Splitboard.com Forums

First post, but i've been reading for a few weeks here. Lots of good info on this forum, so i'm sharing my buildprocess hoping it will someday help another newbie out.

My plan and some thoughts:

1. Don't like the Voile solution, too heavy and expensive with real bindings
2. Like Karakoram, but too heavy and expensive too.
3. Don't like any other solutions out there, so building my own.
4. Will probably use Spark Lt Touring brackets, can't see how I can improve on those.
5. DIY is more fun than buying.

Start with my trusted Lib-Tech Dark series 164. Like the board in all conditions, and it's getting old anyway. Board is almost too stiff for me anyway, so will hopefully be perfect when split. Haven't decided if I want to make a swallowtail as some point.

One problem.... it's my only powboard so if I mess up it will end in tears.

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Taping how my bindings normally are set for backcountry.


Plan A to find the absolute centre of the board; figured if i draw a thin line between the inserts and put a straightedge along that it would be pretty acurate. It wasn't so ditched that idea.



Plan B; A straight piece of MDF wood screwed to the boards inserts. Find the exact middle of the mdf, measure and drill the inserts and use your bindings screws to secure it.
I measured from steeledge to the corner of the mdf, and it was 2 mm off, so I redrilled the holes for the rearbinding a bit and screwed everything back on.
All corners are now 42mm from steeledge to corner (see picture), so even if I mess up with the tablesaw i could still get both sides straight by using the mdf as a guide when sawing.

Here goes nothing.....


Rockered boards are going to chatter a bit when sawing, but my assistant for the day was too busy taking pictures to lend a hand..

The white tape in the centre is just to prevent the topsheet from chipping, not really a problem with this saw though.




Guess I can never hate on skiers again now


Turned out perfectly straight and fits too. No need to sand anything.





Now need to start building parts to somehow put it back together.

Found some old Ride RX binding cheap... Had to be alu based bindings for my plan to work. Plan is to make a new 4x4 binding plate on both halves of the board so I can somehow twist my bindings on to that.
Want to use the original inserts so less holes to fill up.
Still have to figure out the exact design though.



Sides epoxied, not very exiting.

Keep the board straight or it will drip on your base (i'm an idiot)


Making some carbonfibre sheets to use later. Wet layup without vacuumbag, just clamp really tight between two glass plates to get all the epoxy out.




One small sheet finished, this will be the tail/tip clips later.

Working on the binding interface.

1. Saw the binding disk into a hexagon, and divide in two halves. Screw to the board.
2. Cut the same hexagon out of the binding baseplate, but at a 22.5 degree angle.
3. To attach the binding you slide it over the hexagon like a puzzle, and rotate it untill the corners of the hexagon grab the baseplate.
4. One half of the board has a little "stop" to prevent the binding to rotate further (the white part in the animation)
5. The other half has a skibuckle that latches tha binding to the board.


http://youtu.be/b9krhN7U3Ec

New plan for the bindings, the hexagon didn't look strong enough. I will make completely new disk out of carbon fiber.

The shape is changed to have more overlap when secured. Same shape will be cut out of the baseplate, when rotated they will lock into place.

Topview:



Topview 3d


Bottom

That binding interface looks brilliant. Great work in general.

Lets trade shops. I promise you'll thank me some day.

mojomo026 by Huck Pitueee, on Flickr

Stoked to see what you come up with.

Neato, I like where this is going.

Very cool. Bookmarking this thread.

Yes, let's do that! My shop is only 600 miles from the nearest mountain, so just 7 hours by car if you're very stoked. How about yours?

Anybody has some measurements on tail/tipclips? Do they use m5 screws or rivets?

30 minutes to snow. If it ever snows
Umm can I change my mind about the shop?
I like to use screws and epoxy them into the board. Wax the threads first.
The only measurement that is really important is thickness so your skin clips will clear.

Nice work.
I am interested to see how well your binding attachment method works as I am building my own interface as well.
For measurements I went to the Voile site and downloaded the templates.
Here:http://www.voile-usa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=VEOS&Category_Code=PSB
If you go to each part there is a downloadable template. Just make sure you select "No scaling" from your print setup.

Andy

nice thread. keep up the great photos too, makes the thread nice to look at.