How it's Made ~ Snowboards [論壇存檔]

Mike

2010-09-23, 19:02

There are two types of snowboard construction.
The first is Capped snowboards, this is where the top sheet is pinched over the sides of the snowboard meeting the steel edge.
The second is the traditional sandwich construction, recognizable by its sidewall.
Each type of board is constructed the same with exception to modifications to some tooling.

A snowboard appears to be a technical yet simple product but making the finished product takes skill and care and requires special equipment and tooling.

Snowboards are made with eight main materials:
Top sheet with printed graphic; Fiber glass; Wood Core; Inserts; Base; Steel Edges; Epoxy resin; Rubber Foil and Carbon fiber can be added along with other performance enhancing materials.

The process starts by vertically laminating a variety of wood (improves strength and torsion rigidity.) The wood is then cut by a computer aided cutting machine to the exact dimensions that the board will be formed around. Once the wood is cut, the inserts are placed into their predetermined holes. The inserts are what you secure your bindings to.

The wood core is a central part of the board. The core is the element around which the rest of the board is built. The core's shape affects flex and weight. Wood is a good material to use as a core because of its vibration-absorbing characteristics. Wood consists of long fibers that transmit high-frequency vibrations along the board's length; these vibrations help reduce suction between the base and the snow, improving glide. Wood also has less chatter than foam or plastic.

Inserts are used to secure the bindings to the board. Made of stainless steel and integrated directly into the wood core. In a standard 4x4 pattern to allow stance adjustments. The standard thread/screw dimension is a metric 6mm.

The next step is the conditioning and preparation room, where the base material is cut to size and the steel edges are properly attached. This is to ensure that the steel edge will not move while being pressed under extreme pressure. This is also a good time to cut the fiberglass and rubber foil to length which will be placed on the top and bottom of the wood core.

Steel Edges are around the perimeter of the snowboard base. These edges assist in turning and controlling speed while helping prevent slipping and sliding on the snow and ice.

Fiberglass is used over and under the wood core to increase stiffness and keep the board from deforming. Fiberglass can be used in several layers, and allows for the correct properties meanwhile keeping the board light. A tri-axial lay-up orienting the fiberglass at 0, 45, and -45° is usually adopted. Rubber foil is used to protect the resin system from "spider webbing" around the steel edges that can occur from collision or extreme vibration.

Upon final inspection and organization of materials, its time to mix the resin system which typically is a two part resin (resin & hardener), that holds the materials together.

Resin is a specially formulated two part epoxy resin system is an adhesive to bond all of the parts of the snowboard. Also used to saturate the fiberglass which makes the glass rigid. The correct resin formula is important so that excellent adhesion may be accomplished. The resin system along with proper material preparation is the key to a boards structural integrity. While providing flex and dampening characteristics

Once the resin is mixed, all of the materials are placed in an aluminum tooling, in a specific order, while consistently applying resin on each piece and on all sides of the materials. This guarantees proper adhesion.

The materials and tooling now goes into a press. The aluminum tooling with all the materials laid together, is placed in a pressing machine. While under extreme pressure, the temperature is also important for the resin to cure properly and in a timely manner (approx. 15 minutes). This process is what presses all of the materials together and forming the tips and tail as well as the camber in the snowboard. It also evenly disburses the resin equally throughout the board.

Once the pressing is complete, the tooling is removed and goes through a cooling process. Once cooled, the board is removed from the tooling and all the excess hardened resin and fiberglass is cut off. It continues to go through a finishing process. This finishing process includes edge grinding, base grinding, drilling out the inserts and stone finishing.

The snowboard along a water cooled edging machine which removes all excess materials as well as creating the angle or pitch that the edge is intended to be. The angle is often 90º. The smaller the angle, the more aggressive the performance of the snowboard. The base side edge is usually prepared in a slightly inclined way (0.5º to 1º inverted) to improve the ease of turning of the board. The side edges are relief-ground up to 86º depending on the style of riding.) Now that the edges are clean, and ready to grind the base.

The base material, during the pressing process, accumulates resin that has now hardened on the base and needs to be removed. The board is run through the grinding machine. Each pass a new belt with a softer grit is used. This begins to polish the base. The board is passed through until it is determined the base is free from resin and any rough spots.

Texturing the base is done with a stone grinder. There are two types of structure: linear structure / crossed structure.

Waxing is the last process before leaving the factory.