What I did was bring the DXF into a sketch in solidworks. Then I made another sketch, and used the spline tool to basically match the DXF sketch. So instead of say 100 points (or more) for the sidecut of the ski... I had 3 points, and just adjusted the arrow bits to get the curves to match perfectly...

I think you'll find a lot of the satisfaction in this whole project (ski building) is learning all of this on your own. In the future, try to do a little more research and learning on your own. You will benefit SO MUCH more if you take the effort to learn all of this on your own, rather than just as...

How many watts are your heat blankets? Often they specify a watts per inch rating, so use that to find total wattage at full power.

Are you using 110 volts or 220?

Amps = Watts/Volts

You can get PID controllers off ebay for like $30 and they work great for this. Same with a solid-state relay, cheap and reliable off ebay.

How many amps are the fuses you're using?

Sounds like you're just using fuses that are too small for the current draw. These heaters pull a LOT.

KevyWevy wrote:you don't want to create a bomb.

haha! Me and kevin still hide behind things in the garage when we're inflating our hose.... I trust our calculations and construction... but the noises it makes are still enough to make me poop my pants

here is the part II the second link is part III and all the photos. odd that there doesn't seem to be any taper to the ski... looks like he made one foam core ski first? then made them out of wood? link fail. (you have no links) His mold making skills need work. Had some bad orange peel when doing ...

Sean - he means an edgeless, omni-directional ski. I think. Which shouldn't be too hard to accomplish, essentially make a reverse capped ski. Or a completely fiberglass "hull" like that one guy on biglines. Ahhhh, ok. Very interesting! For that you'd have to either have a machined bottom ...

I have never skied on a dry slope, so I can't answer those questions. When you describe "bending the sidewall up" it sounds like you're just describing a reverse camber ski. Yes, this will give you a better carve edge shape, that's not really the intent of a reverse camber ski. The point i...

How are you doing your spray glue? Are you spraying it, then sticking the paper on immediately? If so, there's your problem. If you want a damn good bond, spray both the wood and the paper pretty well, and let them air dry until they're almost completely dry to the touch. THEN stick them together, i...

Three31 wrote:Personally, I think its easier to just place them during layup. Then after you lay up the top sheet, double check the contact by pushing them tight to the core.

That's what we do, the resin is enough to hold it in place.

Most printers you should be able to set a custom size, just do it 8.5" x whatever length you want.

But again, I haven't tried printing rice paper sections longer than 14-15 inches yet.

Here's a better closeup so you can see the clarity of the rice paper. can't even tell its there!

The "Sticks" text on the ski on the left is rice paper. (the other ski says "Piggy".... they're the piggy sticks) http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs003.snc1/2773_743345617368_10708561_42869945_3069121_n.jpg The text is probably 14" long, one piece of rice paper....

My first venture into ski building was 6 years ago or so, and I tried making a clamp press. It was a big time failure. I wouldn't waste your time with a clamp press, you just cannot get the same pressure as you can with a pneumatic (firehose) press. Not even close. Even if its more work and more mon...