Mold going together

[dcphotos]

Here are the mold pieces for my first attempt at board building:


I'm doing the tail section vertically and the rest horizontal. The next step is to figure the angle of the tail, I want it much less steep than some modern boards but enough. The concave is going to be deep, and I am thinking the nose will be simular to the Skaterbuilt Ground Hog, which is a beautiful deck.

I don't know if I'll finish tonight at this point, I'm a few beers into it.

[ryan]

I'd be a little reluctant to go horizontal with the foam.
When I made my mold horizontal, the mold bent and not the deck.

[bpz]

Keep us updated! Foam molds are the one thing I'm still hestitant about in building, besides composites and stuff like that.

[shapeshifter]

Here are the mold pieces for my first attempt at board building...

are you intending to mount it on a platform of any sort? even when using solid slabs of foam i find it necessary to attach some mdf to make sure one surface is true. otherwise bringing a vacuum down on something as flexible as foam while attempting to press several sheets of veneer or plywood to one side of it is a recipe for twist or worse scenarios of deformation.

[dcphotos]

I am planning to glue it down to a piece of 1/4" plywod or masonite.

Here is the mold glued together, but not sanded, sealed or attached to the base.

It's NCAA tourny time and I have to go shoot basketball games this afternoon, it will probably be tomorrow morning before I have time to do more. Thanks for the tips, I'll have more images up tomorrow if I have time.

[bpz]

So that's just a concave mold with a kicktail? How'd you shape that?

[dcphotos]

It's going to be a ramp board rather than a longboard. No kick up front though, more like an 80s-style deck.

[dcphotos]

The finished mold:

I am going to press a few layers at a time. Here is the a shot of the press with the first 3 layers in it:

It seems as though a lot of glue bled out and is in between the bag and board, I hope it isn't going to ef up the breater netting. If it does, can this stuff be bought easily?

Here's one thing I learned that might be a good tip for anyone. Before glueing everything up cut the corners off of the nose end of the veneers. That way it will slide into the netting much, much easier. For the photographers in the group it's sort of like niking off the corners of a strip of film before you place it in a file-page.

[dcphotos]

You can't see it in the pic, but the finished mold is glued down to a piece of 3/8" ply to keep it from bending/flexing in the bag.

[bpz]

I think I can see the plywood in the picture of you holding the mold up. Looks nice, you can really see the board take shape when it's in the bag. How wide are the plys that you're pressing? Are they 1/8" baltic birch? Be sure to post more pictures once you take the board out of the press.

[dcphotos]

It's Canadian Maple I bought from Roarockit. They are just a rch over 10", which means my board will wind up being more like 9.5 after I cut it out. The next time I will cut the sheets wider so I can get the width I want.

[CrisVA]

It's Canadian Maple I bought from Roarockit. They are just a rch over 10", which means my board will wind up being more like 9.5 after I cut it out. The next time I will cut the sheets wider so I can get the width I want.

Sounds like a fun board. It also seems like you really have your **** together on this build.

What kind of setup is going on it?

[dcphotos]

Indy 215s, shock pads and thin risers. Wheels I'm not sure about yet, still thinking but probably the Blind wheels I am running now, maybe some NoSchooz.

[dcphotos]

Pulled it out of the press this morning and had a couple problems. There was a bubble on top where a piece had popped up. I sanded it flat, it's about 4" long:

I then added 2 more layers to it and put it back in the press:

This time I think I will leave it in there for 48 hours. More posting to come, all tips are appreciated.

[Ted]

The usual cause of this is a buildup of glue in the middle of the deck by putting to much glue in one area. Make sure you roller an EVEN coat and this should not happen.

The glue swells the wood because of the water in it. If the glue dries first on the edges, there is no where for the wood to go but up.

Ted

[dcphotos]

Thanks Ted. I didn't use a roller, instead I sort of trowelled it on there with a small piece of veneer I had cut off. I used Titebond 3 glue.

I think I might order a smaller TAP bag next month sometime. I have some ideas for these things other than skateboards, I like to create a lot of things with wood.

[dcphotos]

I have been off due to work but got the final two layers pressed on last night. Tomorrow night they come out of hte bag and I'll cut my shape. More pics to come.

[Li skaterdude]

It's Canadian Maple I bought from Roarockit. They are just a rch over 10", which means my board will wind up being more like 9.5 after I cut it out. The next time I will cut the sheets wider so I can get the width I want.

How did you cut down the veneer from 13 inches to 10?? When i tried to cut it down the wood splintered bad so i ended up trying to put the 13 inch wide veneer into the 14 inch wide bag with a 2 inch thick mold(you do the math) and ended up with 2 holes in the bag and 7 plies of delaminated, unsalvageable wood i tried to cut the veneer with a jig saw so maybe i should have used a table saw but i dont have one. i could easily pick one up from home depot for free by using a little trick i picked up but i find it harder and harder to explain how all these new power tools keep mysteriously appearing in the garage to my parents(i tell them that i borowed them from a friend). but anyway now i have to patch the bag and figure out how to cut the venee down without ruining them, or else i'll have 13 more veneers of beautiful maple that i cant press

[Ted]

A sharp utility knife with breakaway blades is all we use and it works great. Find a long strait edge to run the blade along. You will not cut maple veneer in 1 pass. You will need 3 to 4 passes with the knife.

Ted

[dcphotos]

I cut some with an utility knife but due to my lack of patience I found a dremel tool with a cutting bit works better. I was not too concerned about it looking clean as I'm going to cut a deck out of it anyhow. The roarockit bag works great though, I have not had any trouble with leaks or tape sealing or anything like that.
I have had some trouble with the breather mesh though. It got stuck in between a couple layers and tore when I was removing it. I need to get another piece before the next board.