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Has anyone tried using the DIY split kit plates on a foam core board? I just cut an old nitro powder 178 swallowtail in half and was surprised to see dense black foam inside.

I probably won't risk it and just T-nut the bastards in, but thought I'd ask here about it first.

That ain't good. Be very careful what kind of glue you use on the screws. Some of those foams react with epoxies and melt, some don't. If you are a big heavy rider I would recommend not riding that board, you'll probably rip out the binders. Is this a cap sidewall board too? If so it will have a funny flex to it now. A lot of skis with foam cores also have a metal plate in the binding mount area, this adds some dampening plus it helps keep the screws from pulling out by giving them something to bit into. 3-4 layers of glass and resin don't offer much for the screws to bit on, a wood core gives them something to bit into, foams don't really play that way. I'd recommend using t-nuts like the ones for the touring bracket on the outermost 4 puck holes (holes closest to edges) on each foot. Also be careful what you use to seal the cut edge, as that too can react with the foam core.

Let us know how it turns out.

UB

I'm glad now that I got rid of mine! I've had trouble with compressing a soft wood core with inserts, foam may not work at all. There should be wood stringers where the original inserts were, but not elsewhere. Let us know how it turns out.

It's a swallowtail and I'll hopefully not be using it for hard snow much, although I'm sure it will see it's share. I mounted the tip hook and the two chinese hooks today, the foam seemed to like to soak up epoxy when I warmed things up a bit so I soaked it in for the bolts and rivets. I sealed the inside edge with a very thin layer of it too, just rubbed some into the foam.

I'm going to epoxy something into the foam under the touring brackets and around the pucks to spread the load, There is some woven kevlar floating around in the fabric room at school here (I'm a composites grad student) so maybe some of that, or that and a thin sheet of aluminum. I've got some big pieces of base material too from a homeade snowboard project I'm also working on and I'll probably try and glue some patches over the holes.

Turned into a bigger project then I was hoping, but so is life. Having a giant powder board as a split sure will be a nice addition. I'll let you guys know if it breaks my first day out.

jp