The DIY Split "What would you have done different" Thread

[Berts]

Hopefully this takes off as it would be nice to get everyone’s tips, tricks and what they do different from the standard Voile instructions.

#1, Before you take a blade to your board call around for waterjet cutting services. I found a company locally that is willing to cut my board for $20. It’s a no brainer to have them cut my next one.

#2, Buy high quality tools. The carbide blade I bought was cheap and my cut suffered big time becaues of it. I also had to deal with the burton 3d inserts so that was a big part if it.

#3, Use a forstner bit versus a wood paddle bit.

#4, I mounted my binding plates per the sticker Voile gave me. When I mount my Spark Burner bindings to them my bindings are not centered like I want. They could be moved forward a good 1/4″. On my next board I will move that sticker up a 1/4″. Before you mount those plates only triple check your stance is correct and also triple check your binding will actually be centered on the board.

What can we all learn from your DIY experience?

[Zude]

I will not be returning to the local water-jet guy any time soon. He deduced after cutting several boards that his tip was bent. (tip of the water-jet that is :wink:) This caused a slight angle in the cut and made for a little swerve as he raised the waterjet to clear the tip and tail. He had never cut a snowboard before (but i thought it was a no brainer). Next time i’m going back to the table saw and jig, no one to blame but my self on either account

I agree with points 2-4 totally, add a good counter sinking bit to the list. I have learned to drill small pilot holes for the Forstner as well. I use paper templates from Firstlight.com (not sure of the url?), so i can add t-nuts if needed and use the universal pucks, the diy pucks are a good option as well.

[chrisNZ]

Skill saw and 1 pass no stopping, measure 4 times cut once. Make block guides to add to the the strait edge at the tip and tail. Quiver killer inserts for touring and heel raisers.

[Jerms]

I’d take more time on my stance, and take more time with the p-tex discs.

[g_torphins]

Some good points!!

Making sure pucks are centered properly I think is the main one for me too. It’s was pure luck that I actually stopped to check before drilling!

I’ll always use either a jigsaw or even a hand saw over a circular saw. Unless I could get a much thinner blade.
Found that the Prior I used a circular saw on didn’t butt together anywhere near as well as the ones I’d used a jigsaw with or a wood hand saw. Also the amount of board you loose is nuts 🙁

George

[Dan9]

countersink the holes deeper for the t-nuts – my holes were too shallow and after pounding in the t-nuts, the ‘well’ was too shallow to allow a proper p-tex weld (let alone put in discs of p-tex material)

I used marine epoxy over the holes and it has slowly cracked and come off onto my skins season after season.

I think I’ll re-epoxy as a p-tex layer looks like it would just be too thin. ?

[Berts]

@Dan9 wrote:

countersink the holes deeper for the t-nuts – my holes were too shallow and after pounding in the t-nuts, the ‘well’ was too shallow to allow a proper p-tex weld (let alone put in discs of p-tex material)

I used marine epoxy over the holes and it has slowly cracked and come off onto my skins season after season.

I think I’ll re-epoxy as a p-tex layer looks like it would just be too thin. ?

I did this also as I wanted to drill just enough to keep as much stiffness in the board as possible. Makes me wonder what the perfect depth really is.

I got a Skunk Ape 172 for my next project, can’t wait to split this and get some runs on her.

[SwitchBack]

I would make a test cut with my saw first. I borrowed a saw from work and I was unfamiliar with it. My cut was slightly off center due to using the wrong side of the sight sight or whatever its called to align the cut. Stupid mistake on my part but it didnt really affect the boards performance other than looking unprofessional due to a gap on the nose end.

Also I would use a better board to cut. I used a board that had been assigned to rock duty due to core damage from…. a rock. I really liked the board in powder so I cut it anyway. Now about 25-30 tours in, Im having delam issues as well as cracked core. I think using it in ski mode was to much stress for the weakened core to handle. O well, lesson learned. And now I have a new billy goat on the way. 😀

Great thread idea BTW.

[firemedic13]

I’ve done it all wrong once or twice! My list of lessons learned (due to making the mistake on one or two or three boards):

-use a table saw (at a minimum, water jet works, but a table saw w/ a good carbide blade will work) dont even consider, jig saws, band saws or skill saws!

-center touring brackets on skis (it still works, but looks funny)

-Make sure touring brackets are facing the right direction (still works, if the heel climbers are also the wrong direction, but you will be reminded that you are skinning backwards, everytime you look down at the tail in front of you)

-insert binding bolts into T-bolts when waiting for epoxy to cure (it wont stick, I promise)

Lay it all out, before you mark it to cut and drill! Then ask someone to look it over, if they know nothing about split boarding, thats fine! Explain it and you will probably catch any layout mistakes you may be about to make

[Zude]

Custom pucks, paint the inside edge with three coats boat epoxy, two coats epoxy/graphite. Inserts for touring bracket and heel lifter, four t-nuts total. Bong rips after rather than before :guinness:

[ieism]

This may not apply everywhere, but i’m having a real hard time finding a shop that can do a proper stonegrind on my splitboard. All shops seem scared of damaging their machine because of the hooks and metal parts. They will use a belt, but not a stone to grind it.

So my recommendation is to get the board a proper stonegrind before you start. A lot of boards that are brandnew don’t even have decent structured base, including my Libtechs. A stonegrind makes a huge difference, the base will be much faster and will hold wax for much longer too.

http://flatlandsplitfest.com/

[firstlight]

Some advice guys
Give the board to the tuning shops with no hardware mounted on it.
Don’t put the nose / tail clips on until the base has been ground.
You still drill all the holes, mount all the hardware less the nose / tail clips, mount the board hooks to make everything work.
Fill the base with your choice of product and deck of as much of it as you can without scoring the base to badly.
Then remove all the hardware, send off for the stone grind.
Get the board back, install the hardware then install the nose/tail clips and job done.
A little more effort but it is worth it.

One last point. when you send the board to get the base done try and find some std binding discs to screw on the board to bring the two halves together to make it look like a solid board. these should be as low profile as possible and most shops have a jig they put over ski bindings to stop a “wavy base” profile from when the pre-tensioner pushes down on the top sheet. if you leave the hardware on he will probably take it off anyway. You should do this not the ski tech.
This then eliminates the guy in the shop taking too much base off one “ski”, making sure the board thickness is the same both sides.

Hope this is clear, let me know if you need more info
Thanks

Adam West

www.firstlightsurfboards.com.au
www.firstlightsnowboards.com.au
www.splitfest.com.au
www.snowsafety.com.au
www.mrbc.com.au
www.backcountryglobal.com
www.alpinefirstaid.com.au

[Zude]

At the shop that i drop into the roller on the stone grinder articulates up and back away from the stone/belt and i am able to hand grind the split as separate skis. I hold onto the pucks as i slide it over the stone thus avoiding the tip rivets and maintaining control. A nice sharp metal scraper goes a long way to achieving a smooth base after dripping in p-tex. I leave all the hard-ware on once installed. The belt provides a good grind on the base as well. I’ve noticed some of the shop dudes can be snobs about splits, but most guys in my town are figuring out the split-tune

My speed is almost never compromised by my boards tune 😉 (just my fear)

[Reindeer mtn]

It seems like a lot of people have the same mistakes but instead of quoting I will go through them again.
1. Cutting the Burton 3D inserts with an old blade. The blade got skewed that made a nasty cut.
2. Not drilling down the 3D inserts and hand cutting them made the base become to warm so that it is bulging under the screws good guide can be found herehttp://wildschnee.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=132&Itemid=270
3. The voile pucks are glitching, see earlier in the thread.
4. Not mixing the coating so the first layer there was only wood visible, when mixed it became grey.

Now here is my list of what I was happy with:
1. Splitting, duh
2. Got the dual raisers (2012 kit from Voile.com not any other store that tries to get rid of inventory)
3. Mounting Karakoram clips
4. Using Duramix (can’t remember brand) plastic kit instead of Epoxy or P-tex.

All in all the board rides like it used to but aesthetically it looks a little frankenstein and with all the problems with the cut the base is slower.

[SplitterX]

I make these inserts using a George Forman grill and a molded press using colored Ptex in my garage. They work great and dont pull out. It’s cool to try to match the color of the base and looks much better than epoxy. Its hard to explain the process right now, but i wanted to share my DIY method

Skunk ape fin bottom by travis young 424, on Flickr

Inserts by travis young 424, on Flickr

the trick is to get the inserts themselves red hot and then dip it in the hot Ptex and then press into the mold. That way it bonds well together. I think i have seen someone in europe selling these- same basic idea (Tognar?), but only offered them in White or black.

Fast and smooth

[Chewbacca]

after reading a bit here about loose nose and tail clips, I drilled the holes about 1 – 2 mm further apart than the template shows, never had a problem with the hooks. They are a bit tight but all managable even with gloves on.

[Berts]

I made my second split last night. This is one thing I did different than before and seemed to work better and less chance for error.

The instructions state “drill a 1/8” pilot hole (front hole first), finish with 19/64” bit, follow with a 3/4” wood bit on the bottom of the board to counter sink the T-nuts”

I drilled the 1/8″ pilot hole, than used the forstner bit and last I drilled the 19/64″. I think it’s easier to get your 19/64″ hole centered.

Anyone have a good trick for trimming and removing the overflow of epoxy from the bottom of the board? On my last split I used a razor to chip away followed by a hand grinder with sand paper. It seems to work okay but was hoping there is a better way to get a smooth finish and flush to the Ptex.

[burton]

easy, bay a snoli insert driller and some snoli inserts, they are coulured mix, and black
6 ore 9 mm high.

bURTON

[Jackschranz]

Best way I have split a board is with a Festool circular saw on their guide rail system. It’s expensive kit so you will need to know a carpenter or joiner who has one. Once you cramp the guide rail to the board, you get a perfectly straight cut. It’s works on a plunge action and can adjust in millimetre increments.

[rughty]

@Berts wrote:

Anyone have a good trick for trimming and removing the overflow of epoxy from the bottom of the board? On my last split I used a razor to chip away followed by a hand grinder with sand paper. It seems to work okay but was hoping there is a better way to get a smooth finish and flush to the Ptex.

First i put a thin coat of cold wax on the board and didn’t scrape it. I used a flapper sanding disc on an angle grinder being very careful as these take off material quick. A dremel with a sanding disc might also work. A dynafile would probably be the best tool for precision sanding.