Yep, I did everything that was possible without proper capitalization or a working partner. Built some beautiful stuff but it's time to just face it and move on. Sucks to be me!

Every.Single.Thing. All you need to start buildings skis and boards. I don't want to piecemeal it out. 120k in, priced so cheap it's just sickening. brett@brazensnowboards.com Bring a truck.

Here's a good starting point: viewtopic.php?t=3117&sid=528a3889ebf641 ... 3ac0677153

Here's another: heating site:skibuilders.com

Just paste the above into Google search

You can not allow voids, you really need full compliance. Otherwise, during heated expansion of the materials during pressing, you have a section that is not controlled and, to put it simplistically, that bit will be screwed. It'll show up during base grinding etc.

Without capitalization, we're all stuck having to market our "hand crafted" businesses better or die. Although in this economy maybe we can't even afford to die on 50k a year . There's just no resiliency at this level of work...one materials shipment gets misplaced/lost and that's IT.

So is there a consensus for a good practical cavity height? surely loading it must be a bit finicky if it's absolutely as tight as possible?

It's dependent on what your firehose diameter is. I run 7" (17.78cm) and so leave a 2" (5cm) chamber area.

Yea, that's pretty much it. There are twice as many bladders, air lines and regulators coupled with additional monitoring is all. What could possibly go wrong? It's been said on here before...simpler is probably better.

Interesting article, change "suits" to "Skis/Boards" and I believe you have a pretty accurate business model and why this is a difficult business:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/magaz ... inCdnQHMgQ

Maybe a better question might be what CAN'T go wrong ;-)

Saw what?? Yep, I cut my forms with the skii/board thickness I want then use the bladder to raise the lower form section into place. Similar in principle to a cap-construction set up, less things to go wrong, very consistent.

Yea, I stopped using cat track awhile ago, the only downside is you're locked into a "minimum" core height and if you go under, bad things happen

The only trouble I've always seen with this (never tried it) is passing the end of the material then having it move/lift whatever's on the table. Did you try one of these?

Make sure to assemble your matching pieces on the same day. Minor temp differences make the pieces swell and become unusable quickly (found this out the hard way). Nice cut!

Looks like twice as much to go wrong, to me anyway.