Snowboard Accessories Display System

Nourishment& Social Change Prof. Amanda Huynh Anran Mina Li Spring 2021

1 Repurpose Your Snowboard This system allows you to turn your old/unused snowboard into a display shelf for storing your snowboarding accessories. It repurposes snowboards to extend their lives while also educating snowboarding enthusiasts about the environmental impacts of this sport.

2 3 4 I wouldn’t even call snowboarding a sport. For me it’s just a way of life. —Travis Rice

I was born and raised in a southern part of China, where it barely snow in the winter. I have never seen such a heavy snowstorm before I came to the US. I immediately obsessed with snow the moment I saw them beautifully fall like a dancing angel. The first resort I have ever been to in my life is called Mountain Creek. It is a small resort in Northern New Jersey, and that’s also the place where I met my boyfriend. Right now, I am a snowboarder myself for almost four years. and I have bought different kinds of snowboard and went to plenty of famous resorts in the US like Jackson Hole and Snowbird. I have seen so many spectacular mountains created by mother nature, and the most wonderful gift she gives us-snow. Snowboarding now becomes a part of my life. I rode 40 days in the past 20-21 season. I am so into snowboard that I built a snowboard by myself last year by using the Pratt woodshop. 5 My idea of making a snowboard by myself began with a question about how snowboards are made. I ended up watching a lot of Youtube videos and viewing different suppliers’ websites. I learned that all snowboards are handmade in the factory. The assembly of the layers requires labor to bind them together with resin. I used my boyfriend’s favorite board as a master template to make the mold for vacuuming. I designed the board graphic and find a company that can print them. Then, I bought and prepared all the materials. I started making the board step by step according to the knowledge I learned from my previous research. In the end, I am glad that the board I made works well. It can hit big jumps and also carves deep. 6 7 Top Sheet

Fiberglass

Wood Core

Rubber Foil

Sidewall Metal Edge

Carbon Fiber

Screw Inserts

Base Sheet

8 Within that half of inch thickness, there are six layers of materials in a snowboard. Every layer has its own function which makes the responsiveness and rigidity of a snowboard. Snowboard has a wood core that stores energy and gives pops. The carbon fiber and fiberglass layers provide extra rigidity and protect the wood core. The board has a metal edge that can carve into the snow and secure the layers inside. To achieve such a seamless bonding between each layer, epoxy resin is used to laminate them together so that they endure vibrations, bending, cold tem- peratures, and pressure.1 Every single snowboard is put up by a person with the cutting, pressing, polish- ing by machines. There is no one-for-all machine that can make the snowboards from beginning to end. Since there are so many materials in a snowboard, so different companies have different standards of material quality. For example, some companies use chemical resin made from petroleum while some companies use bio-resin which is plant-based.

9 Roughly 700,000 snowboards are sold worldwide in 2019. —Statista 2

Snowboards have a variety of shapes and lengths which determine their performance on the snow. For example, you need a powder board for riding in powder snow, you need a park board for landing a big jump. Snowboarders buy different boards not only they like the graphics but also they want to ride in different snow conditions. Snow- boards have to be waxed to reduce their friction between the snow and the board base. A regular-used board would last several years depending on its wear and tear. Snowboarders damage their boards mostly due to the collision with rocks or branch- es. Some cracks at the surface or the base can be repaired by the p-tex rod melting down and dripping into the cracks.3 Some cracks like the one in the right photo (one of my snowboards) are troublesome because the cracking has already exposed the inside top sheet. More riding like jumping and bending like tail press would make the cracks expand further and ultimately could break the board. 10 11 After several seasons of riding, snowboards endure wear and tear with cracks and scratches all over the boards. The initial problem that I observed is that people don’t know how to deal with their old snowboards. Snowboards are waterproof and su- per durable, so they seem to be impossible to break down like other trash. As people buy more boards and simply just have no space to store them, or they don’t like their boards anymore, they left the old snowboards on the street for others to pick up. I have never thrown or sell any of my boards because I always have that emotional connection to my boards. I think my boards have their own personality which makes them more like friends to me. They witnessed my every little progress in snowboarding, as well as accompanied and protected me whenever I am riding in the mountains. But you can also see people just abandon their boards on the streets.

12 Because snowboards are not biode- gradable and are extremely difficult to disassemble, they often end up in landfills or are incinerated.

13 Preliminary Research

What are snowboards made of?

Top Sheet → Plastic Fiberglass → Silica sand, limestone, and soda ash. Hardwood core → Wood ABS sidewall → Plastic Carbon fiber→ Carbon atoms Rubber Foil → Rubber Metal Edge → Steel Base Sheet → Plastic Epoxy → EPA+3-MCPD

What are the different types of snowboards?

Beginner → Intermediate → Expert All Mountain -- Freestyle -- Freeride -- Powder -- Split Board Softer Flex → Stiffer Flex 2×4 Insert Pattern -- 4×4 Insert Pattern Burton 3D Insert Pattern -- Channel Insert Pattern

Are there any similarities of all snowboards?

High-durability -- Waterproof -- Nose&Tail Can be mounted on the wall bother vertically and horizontally

Strong Binding Connections Standard Binding Screw Size M6 1 , 0

14 © POW

When we talk about winter, what do we PBT are produced by energy-intensive, think about it? Maybe holding a warm fossil fuel-driven methods which also ex- cup of hot chocolate while standing un- ploit our mother earth.4 For the snow we der the giant Rockefeller Christmas Tree, beloved, nevertheless helps cooling down or maybe cuddling with loved ones while the earth apart of their cold temperature. sitting next to a fireplace. For me, winter Snow cover reflects about 80 to 90% of means snow, and snow means I can go the sun’s energy back into the atmosphere snowboarding. However, the production allowing it to help regulate the exchange of of snowboard materials contributes to heat between the Earth’s surface and the damaging the fragile ecosystems that atmosphere, thereby cooling the planet.5 this planet’s organisms have adapted As a snowboarder, I’ve always wanted to to live in. Specifically, the emission of use design to help to alleviate the environ- greenhouse gasses through the pro- mental impacts behind snowboarding and duction of these materials contributes to the snowboard manufacturing process. the greenhouse effect.4 Earth’s surface Because while we are enjoying the snow is warmed by the suns contact with the from mother nature, we should also protect trapped heat and radiation in our atmo- our winters. With many questions in mind, sphere. Mining for graphite and bauxite I made a questionnaire and send it to my defaces the surface and contaminates snowboarding friends. This questionnaire the air of our planet. 4 The remaining asks them about their snowboarding ex- materials used in snowboards such as: perience and their ways to store boards steel, epoxy resin, fiberglass, p-tex and and accessories. 15 Questionnaire Sample Size: 54

16 17 1/3 of the respondents won’t use all of their boards for one reason.

2/3 of the respondents are not familiar with the snowboard manufacturing process.

Almost half of the respondents say that they normally put/store their boards on the floors or at the corners.

Only one person bought a storage shelf for organizing the accessories.

Almost 1/3 of the respondents keep their old snowboards at home even though they don’t use them anymore.

How to utilize snowboards as much as possible and extend their lives?

How to educate snowboarding enthusiasts about the environmental impacts of their snowboards?

Here are the two problems that I aim to solve with my design. Repurpose the snowboard can able to stop them from ending up in the landfill at this moment. Snow- boarding is not the same as skateboarding or surfing though they are all board sports. Snowboarding requires more gears such as different layers of clothing, helmets, gog- gles, gloves, protection pads, face and neck warmer, etc. Especially because snowboarding is one of the winter sports which people have to wear thick jackets to repel coldness. Snowboarding is also a seasonal sport, so that these clothes and accessories will be useless in other seasons, but they occupy a lot of space in people’s closets. So I ask myself: could I design a product for people to store their accessories while also displaying their boards?

18 19 Existing Repurposing Methods

I also researched the existing repurposing methods of turning snowboarding into coat hangers or furniture. All of these rad ideas involve drilling directly into the snowboards, which makes them unusable anymore. The ideas are good but they are not adaptable for every snowboarding enthusiast. People like me who live in small apartments in NYC don’t have space to put extra furniture that is made from snowboards in their homes. I de- cided on a system that can turn snowboards into shelves so that can be hanged on the wall and hang clothes and accessories without damaging the snowboards. There- fore, snowboards can be displayed in off-seasons and be put down and ride in winter again. 20 21 22 From my research, I found that although snowboards have different shapes and different mounting systems for the bindings, they all use the same screw inserts. So I design this attachment system which employs the same diameter screw inside, so they can be mounted into any snowboards just like snowboard bindings. There is also a screw insert at the end of the attachment for adding an extra attachment or hook. Snowboarders can buy snowboard wall mount online based on their prefer- ences to hang the snowboard vertically or horizontally.

23 24 Prototyping

25 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc-i7oa1COw

I make this video for the sake of giving users a quick under- standing of how my design works. This video includes installing the snowboard rack onto the wall, putting up the snowboard, screwing the attachment into the board, setting up the railing, and examples of how to display snowboarding clothes and accessories. Scan here to watch

26 27 28 29 30 Users can just manually screw the attachment into the snowboard so it doesn’t get damaged. People who always have one/two boards they seldom used can turn the boards into this shelf, but they are still ride- able. I also design a drafted angled hook that can be used singularly or as an extra attachment to the straight one. Preventing things like helmets sliding down.

31 Packaging Design

I want to design a simple packaging that holds every part without the extra protection materials for filling the gap. After I figure out the number of the parts from modeling them in rendering, I make a real one. The attachments are made into different colors so they match different snowboards. the packaging contains two sets of systems that give people plenty of self-customized space. Users can mix-match different attachments to each other and simply just screw them into the boards.

32 33 34 35 Booklet Design

Front

Back

36 This booklet contains the story of a snowboard and information on how this display system works and also has the idea to educate people about why we need to repurpose our snowboards. The story tells from a snowboard’s perspective, illustrating its journey from raw materials to your friend. I want to use this booklet to evoke the emotional connection between snowboarders and their boards.

37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 Material Choice

50 As for the material choice, I got inspired by my previous snowboard-making process. The process of binding the metal edge to the base sheet requires the cut of extra materials of the base sheet. The base sheet is made from polyethylene in a form of pellets. The extra material cut-off can be remelted and remolded into my attachment design with an add-on of that standard screws. This process reutilizes the waste from the snowboard manufacturing process, and the screw can also be made from recycled metals. My design doesn’t cost extra materials when they serve the purpose of help protecting mother nature.

51 polyethylene pellets → base sheet → cut off extra material → remelt & remold

52 polyethylene pellets → base sheet → cut off extra material → remelt & remold

53 54 Retail Store Application

55 56 This system can also be used in retail stores which can be hanged on the wall of displaying the newest outfit that fits the boards. People who come to the store would also have the opportunity to experience this modular design. I want my design to empower the snowboarding community that people would realize what they can do to help to protect the environment just by using their boards as long as possible.

57 58 Future Expectation 59 “To keep boards out of the landfill, we need to band together” —Niche Snowboards6

Niche Snowboards is a salt lake city-based als.6 These materials can then be recycled snowboard company which teamed up or upcycled to create new products like with Connora to apply their Recyclamine surfboard fins and binding components.6 technology to existing bioresins, which But this technology is yet too expensive for allows a snowboard to be broken down, more snowboard companies to apply. My separated, reclaimed, and recycled. Niche design serves as a transition product partnered with Entropy to create a biores- that is useful as a display shelf and in composed of renewable materials from informative as educating materials. waste streams.6 With Recyclamine, ex- Before new technology which can make cess waste materials or end-of-life snow- every snowboard recyclable, my design boards can be soaked in a proprietary makes the boards stay longer with you so solution that releases the chemical bond they won’t end up in landfills at this time. fused by resin, releasing all the raw materi- 60 Transition Useful & Informative

61 Thanks for viewing! Citations

1 “Hardgoods-Burton Snowboards” Burton. https://burtonboardingschool.com//.

2 Koptyug, Evgenia. “Ski, Snowboard, Skiing Equipment Sales 2019.” Statista, October 1, 2020.https://www.statista. com/statistics/867678/sales-skis-snowboards-skiing-equipment-worldwide/.

3 Phillips, Mackenzie. “The Life Cycle of a Snowboard.” Design Life. http://www.designlife-cycle.com/snow board.

4 “Ski and Snowboard Base Repair.” https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/ski-snowboard-base-repair.html.

5 “Picture Climate: What’s Snow Cover Got to Do With It?” National Climatic Data Center, www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ news/picture-climate-what%E2%80%99s-snow-cover-got-do-it.

6 “Snowboarding Can Have a Sustainable Future-If Brands Get on Board.” Men’s Journal, February 10, 2021. https://www.mensjournal.com/sports/snowboarding-can-have-sustainable-future-if-brands-get-on-board/.