20080401 @ 1037 News, Progress Reporting, POINT Post #4 40" Speed/Slide/Cruise

40" Speed/Slide/Cruise POINT Post #4 - Bottom Deck Finishing.

At this point, the deck is about half completed. It's time to start buttoning up the form.

The core is smoothed and the edges radiused. When this step is finished, the deck core is ready for the final bottom layer of biax glass. This finish layer is tinted with white to provide a clean base for the graphics. The surface layer will lock the rails and firm up the form prior to machining the GiVA tracks.

The surface layer of biax is wetted then placed upon the core. Peel ply is layed down then another layer of biax is placed over that to wick extra resin off of the layup. The biax wick layer of glass will be used on the topside so care is taken to align both biax layers prior to pressing. When finished, a smooth, white, mostly void-free layer of biax wrapped over the edges remains. The wick sheet, shown to the right of the form, is set aside for later use.

The bottom of the deck provides a high degree of the strength in the rocker form. This 40" board will be approximately 7/16" thick when finished. The thickness is a deliberate decision that minimizes material selection while compromising on thicnkess for board choices - a little thick for shorter boards, a little thin for longer boards. In addition to variable wheel base geometry, the 40" Speed/Slide/Cruise must have plenty of flex. The linear strength elements within the board are capped with doubled up layers of biax put down in a way to minimize torsion while allowing the board to flex over the length. When you hold the board up to the light, the little trollop shows off all of the build elements clearly. Note that the biax grain is not a true orientation on the 45's. The biax is pulled over the length of the form to more closely align the fibers with the length of the deck. This will increase the linear stiffness while keeping the torsional elements intact.

This is a test board so the green layout leader threads have not been taken out of the surface layers.

20080401 @ 0943 News, Progress Reporting, POINT Post #3 40" Speed/Slide/Cruise

40" Speed/Slide/Cruise POINT Post #3 - Rail Production and Assembly

StringRail Construction isn't new. The name? Yes but the notion of stringers and rails used individually or together has been around for a while. This approach was adopted and developed as the primary building method for several reasons:
- Increased strength and ruggedness at the primary stress and wear points
- Modular assembly
- Isolates core options from exterior conditions within fixed designs

Over the past 18 months, basic board designs have been refined to what many consider a traditional shapes.

However, the rail profile on the left has been refined through many iterations to cover a broad design range. This shape yeilds up bowl, slalom, pin and cut-away speed boards. The material is molded then trimmed away and finished to the desired thickness as needed. The end result is a vertically laminated rail that adds spring and increases linear board strength.

This particular rail stock is made with 3 surface layers of 1/16" recovered/spliced maple stock, a layer of biax glass, a layer of 1/8" CoreCell, a layer of 1/16" recovered/spliced maple, a layer of biax glass, a layer of 3/16" CoreCell and a final inner layer of 1/16" recovered/spliced maple. The rails are dry fit to the shaped core.

Once fitted, a layer of biax glass is put down over the core, wetted, the rails fitted, the work covered over, bound in place to the mold using plastic self-stick packing tape then inserted into the mold where it is pressed and allowed to cure. This process produces an inner rail core wrap of glass which adds another vertical glass beam while improving the bond between the rail and the core.

After curing, the blank is removed from the press and cleaned up prior to sealing the deck bottom with a final layer of biax.

20080327 @ 1403 Create, Board Assembly, POINT Post #2 40" Speed/Slide/Cruise

40" Speed/Slide/Cruise POINT Post #2 - Toe, tail and internal blocks

The toe/tail block stock is vertically laminated and pressed from 1/16" recovered maple veneer scrap to form bulk sections within a seperate concave mold. Once cured, the stock is shaped into individual parts then set aside for use during assembly. GiVA track termination blocks are shaped from stringer remainders.

The Marva Beam Core is shaped and fit for the toe/tail blocks sections. The internal track is routed for the GiVA track termination blocks. Once the parts are dry fit, the Marva Beam Core is wetted, the parts fitted and the assembly pressed.

Two pressings occur per day with assembly operations leap-frogging each other to allow for post cure between follow up operations. Currently, ten 40" boards are under construction with the critical path being the need to rotate each of the assemblies through a single mold.

Next up, the rails.

20080327 @ 1125 Create, Board Assembly, POINT Post #1 40" Speed/Slide/Cruise

40" Speed/Slide/Cruise POINT Post #1 - Marva Beam Core Assembly

The GiVA track system is not meant to be used on every board - a sweet spot for use is the 40" speed/slide/cruise board where the smooth form and mid length make the adjustability result in one of the better applications. The complete details for this board from start to finish will be outlined in a series of POINT posts starting with this one. Each post will focus on assembly steps of the boards with sub-assembly information detailed along the way.

The boards are built using scrap maple veneer, 12 oz. biaxial glass, CoreCell foam and West System epoxy with fast hardener. The Marva Board Core which results from the first assembly procedure using the components shown above starts with composite stringers pressed of stressed biax and maple 7/16" thick ripped to 5/8" widths after cure. The stringers are pressed over the back of the flat rocker mold (concave insert removed) then ripped to width. The 3/8" CoreCell foam for the 40" board is cut to 7/8" width on the matte cutter. Biax glass oriented on the 45's is stressed to pull the fiber to within 20 - 30 degrees over the length of the materials.

The materials are assembled over the concave insert. The two stringers spaced by a section of CoreCell cut to a width of ~ 0.400" are placed down first. The glass is laid over this section and fully wetted. The sections of CoreCell are woven under/over, under/over - Note the green layout leader thread alternating over/under the sections.

The core is pressed from the sides, bound using a shrink tape over the concave insert then inserted into the press.

The alternating glass woven through the sections form vertical glass beams maintained by the top and bottom side glass reinforced CoreCell.

20080327 @ 1101 News, Progress Reporting, POINT

POINT - Pics Or It's Not True

Early adopters who took a chance and put money my way back in January have to be scratching themselves and wondering if they've been ChiSpiegled.

Well scratch no more.

Work, work, work, design, development, production, testing, revision and release has resulted in brand new boards built with the latest design evolutions. It's now time to bring the site current.

The next few posts will detail the process from start to finish. This is being done to tweek the investors but more importantly, to clean up and freeze the documentation.

There is more stuff that has resulted from this project that we'll discuss later but in short, the work you folks went in on and agreed to help develop may be licensed for expanded manufacturing. There is no secret magic here, everything I've developed and published on this site is open source for use by all. There are stipulations so if you're interested in fair use, drop an email to thedriedskink *at* yahoo *dot* com and include "Fair use conditions" in the subject line.
Now on to the details.

20080306 @ 0829 News, Progress Reporting, Sloggress

About Sloggress!

By the way, Sloggress = Slogging death march + progress

Down to assembly as far as orders go.

Got plenty 'O parts/pieces waiting to be put together to finish out some early adopter orders.

This week will see the last mold for this years line completed - the solid rail press.

From a standing start a several weeks ago, the tally looks like this:

- Five new molds and/or inserts.
- A new vacuum production press with an additional variable 3D press table to be completed in ~ six weeks.
- Three new mold skins for production pressing
- The GiVA track. The unified design for an integrated track makes adjustable seats, bindings, trucks, fins and other assorted fittings possible for skate, skim, paddle, surf and kite boards.
- Completion of the GiVA track Two Bolt Main design to riding status in a skate configuration.
- Wiffage graphics. No Wiffage graphics, no traveling road show.
- Completion of 2008 designs for 32", 34", 36", 40" and 44" skate decks - start of production, deliveries to begin next week.

Regardless the periodic set-backs from life outside of board related matters, tings are otay and getting better.

Hey, what's that whistling sound and that light at the end of the tunnel?

20080306 @ 0607 Create, Board Assembly, D'OH!

Sloggress!

So about the first couple of StringRail Two Bolt Main boards....

The first board has been buttoned up and opened up again. Good looking work. Was anyway - should be again.

After butchering a front slot during a finishing operation, filling and glassing said slot, revising the tooling for the router bit that cuts the relief for the slot bolt so that slot (slotty slot slot) butchery is avoided in the future, applying the last of the graphics atop the deck (yes, the deck top has graphics - or is more appropriate to say, had), and sealing down the top skin, ugh.

Do you know how hard it is to maintain open nothingness in a vacuum? I mean how hard it is do without sacrificial methods and nasty materials? Aint easy.

The bag was unsealed and the triumphant effort emerged to appropriate kudo's - that is until the tracks were inspected. The tracks had been packed with release wax prior to the wet out. The plan was to warm the track with a heat gun after the cure which would allow the release wax to be poured off into a recovery container for reuse while leaving the internal track waxed and smooth for the bolt to slide within.

Weeeeeeeellllll, not so much. From what can be figured, the wax underwent a migration out of the track under the low pressure within the vac bag allowing an epoxy/wax slurry to form in the track. Worse still, the release suffused around the track between the core and the deck skin. When warmed, free wax poured off as planned leaving this gunk in the track. After working the gunk out, the bolts slid up and down the track in a lumpy fashion. Not great but workable.

But the real problem was the separation of the core from the skin. So, that has been peeled off, the graphic sanded away and the mess gets reassembled today.

20080228 @ 1122 About, Site, Initial Linkage

Yup, links are starting to appear.

News will now host current posts. These will be rolled up and archived periodically. Home will be the latest post and/or announcement that fit in a short, uncluttered spot.

The PHP/XML shtuff is getting worked out so all of the existing content under the covers is now being brought together - no small task. A bunch of stuff has been parked here for a while and cleaning it up with everything else going on is just taking extra cycles. The other links will go live as that effort progresses.

Night.

20080228 @ 1045 Create, Board Components, Variable Rocker Mold

What's in the bag?

The past few weeks have been spent testing this years options using last years parts.
Now the real fun begins.
This ugly pic shows a new mold/vacuum press combination being bootstrapped in an older shop bag. The new mold features a more aggressive variable rocker that starts with last years flatter rocker and goes on past the 2004/2005 rocker within 50". This will allow anything between shallow or deep belly short boards to lowered front/rear footing speed boards.
Currently the mold is being used to form stringers for a new series of 40" Two Bolt Main fat pins.

The variable rocker trends towards a deeper curve that flattens towards an end. Boards of 36" may have as much as 1 3/8" rocker over the length while a 44" speed board will top out at just over 1 1/2" of drop.

To give you an idea of how that works out, note last years reference rocker insert over the newer mold form curves. That gap is the result of the deeper arc blended with last years arc. Smaller bowl boards and Slalom decks will now have a more pronounced tail or nose.

20080228 @ 1045 Create, Board Components, Variable Rocker Mold

The GiVA Track

This is a simple detail image of the track system used on the TS/Hybrid board.
The board shown below will feature tracks in front and back thanks to a conversation with a friend the other day.
By setting up the track this way, the slide truck mount hardware is trapped within the deck with the access point always sitting underneath the truck mounting plate. A simple elegant mod, the track area is more than 1" shorter than the prior approach and now might be the most integrated and reinforced point of the deck. The internal stringers themselves reinforce and are in turn reinforced by the truck mount plate.
Adjustments to the truck mount plate can now be used to increase wheelbase options on larger boards now in production by half again as much - pretty satisfying when things like this come together.

It only seemed right to name the track design after him.

20080220 @ 1124 Create, Assembly, Two Bolt Main TS/Hybrid

It's a wrap

It's going to the press now.
The artwork, skins, plates and hardware are complete and everything appears ready for the final assembly.. The plates fit both standard and Randy bases.
This board comes in at 9" X 33 1/2" and features an adjustment range from 17 1/2" - 22". The final dimensions for the production will be trimmed down to a bit under 33" in overall length.
From a dead start to final assembly for a new product and tooling - three weeks.
For the early adopters that funded the setup which will incorporate everything going into this line, the parts are waiting in the wings and will start to make appearances next week.
Thank you.
In addition to the above mentioned early adopter boards, a full offering is now underway
For those with current orders, if you'd like a more current report, please contact me directly. Otherwise, please keep checking back on the site. If you do not want me to post your work, please let me know.

Once again, thank you very much. This would not be happening without you.

20080217 @ 1845 Create, Board Components, Skins - Glass

Skinz!.

Yesterday the wraps came off the core so today it's the skins turn. The top and bottom of the core are contained by skins of pressed 12 oz. biax glass. Sneaked into the wife's studio after yoga and snapped these pics. She is working off a light table to put the artwork between the core and the deck.

20080216 @ 0958 Create, Board Components, Cores - TS/Hybrid TwoBoltMain

Doesn't look much like two plus years of R&D does it?

The first production Two Bolt Main StringRail foamie TS/Hybrid deck core less skins.

A little more detail of the internal track. Once the deck skins are installed, there'll be no exposed mounting hardware, holes, gaps, whatever in the back of the board. On the other hand, holes may be added through the skin for the addition of the wedge kick plate.
The front holes demonstrate the through-bolt mounting option.
Time to go - wife cracking chore whip.

More details on the other projects connected to this later.
Adios