Design and production feasibility of plastic powder surfer snowboards

Abstract

This project was conducted to explore the feasibility of producing plastic powder surfer snowboards for small scale production. It was initialized due to the product development of a cost-effective powder surfing board by Moonchild Snowboards, in order to lower the entry barrier into the sport. Analyses were conducted regarding user experience, available production processes, sustainability of plastic products and available materials, as well as analyses synthesizing information from the different areas. Throughout the project, concepts were generated for the different possible constructions of the powder surfing board, which were reduced by selection methods based on sustainability, production implications and user implications. Some of the choices of concepts were left to Moonchild Snowboards. The final concept was based on the production process of Twin-Sheet Thermoforming of two HDPE sheets to create a thermoplastic shell, which would then be filled by PU foam by the Foaming in Place process. The seam between the upper and lower sheet was placed along the side of the board, without significant implications to user experience. The fastening point for the leash was integrated by creating a hole in the board in post processing and using resin to secure a leash plug commonly used in surfing. CAD-files for production were created using surface modeling in Rhino 8 of the final concept. The structural stability of the final concept could not be verified.