I haven't tried fabric, but I've had excellent results with rice paper. You can't even tell its there once its wetted out.

That should work fine, the only thing is that you will have pretty thin sidewalls. My skis tend to get knicked up quite a bit on the sides from the edges of the other ski, so I like to have a pretty thick sidewall (the last skis I made have an 8mm thick sidewall)

KevyWevy wrote:i posted that just for you seaners!

I will smash you in your sleep.

Also - working 3rd shift is awesome (its not)

Back on topic... I hope this will be repeated on Discovery channel soon, I'd like to see it (we don't have Science channel)

KevyWevy wrote:that must be why my roommate watches it so much...

how's that job search going asshole?

You don't like How its Made because you can't understand most of it.

Also there is already an episode showing Karhu skis being made... so this isn't really a first?

KevyWevy wrote:i leave that kind of stuff to my roommate... hes the "engineer"

woah woah, what's with the quotes??? I AM an engineer! business card says so. And yes, solidworks is my CAD of choice.

^nice! thanks for that. should the carbon fiber threads be running the length of the ski or perpendicular to the ski (assuming that uni directional means that the fibers all go in the same way? if i am mistaken, please let me know). Yes, the carbon should be running the length of the ski. Remember ...

190 is long, crazy long. Especially for a park ski. How tall are you? For park I like a ski that comes up to my nose (for me thats like 160, but I'm tiny) 22oz fiberglass will be fine, just one layer top and bottom. For the skis that we make, generally we have 12-12.5mm thick core at core center, go...

Wow, thats awesome. So what about 3 rollers (bearings), two fixed, and one that slides. You have a big threaded rod attached to the slidey bit, that you can spin to adjust how close the moving roller is to the fixed ones. The closer it is, the tigher the bend. basically exactly what they have in tha...

Also, another suggestion (sorry for all the critiquing damon, but you know my work revolves around data, so I am picky about these things) If you could, a plot with all samples together would be an easier way to compare them, whether or not the data is conclusive at all. Scrolling between different ...

It would be easy enough to setup a peel test using the rig he has.

Also for the epoxy filling the holes, you can thicken up the epoxy to help it stay in there better, and use a small syringe to fill each hole (but I imagine that would take a LONG time...)

But that was vacuum bagged only?

That only gives you atmospheric pressure (~14psi and change) and I want more, hence bagging AND pressing.

(you need to label your plots I don't know which plot is what bonding method, its just a bunch of plots)

Also, ultimate tensile strength... what are the units? That sounds like a failure threshold to me (its been a few years since school, so a lot of this has escaped me) so is that the failure of the p-tex in a tensile load? Or something completely unrelated?

This really makes me miss my days at K2. :( I would love to see a photo of your test rig (what is doing the pulling? Instron kinda deal?). By 3 point is this 2 points holding it in place on the outside, with the 3rd point pull in the middle? That would give you the stiffness of the sidewall material...

When you plane it, put a LOT of hot glue on the end to hold it in place. A nice bead around the whole tip will keep it from chipping (it can just be a pain to remove all of the hot glue after its planed, but it works well)