Twizz 2010/2011

[COsurfer]

Wow! great job!

[twizzstyle]

Sweet!

As always, I'm impressed of you(and others) getting perfect fit with the edges! I will now work on a edge bender.
What size are you using on the rolls on the edge bender?

2" rollers. Even with the edge bender it is NOT easy, and certainly not a perfect finish, but close enough for me. The edge bender is just nice because you get perfectly round bends (no corners like bending by hand), and the edge stays perfectly flat. It's still a lot of guess and check with how I do it. Definitely the hardest part of the whole process.

I'm really impressed with how nice this pair turned out though. The wood (well, bamboo) sidewalls saved a lot of hassle with p-tex sidewalls. I would still prefer plastic sidewalls, but we have just never had luck profiling cores with p-tex sidewalls. The planer munches it all up

I made a few tiny boo-boo's on these - when bevelling the sidewalls I let the bearing slip off the edge a couple of times and cut deeper into the side, no biggy just a little divot. Then when drilling out the inserts with a counter-sink bit, I cut into a few of the inserts before I realized what I was doing. Now I can't get a bolt started so I need to get an M6 tap and cut new threads.

I also completely forgot that I had contact paper on the bases and went straight to the base grinder. It had no issues and ground right through it like nothing was there, I didn't remember about it until I pulled the second pair out. D'oh. I'll probably peel it off those skis before I grind it. Should have those finished up tonight or tomorrow and will get pictures of those up.

[G-man]

Twizz,

Yes, very nice, but dang man, where's your respirator when you're trimming the flash on the band saw. You know how itchy your hands and arms get when you trim the flash... just imagine how much of that crap is getting into your lungs when your face is that close the the cutting process.

Yes, I'm such a nag. I'm also always impressed with your work.

G-man

[a.badner]

hey, twizz.
where/how did you get/make your graphics?

thanks,
adam

[falls]

Hey Adam
Pretty sure they are sublimated PBT from snowboardmaterials.com
Another supplier is CODA boards http://www.codaboards.com/
The gut at CODA named Chad is very helpful and seems to be pretty stoked on the whole ski and board building thing. My impression is that the turn around time is much quicker from CODA than snowboard materials + CODA can print longer ski graphics where I think the other guys max out at 170cm or so.
Twizz will no doubt let us know, but that's my instinct.

[Dr. Delam]

Awesome looking skis. Seeing those makes me want to give full wrap edges another go.

Yes, CODA graphics are sweet. I've got six days on mine and no signs of any chipping. I tend to not bang my skis together too much though.

I'll say it again. Everyone should get one of these. No fogging and full face coverage. I used to wear goggles and a respirator but the goggles would always fog up.

[twizzstyle]

Yes, I'll admit not wearing a respirator was a mistake. Today I cut out the second pair and was completely covered up head to toe including respirator. My hands/face were pretty itchy after the first pair

The second pair turned out great, no photos yet, maybe tomorrow. They are significantly stiffer (but the first pair is a little too soft). They feel about the same weight, but I'll put them on the scale to get exact numbers.

I got the graphics sublimated from Snowboard Materials. They look awesome and he does an outstanding job, but it took 4 weeks from the time I placed the order until I received the topsheets. I will probably try CODA next time just because the turn around is so much faster.

I need to get a different blade for cutting flashing I think. I've used blades with very few TPI and blades with lots of TPI and both are about the same (both wood blades though... that's probably my issue). They do ok, but start to dull after a few skis. What blades are you guys using?

No worries on the nagging G-man, that's our job for each other, keep each other smart, safe, and honest

(in other news, I got my CNC mini mill 100% operational today, woohoo. Installed stepper motors/ballscrews on a grizzly mini mill, mainly as practice and to learn CNC, so next year I can build a large CNC router for ski building)

[doughboyshredder]

Progressor wood blades work great for me.

[powderho]

For jig saw blades I use the Bosch T101BF 10TPI bit-metal bit from Home Depot. It's the one that says for "Hardwood". There's a very similar blade they sell called the T101B which is 10tpi as well, but it is garbage. It's cheaper, but not worth it. Even with the better blade, I will still only cut out one pair of maple sidewall skis per blade. They cut through bamboo like butter, but still don't really last that long. I'm always looking for something better. Mcmaster has some carbide-tipped 6tpi ones that look tempting.

[skidesmond]

I use the Bosch T101BF as well and it works pretty good. I also have Bosch T234X3 w/ 8-12TPI which works well. The blade I have now, not sure of the model number it is but it's a Bosch and has a curved back on it that ride against the roller on the jid saw. That blade works well. I used it for at least 2 sets of skis. If I get 2 sets of skis per blade I'm happy. I found that you have to let the blade do the work w/o forcing it too much. Once you start pushing too hard they seem to burn up pretty fast.

[krp8128]

Lenox Bi-Metal FTW.


I'd have to go digging around to find one for the exact model, but these last me 4 pairs, start to finish. I used to get them through a commercial supplier, sucks that I no longer have that connection.

[a.badner]

hey twizz, nice profile picture, really diggin those orange pants.

[doughboyshredder]

I use the Bosch T101BF as well and it works pretty good. I also have Bosch T234X3 w/ 8-12TPI

The T234X is the wood progressor blade in a 10TPI. Works amazingly well for me. The 3 on the end is just the pack size.

[twizzstyle]

Me and Kevin went up to Snoqualmie today for a few hours. I wanted to swap back and forth between the two pairs to compare, but I ended up just sticking to the "dry" pair the whole time.

They are SUPER fun. Pretty stiff, although most would probably consider it a mid-stiffness. I typically ski soft skis so these feel stiff to me. The snow was pretty bumpy up there today, but it made for a lot of fun on these things. They are very springy, so you can pop off any thing and get tons of air. I'm very pleased with how they ski, overall 100% successful pair

The wet layup ones are going to be very soft, but I think as a rail ski they'll be great. I could see them being a bit chattery at speed, but for slow speed stuff in the park they'll be perfect.



Now here's the surprising result: I put the skis on the scale. The "dry" skis, with the pre-cured fiberglass/carbon fiber are 13% heavier than the wet layup! D'oh! If you looked at stiffness-to-weight, I bet the two pairs would be pretty close. I was hoping they would be stiffer and lighter, less resin, right? Guess not. The pre-cured stuff is heavier than I thought.

I'd really like to take these skis to someplace like crystal for some long, fast, groomed runs. That's where these things will excel.

In a word: stoked.

[doughboyshredder]

interesting on the weight. Since the pre cured has the perfect resin glass ratio (supposedly), I wonder if the weight difference is due to having a less than perfect ratio on the wet layup? Or maybe the carbon stringers added weight?