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question about flex

2K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  hondarider17 
#1 ·
i wonder if you get your snowboard set each tip down on a chair placed a 60 pound weight in the center of it for awhile and let it flex the curvature or the flex of the board will change. :confused:
 
#3 ·
Ever heard of infinite ride? Same concept you're thinking of just done with a very fancy machine. All boards gain flex over time and riding them. Take a new board that doesn't have pretensioned fiber glass in it and flex it the first day in the shop you'll hear all the fiberglass cracking along with the epoxy. That right there is the start of it breaking in.
 
#7 ·
heres a link to people putting rocker in their skis. SKIING RULZ

snowboards are all glass and wood, so heat is a must to keep any bend in the board. When epoxy is heated above the temperature it was cured at (150-180F in normal production) the epoxy will soften up. At this time it can be reshaped and then allowed to cure again. I am going to try with an older board first here when i find some time. I plan to uses boiling water as it is 212f and i would not have to worry about overheating the surface with a hair dryer or a heat gun. Just need to make my bending jig small enough to fit in the tub.
 
#11 ·
Update! After I left around 90lbs on the center of the board for about 6 hours I noticed that the flex got little softer. Afterwards I got an iron put a cloth around it and ran it across the base of the board for a little bit with the weights still on it. Left the weights on there for about 5 minutes and took them off. And it has a little rocker now but it did dry the shit out of the base. So yes it does work.
 
#12 ·
could try a wet cloth with the iron, one post in the teton thread someone use that method and seemed to work. Got some spare time today might give some nose rocker a shot.

Note: From my understanding of epoxies (one year of research work), the outcome of this process depends mostly on the temperature that was used while in the press when first making the board. Epoxy is a plastic and with most plastics it will become softer when heated. When the epoxy is risen above the temperature it was first cured at (150f-180f with snowboards) it is able to make new cross-links (molecular bonding holding the epoxy together). When all has cooled these new cross-links will hold the new shape. If the epoxy gets too hot (above 400f) it will start to burn and break down, this will destroy your board. So reaching a temperature between those two is key. Using boiling water or a wet cloth and iron will keep temps lower and more consistent then direct heat from a heat gun.
 
#15 ·
i didnt use the clamps but i got 90 lbs of weight put it on the center of the board with each of it's tips on a chair and ran an iron across the base for about 5 minutes until it got pretty hot. I then pressed on the center of the board with my own weight for about 30 seconds and left the weights on the board. I suggest you should give it more time for it to permanently stick.
 
#16 ·
Bah we used to make rockered skis and decks as a joke years ago. Flip the board over, put something that lifts the deck up from the center, tie down both ends, then heat it up. How you want to heat it is up to you. I found that leaving a torpedo heater on the deck did wonders, but we've used heat guns, irons, whatever. We also used to cut slits into the base width wise so it takes out material then when its heated it melts back together.
 
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