big ear snowboards' cloth press
Moderators: Head Monkey, kelvin, bigKam, skidesmond, chrismp
no need to search elsewhere yet i just haven't gotten around doing it. i know it's taking way too long already now, but i hope i can get it done within the next month.
verdict so far is: they're working great, but they're still really ghetto with some self made electrical insulation (that probably can be dangerous).
verdict so far is: they're working great, but they're still really ghetto with some self made electrical insulation (that probably can be dangerous).
i know i'm like silly late with this write-up! sry guys.
i cant access the heating blankets right now for photos since they're locked up at a friends house who's away for the holidays.
still here's a short version:
we got these as free samples. keep in mind that frenzelit usually sells them in huge quantities to the industry, we were just lucky that they had some scraps lying around that fitted our needs...just without the insulation.
i don't know what thei minimum orders are, but i'll talk to them soon.
basically the blankets act as a huge resistor that produces heat. if you just hook it up to some 220v it'll burn through all the power it can get and soon melt down (like really soon! we had to shorten one blanket cause we smoked part of it).
controlling the voltage with transformers would've been way too expensive so we started searching for ways to control the wattage with dimmers. took us some time to find some that could take the power, but finally we found the M028n by Kemo that can take up to 4000watts at 220v.
bought two of these plus some fuses and potis for finer control over the Kemo as well as a thermometer.
hooked everything up and they work like a charm. we got our press from 0°C to 90°C in about 15min.
only "problem" remaining is the insulation. we simply wrapped them in some polyamide vacuum foil thats able to take up to 215°C...works fine when the blankets are not touching anything that conducts electricity.
means you shouldn't touch the aluminum sheets in our press you'll get small electro shocks (nothing too bad but i don't want to find out what happens if our ghetto insulation rips).
i cant access the heating blankets right now for photos since they're locked up at a friends house who's away for the holidays.
still here's a short version:
we got these as free samples. keep in mind that frenzelit usually sells them in huge quantities to the industry, we were just lucky that they had some scraps lying around that fitted our needs...just without the insulation.
i don't know what thei minimum orders are, but i'll talk to them soon.
basically the blankets act as a huge resistor that produces heat. if you just hook it up to some 220v it'll burn through all the power it can get and soon melt down (like really soon! we had to shorten one blanket cause we smoked part of it).
controlling the voltage with transformers would've been way too expensive so we started searching for ways to control the wattage with dimmers. took us some time to find some that could take the power, but finally we found the M028n by Kemo that can take up to 4000watts at 220v.
bought two of these plus some fuses and potis for finer control over the Kemo as well as a thermometer.
hooked everything up and they work like a charm. we got our press from 0°C to 90°C in about 15min.
only "problem" remaining is the insulation. we simply wrapped them in some polyamide vacuum foil thats able to take up to 215°C...works fine when the blankets are not touching anything that conducts electricity.
means you shouldn't touch the aluminum sheets in our press you'll get small electro shocks (nothing too bad but i don't want to find out what happens if our ghetto insulation rips).
minimum orders on the heat blankets are 1500m
but there's a problem with them anyway. they're really thin and fragile like paper. plus i almost burnt one due to a rip in the insulation.
that's mainly the reason why i'm going to try and build a silicone heat blanket. i should have all the materials for some tests ready by this weekend
on another note, i've had some troubles with impressions on my boards. there's always a channel across the width impressed into the top. most of the times it's on the nose and on the last board it's also where the tail rocker starts.
i've had this problem no matter what type of material i use to protect the cassettes from epoxy (first couple of boards i used polyamide film and on this one i used parchment paper).
i place the parchment paper right on the board and above that are the aluminum sheet, heat blanket, mdf sheet and the cattrack.
there's no sign of these dimples on the aluminum.
here's a couple of pics:
the graphic was printed with my epson 2100 on white canvas. we added some white pigments to the epoxy on top of the core, but you can still see part of the core shining through. there's a regular uhmpe topsheet on it.
but there's a problem with them anyway. they're really thin and fragile like paper. plus i almost burnt one due to a rip in the insulation.
that's mainly the reason why i'm going to try and build a silicone heat blanket. i should have all the materials for some tests ready by this weekend
on another note, i've had some troubles with impressions on my boards. there's always a channel across the width impressed into the top. most of the times it's on the nose and on the last board it's also where the tail rocker starts.
i've had this problem no matter what type of material i use to protect the cassettes from epoxy (first couple of boards i used polyamide film and on this one i used parchment paper).
i place the parchment paper right on the board and above that are the aluminum sheet, heat blanket, mdf sheet and the cattrack.
there's no sign of these dimples on the aluminum.
here's a couple of pics:
the graphic was printed with my epson 2100 on white canvas. we added some white pigments to the epoxy on top of the core, but you can still see part of the core shining through. there's a regular uhmpe topsheet on it.
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- Posts: 1354
- Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:37 pm
Chris - I was wondering how your boards turned out before you added heat blankets to your press. Did they turn out ok or do they have durability/delamination issues?
I'm considering doing something similar-ish to your design but I probably won't add heat blanket initially. Do you think I'll have issues?
Also, remove the curved piece of wood from your press that covered the pyramid portion?
I'm considering doing something similar-ish to your design but I probably won't add heat blanket initially. Do you think I'll have issues?
Also, remove the curved piece of wood from your press that covered the pyramid portion?