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Introducing the Hoff - a transparent acrylic board

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jaros
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Re: Introducing the Hoff - a transparent acrylic board

Postby jaros » Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:03 pm

Are you using normal acrilic glass or polycarbonate like Lexan or similar?
There is a big differnece in "prone to cracking" between acrilic and Lexan. If you are not using Lexan jet, you should try it. It is a bit more expensive though...
Nice project btw! I like it.
Greetings,
Jaros

sijandy
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Re: Introducing the Hoff - a transparent acrylic board

Postby sijandy » Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:38 pm

rynhardt wrote:I have literally spent nights lying awake thinking how best to attach the bindings.
In the end I decided to simply drill a hole through the polycarb and put a bolt through.
I thought that may be the case, nicely done though.
rynhardt wrote: Wiping out with bindings can put a tremendous amount of force through the board. Something like a faceplant at 20mph is enough to bruise my ankles (and face :o ) and rip the laminate loose from the base sheet.
Ha, tell me about it... done exactly that last week after fucking up a loop and pulled the insert out on one side. Interestingly, rather than pulling out the whole insert it broke leaving the base of the insert in the board which I've never seen before. I make my own boards too by the way.

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Re: Introducing the Hoff - a transparent acrylic board

Postby SupaEZ » Thu Mar 26, 2015 4:19 pm

rynhardt wrote: In the end I decided to simply drill a hole through the polycarb and put a bolt through.

the board cracked at the bolt hole the very next session.

From what I know about polycarb and acrylic's properties, they are both considered notch-sensitive materials.
Starburst cracking with polycarb and lexan will happen when using Loctite blue or red on screws
It is a chemical reaction
A no-no in the optical business when securing drill mount type poly eyewear..lenses split at holes
Is it what you did ?
If so use change to nylon threads stainless steel locknuts

Keep up the great work

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rynhardt
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Re: Introducing the Hoff - a transparent acrylic board

Postby rynhardt » Fri Mar 27, 2015 7:40 pm

@jaros: I'm using a brand of polycarbonate called Palram that's available locally. Lexan is another brand of polycarbonate.

@SupaEZ: I'm using a nylock nut on the bolt instead of loctite. My previous board failure was due to placing too much stress on a recessed hole in the acrylic. I believe the recessing caused the notching which allowed the crack to propagate. I'm hoping the bolt head I'm using now will place the stress on the outside surface of the sheet, and not on the sides of the hole. Time will tell.

Anyway, I mounted some 5"x0.7" fins on the board (with VHB tape :D ) and went for a session at the cable park again. The board feels a lot more locked in, as I'd hoped.

With every session I'm pushing a bit harder and so far I'm enjoying the board more each time.
The rail edge is currently a fairly sharp 90 deg, and quite unforgiving. I had two face plants today when I caught the edge on a transition.
I'm going to sand down the edge to be a bit rounder in the middle of the board.

The nice thing is I can pretty much sand any edge profile I want as it is a solid piece of material.

Here's a somewhat boring video of the new board in action.

https://vimeo.com/123418445
Attachments
fins.JPG

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rynhardt
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Re: Introducing the Hoff - a transparent acrylic board

Postby rynhardt » Fri Mar 27, 2015 7:54 pm

@sijandy: I've never heard of an insert breaking :o . Would love to see a photo of the damage..

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rynhardt
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Re: Introducing the Hoff - a transparent acrylic board

Postby rynhardt » Wed Dec 16, 2015 10:22 pm

I'm still making these boards and have gotten the assembly part down to about 2 hours now. Here's a little video:


KerryBara
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Re: Introducing the Hoff - a transparent acrylic board

Postby KerryBara » Fri Dec 18, 2015 9:35 pm

Looking good dude!!!

Just in time for the holidays.

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zob
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Re: Introducing the Hoff - a transparent acrylic board

Postby zob » Sat Dec 19, 2015 10:30 am

Hi!

I see you stil have some room for improvement like:

1. Make a template for tape positioning from the edge- the width of the acrylic blank should always be exactly the same (small improvement)

2. Make a template of the outline with holes for straps and fins. Clamp it to the bottom of the board and use hand router with template guide. First use smaller diameter for rough cut (because it can vibrate occasionally and leave marks), than finish with bigger diameter. You will cut it in minutes and have to do little to no sanding.
Use holes on the template to drill, or at least mark with the drill, your strap and fin holes. I guess you keep the position the same on all the boards, so there is no reason to loose time with hand marking it every time.

How does it feel through the chop compared to a normal TT? Is the ride any rougher? Do you get some strange warping along the length, since you have these "I-beams" and a bit less strong middle?

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rynhardt
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Re: Introducing the Hoff - a transparent acrylic board

Postby rynhardt » Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:46 pm

@zob: thanks for the tips! I haven't looked into routing the polycarbonate yet - I suspect I may need to find plastic-specific bits? But if I can get a good clean finish from it, it will be well worthwhile.

The board feels different from my other TT's, but neither better not worse. If anything it rides a bit softer.
And yes, there is some noticeable torsional flex along the length. I initially thought this would be an issue but while riding I don't notice it. It makes me wonder about all the marketing hype around torsional flex and why this is considered a bad thing..

There are some interesting things that happen because of the lack of support across the width. Once again I haven't found these things to be negatives, just different.

For example, when edging the board forms a natural concave. And I suspect that when landing it forms a natural convex.

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rynhardt
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Re: Introducing the Hoff - a transparent acrylic board

Postby rynhardt » Thu Dec 24, 2015 8:03 am

Some pics of the latest board with the new Van Hunks foot pads & straps. Really love the high visibility of these.
Attachments
DSC_0050.JPG
DSC_0057.JPG


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