What is the point of a cattrack if the bladder is below the mold? It seems like they are just using MDF matched molds (like pressing skateboards).
its not actually a cat track by means of what we're familiar with.
It's their heating system.
Those presses originated in the Angelic Factory in Brooklyn NY.
Then became Hayes Brothers snowboard presses.
Homewood got them from Steve Hayes.
There are hot water pipes snaked thru each of those metal bars, all run off a furnace.
The air bladder is simply pushing the bottom mold up into the top mold. If the parts are toleranced to near perfection, it makes a hell of a board.
What is the point of a cattrack if the bladder is below the mold? It seems like they are just using MDF matched molds (like pressing skateboards).
The cat track is actually recessed into the top and bottom rigid mold, its not a cat track as we're familiar with, it's their heating system, those are hot water pipes snaked thru the metal bars.
The bladder is just pushing the bottom of the mold up into the top mold.
I've used those presses when they were at Hayes Brothers. When the board parts were toleranced really well, the end product was awesome.
Looks like they did some mods to those presses to make the heat system better. It runs off a furnace.
Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2013 9:38 pm
by knightsofnii
sir.orange wrote:
"Sporten" near prague, cz
great focus on sustainable production process, do contracts work for european ski brands, but also have their own brand "sporten" which is only present on eastern europe market.
wow, for all the $$$ pumped into that, only to watch one of the layup guys wax a mold, then handle the rest of the parts with mold release all over his un-gloved hands
Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2013 2:28 am
by falls
Thanks chrismp.
That apex brand supplies the son of the guys who grind my skis here in Australia. Their son is Alex Pullin, former world boarder cross champion. He gets the boards shipped over here and structures them before going out on the comp season!
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 6:27 am
by chrismp
And another video featuring our workshop. This time we built four snowboards for a university that teaches sports equipment technology here in Vienna.
Wow, sweet vids. That cnc Machine is a monster. Is that at the school you go to? I think I'll have to try the paper graphic method. Props on those molds. Such a long process to cut all those pieces but once you have them, the options are endless for different cambers I guess.
Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:18 am
by chrismp
Nope, it's our own private playground once you have access to a cnc this style of mold is easy to adapt. we always have a couple of mdf sheets ready to cut, but after four different molds we're down to 5-10 new ribs for new molds, sometimes even less.
doing the paper graphics works quite well. the important thing is to seal the underside of the paper well with a few coats of white acrylic paint so the epoxy doesn't seep through. after pressing we apply a coat of clear UV resistant epoxy that has low viscosity and a rather long cure time (24h) to give the paper an initial sealing. after that we apply four more coats of 2k polyurethane varnish. that's it.
Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 10:26 pm
by dbabicwa
falls wrote:Thanks chrismp.
That apex brand supplies the son of the guys who grind my skis here in Australia. Their son is Alex Pullin, former world boarder cross champion. He gets the boards shipped over here and structures them before going out on the comp season!
Hm, I wonder if Apex are the same guys making kite boards ?
Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 7:13 am
by skimann20
I'm not certain if this is where this goes but for me this would be considered "layup"
You CAD nerds amaze me. This guy cruses through this layup... The only thing I wished this video showed is how to pull the midpoint back to 55% for us 2 plankers.
Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 10:49 am
by twizzstyle
I just skimmed the video, looked pretty good. I like to think that I'm lightning fast with Solidworks, it's a great tool once you really get comfortable with it.
As for the 55% thing, you can set equations on your dimensions. So say you have your entire length set as one dimension, then you can set your "midpoint" dimension, from the tip, to be 0.55 times the entire length. When you bring up the dimension input dialog, there is a drop down I think with "add equation". Now if you change the overall length, the midpoint will always be 55% of that.
Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 5:30 pm
by skimann20
great video. these guys have some techniques that I haven't seen before.
edge connection
core profiling jig(some of you do something similar)
his ski profile jig is great!
lots of fiberglass layers
nice hot box
and... they look like cool people.
the only question I have is how did she know where to place that "center of ski" image? looks like the right ski didn't quite line up.
chrismp wrote:Nope, it's our own private playground once you have access to a cnc this style of mold is easy to adapt. we always have a couple of mdf sheets ready to cut, but after four different molds we're down to 5-10 new ribs for new molds, sometimes even less.
doing the paper graphics works quite well. the important thing is to seal the underside of the paper well with a few coats of white acrylic paint so the epoxy doesn't seep through. after pressing we apply a coat of clear UV resistant epoxy that has low viscosity and a rather long cure time (24h) to give the paper an initial sealing. after that we apply four more coats of 2k polyurethane varnish. that's it.
once you have access to a cnc this style of mold is easy to adapt. we always have a couple of mdf sheets ready to cut, but after four different molds we're down to 5-10 new ribs for new molds, sometimes even less.