snowboard making -assembling the core

Making and assembling the parts of the board for mould-less assembly

After the woodcore was assembled and profiled it was cut out using a router and a pattern. Sorry about the mess!

To profile the edges of the wood I assembled an adjustable jig for a router:

Above you can see the jig. Below the picture shows how the edge is shaped by the router dado cutter.

To make the tip and tail bent and shaped I used some 1.8mm thick aluminum sheet. This sheet had to be bent to a smooth 250mm R curve after it was cut to shape. (It is possible to cut it after it is bent but more difficult to cut it accurately.) In order to do this I used a piece of plastic pipe with a 200mm D(iameter) The pictures below show this jig in use. (I tried a roller mill but this was more accurate for the small pieces I was using, especially for the tail.)

After the tip and tail were cut the aluminum was attached to the wood using glass and epoxy. I think a scarf joint would have been superior but was afraid to make the wood too thin so I used a butt joint and four layers of 6 oz glass.

Above and below you can see the aluminum propped up ready to be glassed to the wood.

Above the glass has been layed down. Below the epoxy has been applied.

After shaping the base material using the same template as the one used for the wood core, some more aluminum was shaped and cut and double sided tape attached to the base material. Then the plastic and aluminum were cut at the same time to ensure a good fit. Below the aluminum is attached to the UHMWPE and will be cut on the two curved lines.

Above you can just see the aluminum taped to the base material with orange tape. The clamps are holding the edge material to the base while the glue sets.

Another view of the edges being attached. Eache edge was also attached to the aluminum tip and tail base extensions.

After the inserts were glued in place the core is ready to be bent.

Bending the core over a 2X6 timber. To set the bend I used damp cloth and a hot iron, then allowed the core to sit in the bending jig over night.