WhiteRoom skis

Document your personal work here. Show photos, movies, and share your secrets.

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vinman
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WhiteRoom skis

Post by vinman »

I figured since my building progress is scattered through a few threads I have started I would condense everything and put it in one spot like everyone else.

I'll be adding photos i've taken and already posted as well as some additional pics that i have waited on posting until I had something really worth showing.

~1yr ago
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this spring
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this summer
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more to come in a couple hours
Last edited by vinman on Tue Feb 15, 2011 7:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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vinman
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Post by vinman »

my ski work shop that took shape in this thread
http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2529

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interior of shop with press
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core profiler
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test core
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tip block cut and almost done
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I started cutting my mold today. I'm planning an adjustable mold with tip and tail blocks that sit on camber rails. A 3/4 sheet of MDF will sit between the tip and tail blocks ala hydrant71's mold

After futzing around with dimensions for a while I got down to business cutting a tip form and routing out 15 copies. And after screwing up about 4 of those because they were not clamped well enough I finally got them done. They still need to be finish sanded to smooth them out completely and get drilled out for 3/8 threaded rod to hold them secure.

Now that I have the process down I'll cut my tail block on Tuesday and camber rails on T-day. I'm shooting for having my bottom mold complete 1 week from today.

The top mold will get done the following week and will likely be finger jointed 2x6s like skisdesmond uses. I'm shooting for a 3 inch gap between the molds after taking into account for the track,deflated bladder, 1 sheet of masonite, aluminum skins and laminate materials.

The only thing I could do without is the MDF dust. Very nasty even when using the exhaust fan on and dust ports on all tools used (jig saw, palm sander,router.
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Dr. Delam
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Post by Dr. Delam »

For your planer crib, did you make it as wide as the planer to keep it square while running it through? I made mine only 7 inches wide to keep it lighter but if it gets crooked the thickness can vary from one side to another. The difference might be a couple tenths of a mm but enough to make me pay close attention to feeding it.

Your shop looks sweet. Mine consists of a garage that I actually park our cars in and I always have to break everything down after working.

Progress looks great.
sammer
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Post by sammer »

When I cut my last tip block I screwed my pattern to roughly cut out mdf pieces one at a time and used the router table.
After 4 or 5 my screws started to get pretty deep into my pattern so I contact cemented a piece of puck board to it to stop the screws form going any deeper.
If I had of thought about it I would have used the screw holes to index the pieces together with some rod.

I had tried to clamp the pattern but the clamp was always in the way.

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn19 ... 0497-1.jpg

Thought this might help with your tail block.

Great progress so far keep up the nice work


sam
You don't even have a legit signature, nothing to reveal who you are and what you do...

Best of luck to you. (uneva)
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vinman
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Post by vinman »

Dr. my crib is 12 inches wide and my planer is 13. I guess I will have to play very close attention to this to make sure it doesn't get squirrely. I guess I could scab some pieces on to the sides of the base to make it just barely fit inside the planer....

Sam thanks for the Pic. I basically build a 90 deg jig and the pieces go into and the clamp can reach the corner without being in the way of the router. I work ok as long as it is clamped tightly.
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twizzstyle
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Post by twizzstyle »

Vinman wrote:I guess I could scab some pieces on to the sides of the base to make it just barely fit inside the planer....
Meh, if you just guide it by hand to keep it straight you'll do fine. My planer boards are about half the width of my planer and I have no issues.
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Dr. Delam
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Post by Dr. Delam »

Yeah, what Twizz says. You won't need to add anything at all, especially if it is that close it will never be allowed to skew that much anyways. It has to get significantly crooked when feeding to make a difference and only matters on the last passes anyways.

I just know that some people complain about their cribs being heavy and awkward to load. That is one reason why I made mine just a little wider than the widest core I will use.

I made a similar 90 degree jig for making my tip and tail molds. I don't have a router table so I just screwed it to my portable work bench. It also serves as a platform for the router to sit on so it stays square at the narrow end of the mold. I screw the piece I am routing into the template piece so I don't have a clamp in the way.

One suggestion I would make for your molds is to round off the top edges more if your heat blanket and bladder run past the end of the mold. Maybe I am being overly cautious but there is a lot of pressure there on a small surface area.
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vinman
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Post by vinman »

thanks DD. For not I an not using a heater blanket so I think I'll be ok but i will consider than.

The reason I went for 12 inches is I'm hoping to run both cores at once to minimize any cutting difference between skis in a pair. As long as I don't cut to much during the first few passes I think I'll be ok.
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vinman
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Post by vinman »

finished up the tip block today. It is bolted together with 3/8 rod now and I sanded it down. After getting the curves lined up the best I could I sanded it. The drill mounted drum 2 inch drum sander worked best. There were some minot length differences in the pieces so I just set up the fence on the table saw and evened them up.

I started the tail block but no real progress there.

I also did some minor work on the profiler. I had to countersink a few T-nuts just a fraction more. I also hot waxed the bottom of the profiler with really hard cold temp wax. I'll buff it down another time but I think the decreased friction will help it feed more smoothly. I'll also put some car wax on the in and out feed tables and buff them down. I still need to retest the profiler and adjust the spacers some to get the correct core dimms.
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vinman
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Post by vinman »

finished the tail block and started the camber rails today. I hate routing MDF, I can't wait until this part is over. Unfortunately I'm out of material. I'll need another sheet of MDF to finish the camber rails and the board for the running length.

I'll sand and drill out what I have tomorrow. I'll pick up some more material on Tuesday including material for the top mold. For the top I'll just make two solid end pieces and then fill the center with 2x6 sections for the length adjusters. I'll use some metal plates to suspend the top mold and some slotted angle iron for the cat track suspension.

A couple pics of my progress.
safety first
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mold
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logo I mage with GIMP

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vinman
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Post by vinman »

just a quick update:

I got my baseboard heaters online yesterday. Turns out I had them wired wrong, but a co-worker straitened me out. I could have some difficulty reaching the 70 degree mark inside my shop in winter. I may have to build a hot box(insulated plywood box) around the press and baseboard heater as well as supplement with a portable kerosene heater. I'm also still looking to find a second hand electric blanket in a thrift store to get heat directly on the laminate.

My cash flow for this project is also running low. The shop ended up costing more than expected and all of the little things do add up quickly. But I rolled my coin collection jar tonight and came up with almost another $250 and I have a milage check coming from work soon. Between those two sums that should be almost enough to get me to the point of a layup.

With luck my bottom mold will be done this weekend and top mold next week sometime.
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skidesmond
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Post by skidesmond »

Vinman wrote:just a quick update:

I got my baseboard heaters online yesterday. Turns out I had them wired wrong, but a co-worker straitened me out. I could have some difficulty reaching the 70 degree mark inside my shop in winter. I may have to build a hot box(insulated plywood box) around the press and baseboard heater as well as supplement with a portable kerosene heater. I'm also still looking to find a second hand electric blanket in a thrift store to get heat directly on the laminate.

My cash flow for this project is also running low. The shop ended up costing more than expected and all of the little things do add up quickly. But I rolled my coin collection jar tonight and came up with almost another $250 and I have a milage check coming from work soon. Between those two sums that should be almost enough to get me to the point of a layup.

With luck my bottom mold will be done this weekend and top mold next week sometime.
Welcome to ski building :) Sounds so familiar. Cash flow is a common theme. The actual cost of making a ski isn't too bad, $120-$200 ( depending on options), compared to buying a top-end pair. But it's the cost of the journey.
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vinman
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Post by vinman »

finished the bottom mold today minus some sanding. I'll start work on the top mold tomorrow if there is time after skiing.
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artski
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Post by artski »

I've also noticed the ski building slows down considerably this time of year, at least for me 8)
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vinman
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Post by vinman »

yeah i had honey do list stuff today plus I went skiing. The only thing that got done today was cleaning up the huge amount of MDF dust from routing camber rails yesterday. I'll be pumped when the MDF work is done at least for this mold and model. I still have to make a ski template and do some sanding on the mold but that won't be as messy as the routing work.
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