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Great step by step for the DIY process!

And remember, "I'm not responsible if you screw up your own board." Excellent video!

Great Video! However, I do not find it necessary to use T-Nuts for the climbing wires. There is not much stress on this component, only downward pressure into the board. I have used the fat wood screws (from old split kit) for years with no problems.

the secret of DIY is the beginning - no fear


Markus

This is a great step by step walkthrough. I used his older video as a guide when I made my first DIY. Except I opted for factory insert placement so I could have multiple stance options as well as make it a loaner.

One piece of advice that I would give to make everyones life much easier. Avoid the wood boring bit (Wood paddle bit). In my experience it can really chew up the core when drilling through it and it doesn't leave a good even cut. Maybe it would be better chucked up in a drill press but most of us don't have one.

Here is an example of the wood boring bit on my Burton Johan. Notice how the bored hole is uneven and splintered. Also it mangled the base as it drilled through.


I recommend a Forstner bit ($10 Home Depot). This is the result on the exact same Burton Johan. It made a clean nice cut with a smooth bottom so the t-nut won't sit canted. Also, I was able to follow up the cut with a flat razor blade to smooth out the base easily.


Usually the Forstner bit is used in a drill press but I found it worked excellent in my cordless power drill.
Happy Building!

^ah sage advice! im about to embark a DIY on one of my classic sticks (160 Rossignol Jones) and was a little skeptical of the violent wood boring bit.

Newbie question: with all this tampering to a solid's base and core, what risks are there for a first time DIY F up to avoid? ensuring that moisture will not penetrate the wood core...

Also can you hacksaw the fully wrapped tip and tail prior to the initial cut? and what IS the best saw to cut with?

I know...im a kook. yada yada

I wouldn't say the risks are all that great, the task really isn't anything more than taking a plank of wood & mounting some hardware to it. If you can do that, you can build a splitboard.

For t-nutting the base, use a slow cure marine epoxy. 24hr+ cure time. Gflex 650 is uber popular and incredibly durable & flexible once cured. Some folks like to use this to seal the inside edge as well. I find Spar urethane works just fine & is a little easier to work with on the edge.

You can totally split the tip & tail with a hacksaw wither before or after the cut. It does give peace of mind. Though with my last board I didn't bother & ripped through just fine. The key is 40+ tooth carbide tip skill saw blade. I think I've been using a 44 tooth. Just go slow. And remember measure thrice, drink a beer, measure thrice again, cut it once....

^cool thanks for the tips...

Hi. I'm doing my first DIY with a friend once our kits arrive in the mail (in NZ), so sorry if these are questions with obvious answers.

I was wondering if it's standard to seal the inside of the drills before putting in T-nuts, or sealing somehow the top of the drill to keep moisture from getting in that way.

Also, do you seal the smaller drill holes for the chinese hooks? The video states and shows him epoxying the base of the T-nuts only, then doesn't show the whole base so it skipped that bit.




-do you know what size wood screws work best? I'd like to do this, but am pretty sure the kit isn't going to have any screws.

And finally (hopefully) if I ended up wanting to try and swap the chinese hooks to k-clips, is that possible with the hardware for the chinese hooks? in all the pics of the K-clips I've ever seen, there's a single screw/bolt without a nut on it. D you just glue it in to stay on? or would the nut from the Voile kit fit on tightly?

thanks for the help, much appreciated

http://www.voile-usa.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=301-9-S&Category_Code=PCB&Product_Count=5
I would highly reccomend using the Voile tele binding mounting screws, the threads are much deeper than common wood screws with a smaller central shaft to get a superior bite on the wood fibers of the core.
they may need the tip to be ground shorter so the sharp point doesn't penetrate the base. a local ski shop may have these on hand. use a drill bit the size of the center shaft and tap the pilot hole with the screw you will be using and blow any debri out of the tapped hole before epoxying the screw to seal the core and lock it in place.

T-nutting your climbing wires is a good idea if you think you'll be using crampons in locked mode for more than a few steps.

I popped both of my climbing wires and lifted the topsheet on both skis during the same tour due to having crampons in locked mode forcing the screws upward.

This was on my second d.i.y board, Burton Canyon, but I dried it out, glued and re-pressed the topsheets and t-nutted the climbing wires for extra ziggitty bomberness, this board still in action, not used for every tour but one of my best most loved stick(s).

Being in NZ you might want to think through this option, it's fun fixing broken things though so easy enough to try screws first.

Glad I entered this thread, i'll be using White Pine's Forstner bit next time.

Do you drink Black Sheep Ale bOardski? I am in lust with that beer.

I hadn't thought of that, it's a good point. I do have the crampons, because it is for NZ. But I wasn't planning on using them too much in fixed mode. I was going to try and minimize t-nuts (got blank pucks to use the factory inserts so I can only drill 1 t-nut per puck piece) but I might go for 1 t-nut then, on the side that would take more stress from crampons in fixed (inside closer to the heel touring bracket, right?)

cheers

Yeah that's it, surely just one t-nut on the inside closer to the touring bracket will be enough to stop the leverage stress.

I know how you feel about trying to minimize the swiss cheese factor of all those holes on your bass but the very slight loss of performance (not even noticable when the snow is good) is worth it for keeping it all together.

The only time I notice it is in spring if i'm riding with someone who has a factory split with a well maintained smooth waxy bass but it's not a huge difference.