I truly love. With these two, I hope to one day make this into something bigger than myself. I would love to dedicate myself to my work, and this is a way I can combine work and something I love. My future will be in the snowboarding industry, and I am determined to make that dream a reality.
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