I just got back from a trip and was curious if anyone has ever dabbled in it? It’s basically wood metal and glass right? Any ideas, suggestions? Thanks Ryan
got a vacuum press?
Check out these websites for some ideas: http://www.grafsnowboards.com/ http://www.snowboard-factory.com/ I have a friend who’ve made some skies, he claims it’s not all that hard, just alot of work… Good luck! regards, Håvard
na but i make my own sandboards…similar use … yep a vacumn press will get best results…just happen to have one ,thats handy, regards BERT
What about vacuum bagging? I work in the boating industry.
Great links! Thanks!
Such an excellent resource for individual snowboard builders! I was especially fascinated by all the technical information on designing flex patterns. Many thanks, Håvard! http://members.lycos.co.uk/grafsnow/ 
Had a delam recently… just the front 4-5" of the plastic bottom material peeled back. Plastic is still perfect - no rips or tears. Any ideas on how I might stick it back down? Epoxy resin? Thanks!!!
The site Dale posted rocks. -Carl
Bert, I’ve considered making sand telemark skis or sandboard (more designed like a surfboard rather than a snowboard). Any tips on general design like rail curve or flex or surface area. I’ve herd that you lam formica as a base. Thanks, Gary
http://www.grafsnowboards.com/gallidx.htm wow…have you seen there failed attempts since 1997? Heavy stuff. We pressed skateboards at university…but there isn’t that much tech involved. just two molds and a vacpress. The graeat thing about shaping surfoards maybe is that you can built them in so much ways with all the mistakes one can imagine and it will still float somewhat. But it’s still a cool thing trying to built a snowboard…other people have more expensive/less creative hobbys. cheers Marcus
I checked those sites and nothing on repairing delammed bases. Epoxy for construction - would WEST or Resin Research work to glue my peeled plastic base back in place?
Any brand of epoxy will work as long as the problem wasn’t originally caused from a bad flame treat from the plastics supplier. If your first attempt fails, then go to a hardware store and buy a Burnzomatic propane torch with a pencil tip nozzle. Pass the flame rapidly over the polyethylene like you’re mowing the lawn(or making grids to find someone buried in an avalanche). You want the blue cone in the middle of the flame to be about an eighth of an inch away from the polyethylene. This should work real swell. Moisture activated P.U. adhessives like Gorilla Glue or Elmers Polyurethane work good also and expand into gaps and pits. Always try epoxy first though. For little tiny delams, use cyanoacrylite which can be bought at any hobby store. Good luck! Love Delbert Pumpernickel …oh yeah, and anyone attempting to build a board from scratch, definately use an old fridge compressor for vac. bagging as the easiest and cheapest method. They pull a more precise vac. than most $2000 Sargeant Welch lab vac pumps. If you can’t find an old one in a junkyard, new ones are about $80 from an appliance repair store. Vent the exhaust tube outside. Go to www.fiberglasssupply.com and buy a bunch of monkey-tape to seal your bags. Then you can use any cheap 6 mil poly film as bagging material.Go Team Go!
This info is fantastic. Not much snow here in Ireland but will keep these web sites for future reference or when I batter my Ride Profile out in Chamonix at the end of the month. Brian
yea gary formica is the stuff…real shiny stuff …with a vacy set up you can press the whole lot in one hit strap binders as well, then cut the outline after wards because the formica is already adhered to the board its no problem to cut …snowboard designs dont seem to work for sand boards…you need to able to hit the brakes and make sudden turns…ive been using tight pins with bumps in the outlines right on your back foot so whether your going forward or sideways your can dig something sharp in and slow the tail and regain some control… regards BERT
How about rocker? It seems that a decent amount of rocker curve would help to dig in the edge on turns. Thanks for the info. Gary
yep starting at your front foot ,make sure the outline carries some width into the nose rocker .other wise you dig rails if the outline pulls in before the nose rocker starts… regards BERT