I Probably should have done a search first, as it seems the topic has been answered. Unless anyone else has any suggestions...

Do any of you fine builders have a preference as to what kind of adhesive you use when laminating your cores?

I have access to more basswood than I do poplar, so I checked into its properties, and found out that they are very similar to poplar. Has anyone else thought about this species? I checked the properties a while ago, so I can't remember which of the specs are similar, but I remember definate similar...

I am curious about the thickness of the topsheet from SBM. Anyone know?

Gnarly press! I'd do it in some earth tones like brown and blood red.. it would match the environment

esscher

Do any of you know if the core can sit perfectly between the edges during layup? I have heard many of you talk about having the core routered to sit on top of the edges to avoid a concave top. I've attached a drawing to better illustrate my idea.. This one is does not have the width being to scale.....

It seems like you could just let the bladder press the aluminum to the right shape, why doesn't this work?

Did you use the bladder to form the alum. sheet to the mold?

I am at the stage of my board building journey where I need to figure out how thick the sheet metal needs to be that will be used to cover the lower mold, and to sandwich my silicone heat blanket. I like to think that I am on a budget, but I don't want to skimp too much and have inferior results to ...

This mold is for a 1550 mm twin tip board, and has a 7.6 mm camber. The tip upcurve radius is 7.25 inches. The width of the molds is 14.25 inches. The tips and tails were pattern cut by hand. The camber cut was done using a CNC machine. The upper mold was cut via CNC to the same radius as the lower ...

I would agree with you about the deflection. I planned to use at least two "cage" supports. I just have not assembled them yet.

Some of you may have read my thread about my aluminum i-beam. I asked if it would work as the lengthwise supportive member of a ski/board press. Most people said yes it would work, so I went ahead with my design and built it. Here are a couple of pictures... http://66.87.141.7:85/blogscott/images/st...

yea, those simple tire valves look good and are nice and simple. I think if I were to do a bladder again, i'd do that. i spend like $40 on the hardware for my bladder valve (the happy monkey style). and for $40 i would think it would be leak-less, and as you can see, my setup is not.

chubz: the width is going to be 20", because I have two 6" hoses that lay ~10" when flat. its a little wider than i really need, but i can't exactly return the hoses now! the length is going to be about 7.5', and the bladder is rated at 100 psi, but will press at 50 psi. hugocacola: w...

Why would you want to be able to simulate epoxy? As far as I understand FEA is for analysis of the press frame, not the layup of the ski/board. Is that what you were refering to?

Esscher