3D Printed Snowboard Shreds the Slopes

3D printing isn’t just an amazing technology for rapid prototyping or manufacturing, it can also be fun. A number of companies are offering 3D printed figurines, some companies print in chocolate, and even Lego uses additive manufacturing (AM) to make the blocks you loved as a child.

Now Signal Snowboards is adding to the fun by designing the first 3D printed snowboard. To this point, snowboards have mainly been constructed from fiberglass and wood. With the help of AM service bureau GROWit, Signal Snowboards designed and printed out the pieces of a board built from graphite material.

I say pieces, because GROWit didn’t have a system large enough to print out an entire snowboard in one print. After all the pieces were built, the entire board was snapped together like an enormous, really easy to solve jigsaw puzzle, and coated in resin. Once the resin had finished curing, the board was still a bit wobbly, so it was reinforced with some metal strips. From there, it was off to the slopes.

The final verdict was that the board was a bit slower than the company had hoped for, but speed could be improved with some additional work. Thanks to the flexibility of AM, Signal Snowboards was able to incorporate some design features that they’d never been able to use before, which made the board more maneuverable.

Below you’ll find a video about the project.

Source: Signal Snowboards