Making a Snowboard With a Vacuum Press - I've updated this video as #2

we pressed a snowboard in our garage using a vacuum press. while this layup took under 30 minutes the preparation of the molds, templates and final materials took weeks (working primarily on weekends).

[@Bloodysugar]

Could you give us feedbacks on how your board performed and aged ? I've found very few feedbacks on this method, and rare ones I found were often observing delaminations (unless the board wasn't used, of course). Vacuum pressing is great for many applications, but when it comes to building snowboards it sounds very weak compared to presses the industry needs to use.

[@Theninjaonthemountains]

great vid!! do you think that vacumm will work with a shop vac? i am debating weather to build a press or go with vacumm

[@toothlesscoot]

i have heard of folks using shop vacs but i can't say it sounds like a good idea. you need to leave them running for 24+ hours and a vacuum pump like the one i used won't lose pressure even if you turn off the pump (assuming your vacuum is properly sealed). because of this, the pump really doesn't have to work too hard once it gets up to pressure. however, if you have a perfect seal and you turn your poor shop vac loose sucking on something that can't be any more pressurized for 24 hours - you are very likely to burn up the motor and make your neighbors mad at the same time. that said, if you can find some folks that did it successfully.. absolutely go for it. as per the press. i highly recommend going with a vacuum until you have a sense of what is required to make all the components, etc. and with a vacuum press you will be on your new board in no time. a pneumatic press is a large project on its own you can move up to one after you have the vac press process down. btw - if you are going to go the press route you will want to use an air compressor + air bladder, like old firehoses, held within a fixed frame.. its the tried and true method (note: it can be dangerous). here is an affordable pneumatic press made with fabric. www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1820&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 here is the much more common pneumatic press setup with fixed frame www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=668&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45 do some research on skibuilders.com.. there are some amazing builders on there. almost everyone without access to a proper shop (welder, etc.) ends up at the vacuum press method. either way you go - enjoy!

[@Theninjaonthemountains]

@@toothlesscoot thanks it does make sense motor will burn. I am going to make a press instead

[@fsrodeo81]

hi, very nice project!!! Do u think I can use as a vacuum pump the little pump we use to change the oil in a car? Thanks in advance

[@toothlesscoot]

I can't say for sure because pressing a snowboard requires that you run the pump for at least 24 hours. I wouldn't imagine that an oil extraction pump is designed for that kind of run time. However, I'm betting that it takes a good deal of suction to extract oil, so it seems worth a shot. I would definitely run an overnight test on a vacuum bag so you are sure your motor isn't going to burn out when pressing the actual board. A failure that close to completion would be a real bummer. Be sure your test replicates the actual use case (pulling on a vacuum that is already at max pressure for a long time). Good luck!

[@fridthjofsimonsen8108]

I have watched this vid a couple of times now, and i have decided to build a press on my own. I have some 1/8 inch plexiglass that has the perfect shape for my press. Do you think it will resist from bonding with the epoxy? And or if not, should i prep the layer with something to make it not bond with the epoxy? Cheers!

[@toothlesscoot]

I put down a layer of contact paper between the snowboard and the plexiglass. this allowed me to simply peel up the contact paper and reuse the plexiglass multiple times. That said, I never had a snowboard/epoxy adhered to the contact paper. Every board came right up - just a little pop and it was free.

[@fridthjofsimonsen8108]

@@toothlesscoot I ended up cracking the plexiglass i was using, so i bought a ply of lexan instead. How much epoxy would you say is enough for each board? Thanks for taking time to answer :)

[@toothlesscoot]

@@fridthjofsimonsen8108 i purchased an epoxy kit from here: snowboardmaterials.com/index.php/materials/epoxy-resin which states "approximately 30 ounces mixed" per board/ski. however, my first boards came out a bit heavy so I scaled back the epoxy on my later boards. one thing i did to help control up the application was split up the epoxy into equal containers (after mixing) for the two layers of glass (i think i show this in the video with the little plastic cups). i also worked the glass and base/core in a more step-wise manner.. adding epoxy as needed rather than just assuming i needed all of the allotted epoxy for each layer. my later boards were much lighter and just as strong. hope that helps.

[@jeffe6814]

What materials did you use for the press?

[@toothlesscoot]

the mold is just rough 1x4 furring covered in 1/16 polycarbonate. vacuum film is then applied to the poly with vacuum tape. the air is pulled out with a Gast medical vacuum pump. All of these parts make up the press. hope that helps.

[@matthieulemonnier3580]

Impressive ! Could you share the model of the pump ? Or its specs ?

[@toothlesscoot]

Gast MOA-V176-CA AC Electric Diaphragm Air Compressor/Vacuum. Bought on eBay for $125. There were plenty of these available.

[@mlbannon6974]

What did you use for the topsheet

[@toothlesscoot]

I used the Ultra Clear Gloss top sheet on the page below. snowboardmaterials.com/index.php/materials/top-sheet-material I adhered a piece of contact paper on one side of the top sheet before we pressed the snowboard. the pressing process if very messy and this way, when it is all done, i simply peeled off the contact paper from the finished snowboard removing errant epoxy. i actually left the contact paper on through the sanding process, etc. until i was completely finished..

[@bajasandboard7458]

what type of epody did you use?

[@toothlesscoot]

www.snowboardmaterials.com/index.php/materials/epoxy-resin

[@Falko_Spats]

I like the way you did it. I build planes with this technique and i think it could have actually a higher quality result than with a Press. Long story short: i want do build a boart too but i have some concerns due to my experience with planebuilds. Did you have any air bubbles under your topsheet? Because in my plane moulds i use an air permeable top sheet, wich is removed later. The problem is: to get a smooth surface i need to grind a lot. How thick are the sidewalls (or the difference between bottomsheet and woodcore)? Iam plannig to do a 3d printed mould with a steelsheet to suck a vacuum.

[@pjh900]

Awesome video!! Can you explain how the vacuum mold makes your camber profile without the use of any compression? My understanding is that the vacuum is used to both remove air bubbles and applies even suction/pressure down against the mold to create your camber and tip/tail profile.. is this accurate??? Awesome video!!! Thanks.. do you use everything from www.snowboardmaterials.com ?

[@toothlesscoot]

Your understanding is correct. You can see that my camber is defined by the curvature of the mold (wood slats). When the air is pulled out of the vacuum chamber, and bc the mold is rigid, the vacuum film is pulled down, toward the mold. Thus, anything under the film will be bent to the shape of the rigid mold below. Hope that makes sense.. Sounds like you get it. This is the basis of a lot of great projects once you have the concepts and tools.