Duotone Diversity Magazine No.02 2020

What differentiates Duotone’s Twintips from the boards of other brands in terms of their manufacturing process? Duotone product developer Manuel Zwinz elaborates on five examples. SUSTAINABILITY “All Duotone Twintips are exclusively produced at the Capita Mothership factory in Austria. The Mothership is the newest, most technologically advanced and ecologically responsible manufacturing facility for snowboards and kiteboards. The production runs with 100% clean energy. Powered by an in-house hydro activated NH3 Thermal Energy System, the manufacturing facility has zero CO 2 -emissions, zero ozone depletion potential and zero global warming potential,” says Marlon Kruse, Product Manager at Capita. The system generates all the energy needed to operate, heat and cool the production machines as well as the air-conditioning of the production facility completely autonomously. Besides, the production process of the Duotone Twintips is carried out at lower temperatures than usual, thanks to a special bonding system that Capita uses, which allows for manufacturing at lower temperatures. Thus, less energy is required and far fewer pollutants are generated. Duotone also places great value on short distances: all fibers, sheets, resins etc. are sourced from Austria and Europe. Plus, the production facility “The Mothership” is only about 200km from Duotone’s global central warehouse. The wooden cores of the Twintips, made of Paulownia wood, are the only elements that cannot be sourced locally just yet. All types of these bluebell tree plants called “Paulowniaceae” grow fairly fast and have excellent timber properties. Individual trees can grow up to three meters a year and produce up to one cubic meter of wood in 20 years. This precious wood is resin-free, crack-resistant, does not warp as it dries, and is almost as light as balsa wood, yet inherently stiff. Paulownia wood is considered the “aluminum of woods” due to its stability and lightness – it’s used in car production and boatbuilding as well as in the production of musical instruments. Since this type of wood isn’t sufficiently available in Europe, Duotone imports the wood for the Twintips from Asia, where Paulownia cultivation has been taking place for over 3000 years. The good news is: Experts agree that Paulownia could become a real asset to local forestry due to its rapid growth, outstanding wood properties and its adaptability to the expected climate conditions in Central Europe. Photos Capita, Tom Court, Daniel Knight BY MANUEL ZWINZ INNOVATIVE MATERIALS Textreme is a specialized manufacturer of carbon fabrics for aviation and Formula 1 racing – industries in which weight, durability and absolute precision are of upmost importance. Textreme supplies Duotone exclusively with Textreme carbon for the use in kiteboards specified to Duotone’s very particular requirements. The special aspect about Textreme carbon: The round threads of the carbon fibers are combed flat in an additional process to standard practices. This way the fibers are much better to weave and absorb significantly less resin. Generating a high fiber volume content this process achieves an identical stiffness level at half the grammage compared to standard carbon fabric. That’s why the Textreme versions of Duotone’s Twintip models Jaime, Select, Soleil, Ultraspike and Spike are extremely lightweight. The Team Series Textreme has one more special feature on top of that: A new, highly modular Inegra fiber is woven into the fabric, which perfectly complements the structural characteristics of carbon fiber. Carbon is very stiff and very hard returning a lot of energy – yet it also vibrates more than pure fiberglass. The interwoven Inegra helps to absorb these vibrations. Therefore the Team Series Textreme can be loaded up in a super targeted way to achieve the best pop, with the Innegra absorbing any disturbing vibrations. MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED MACHINERY The extremely thin Textreme fabric doesn’t permit any manufacturing tolerance and has to be processed with absolute precision. The same applies to the Space Flex windows that are incorporated into the tips of the Select and the Soleil. There’s no margin, they have to be fitted with 100% accuracy to conform to the state-of-the-art machinery that’s exclusively found in the production facility of “The Mothership”. Working to the highest degree of accuracy, these machines only allow for a tolerance below 2/10mm. One of the highlights of the Mothership factory: the five-axis milling machine. Typically three-axis milling machines are used in kiteboard production that can mill normal channels into the wood. With the five- axis mill, however, innovative complex angled shape details can be milled into the wood with precision accurate to the millimeter like for example the Single Diffusor Bottom in the Team Series or the Double Diffusor Bottom in the Jaime. Also other features such as the precise definition of the board flex and the torsion within different zones, matched to every centimeter of the board length in such meticulous detail used to be completely unthinkable just a few years ago. It’s the integration of the latest machinery into the manufacturing process that has rendered complex shapes and design features aimed at constantly improving the performance of Duotone Twintips possible. The limits in board shaping are always tied to the scope of production possibilities. A comparison: Cars used to be built with leaf springs; today they have adaptive air suspension instead. Possibilities increase with the technology that is available to you; also in kiteboard construction. SPECIAL DETAILED SOLUTIONS A small detail with an exceptional effect: The Track. This exclusive channel-system patented by Duotone for the assembly of foot straps and boots can only be implemented through maximummanufacturing precision. Therefore the whole production process is significantly more complex: Inserts are not just pressed into the wood. Rather channels are milled precisely to the millimeter at accurately defined positions where the plastic rails of the Track are inserted, reinforced and laminated. That is because Duotone believes that no kiteboarder should be limited by the confinement fixed inserts impose. Thanks to “The Track” a rider can adjust the position of straps or boots with millimeter accuracy in terms of distance and angle – precisely the way that suits his or her individual stance, riding style and range of use. UNIQUE GRAPHICS Top performance is Duotone’s main priority. The extraordinary look of all Duotone Twintips is another unique selling point. Two exceptional, premium-quality oversize digital printers at our production plant render the graphic design of the boards possible. Every design, no matter how detailed the layout and color, can be printed on the boards in combination with screen-printing. No other board manufacturer implements such complex graphics on their boards. T E C H N O L O G Y 86 87 T E C H N O L O G Y P R O D U C T I O N