Crazy die cuts and assembly

[team08]

Sorry for double posting this over here (I posted on Graf too but no responses):

So we see all these new fancy base graphics every year, and the die cuts get more and more complicated, but I want to know how they are assembling them? Are they all cut in China and little kids spend hours putting the pieces together? Is there a machine that does this?

Also, does anyone else die cut in house? I do (I have a 20 ton clicker press) and the fitment is always really tight, and sometimes a pain to get to stay together. Do other people use 2 dies with slightly different offsets? CNC razor? Laser cut? Since we attach the edges before layup, there is slight twisting in the base material, and maybe this causes the tough assembly? It's not too bad, but not as easy as putting a puzzle together.

Thoughts?

[MontuckyMadman]

Tape? Tiny dabs of super glue?

Never had a twist issue, unless I left the base rolled up. I lay it flat and keep a constant temp before cutting.

Yes Chinese children have much more dexterous hands than Caucasoid adults.

I have access to a cnc razor and the fit is tight, no offset.

[Jekul]

A laser would do intricate cutting, but the CO2 lasers I use at work would tend to melt material rather than cut. It would be very difficult to get a clean edge through something so thick.

[OnDeck]

How about taping the pieces in place? The tape will come off in the grind anyways.

I figured a tiny space wasn't that bad, as it would allow the expoy to get in an form a good bond. The pressure and heat of the press, followed by a girnd, woudl take care of the look.

Full Discosure: never done this, and don;t know that f*&K I'm talking about.

[doughboyshredder]

there is no sideways pressure on the epoxy when it seeps in to gaps between the die cuts so it is not a good bond.

[OnDeck]

Thanks, good to know; i was told it would be sufficient to hold everything together.

So, what is the method? Are the pieces held together because they are cut very tight (offset or not?) Are they Superglued together? I'll be working on this in the next few weeks so any advice would be well appreciated.

[krp8128]

there is no sideways pressure on the epoxy when it seeps in to gaps between the die cuts so it is not a good bond.

What?


I'd be worried about the untreated (for bonding) edges on the cuts if anything.

[OnDeck]

Pure sepculation, but maybe there does not need to be strong bonding on the edges of the pruices, as long as their is epoxy on the abse of each piece? Sure hope so, I'd like this process to be easy.

Only one way to find out......

[OnDeck]

Check it out at 1'07"

http://live.tetongravity.com/_Video-Bui ... 75233.html

....the die-cut letters appear to have either masking tape on them, or some sort of glue resdiue, or maye some kind other kind bond promoting agent. Not really an answer, but another clue.

I'd love to get it clear how this works. Anyone know for sure?

[MontuckyMadman]

look like packing tape to me.
Prolly a real thin one from 3m.

[doughboyshredder]

there is no sideways pressure on the epoxy when it seeps in to gaps between the die cuts so it is not a good bond.

What?


I'd be worried about the untreated (for bonding) edges on the cuts if anything.

Yeah, I was just referring to that if there is a gap between the die cuts and it fills with resin, that the resin won't bond to anything, and will end up cracking and breaking away.

[falls]

If nothing else that was a cool video from Unity splitboards!

I agree it looks like they just have a good fit for the die cuts then use tape on the base side to hold them there and rely on the epoxy squeezing between the letters and rest of the base to achieve a good bond.
Epoxy doesn't need a lot of pressure to achieve a bond. In boat building they recommend only finger pressure when joining things together. I can see howvere that a non treated exposed area from the die cutting may not be an ideal bonding surface. It depends how it is cut though. If the exposed area is roughened by the die cutting it will provide a good surface for mechanical interlocking like the abrasion of plastics.
It was interesting also to see that they just placed the sidewalls on the side of the board and relied on epoxy squeeze through to bond them too.

Whatever they did it got that lucky bloke to the top of that sweet powder run and back down again!

[MontuckyMadman]

hes got a cassette with guides on the sidewalls so he lays up with sidewalls with the board.

You can see that's its tight pop those in place.

Definitely the way to do it if you have some nice cassettes. Not good for one offs however.

[doughboyshredder]

I laid my sidewalls up wet on the first ten or so boards that I built. That's how I had learned to do it in production, and it works o.k. but it's a lot easier to profile sidewalls at the same time as the core. If you were doing production runs you could just profile a block of uhmw and then cut your sidewalls out of the profiled block.

[MontuckyMadman]

or order them preprofiled and flame treated from crown, for production.