Ski Builders Forum

Just got a pair of skis in the press
A new shape - skinny!

124-74-114
178cm
Traditional camber and tail. Slight rocker tip (K2 piste ski type rocker)
Tip height 5cm
Tail height 1cm
10mm camber (but single blanket from top, so likely lose a bit)

Sicomin epoxy
Heated cure (30 minutes up to 80C, then 1hr15min at 80C)
55psi press (although skinny skis so probably quite a bit at the actual ski)

Materials cobbled together a bit.
Diecut two short pieces of base together for one ski
Scrap piece for the other
3/4 edge wrap

Core bamboo - 2 - 13 - 2 - felt pretty stiff even being narrow so no carbon
Bamboo horizontal veneer topsheet

Layup OK
Pressing looks ok after rejigging the press for new molds.

One stuffup routing cores and managed to gouge the template - so these my be a one off! Will be a small 2cm section where about 0.5mm-1mm of gap between edge and base material. Pretty annoyed.

Didn't have vacuum templates for this model
I routed a copy of the template with a slight inset and used this to clamp the base material to the base template (like doughboy does, and OAC - just I used a handheld router not OAC's mega-table router). Used a spiral down cutting bit - nice clean cut - except where I gouged the template! (stupid mistake, really pissed, but moved on and finished the skis).

Anyway cooking now
Pictures soon, then i'm going on holidays for a while.

falls wrote: OAC - just I used a handheld router not OAC's mega-table router..

Hehehe....it came with the machine!

Nice weather you have!
Good to see you building skis in the summer(?)

Yep. Summer it is at the moment. About 30C most days.

the "finished" product!

These are going to get at least a 5 week rest before flashing!

Nice to see another person using bamboo veneer, I love how it turned out on my last pair!

FIVE WEEKS!?! You must be a masochist. BTW, your press, molds, pid controller etc are just beautifully done! Nice work!

Not a masochist, a narcissist - I'm going to south america travelling for a month!!!
Thanks for the compliments

edit: maybe more like a hedonist than a narcissist

What do you do for sidewalls?

Bamboo core extends to the edges
I bevel the sidewalls and eventually get around to applying 3 coats of water based polyurethane with a brush

Have any pics?

I am on the bubble about pulling the trigger on some bamboo products and wondering how your sidewalls turned out.

Have any trouble routing them? There was a whole tread on routing bamboo....

routing the sidewalls with a tilt base router and top bearing flush trim bit. Sometimes I get some tear out unfortunately and have to fill with epoxy then sand it back before polyurethane - you don't really see the repair unless you're really looking.
I think if I climb cut the sidewalls it would probably stop this. Also because I have routed the sidecut out of the core when I do the bevel it means there are exposed joins in the bamboo laminates that I think the router bit can separate (especially if there is a void) and lead to tear out.
I think if you ripped narrow strips of bamboo and applied them like a plastic sidewall (ie. route sidecut in core and then glue sidewalls in along the curve) you would have less trouble.
In terms of durability they seem pretty good. Some of the skis I have made haven't even had any treatment of the sidewall and still seem fine. Plus when they look a bit messy or more when the top sheet is cjipped I just bevel a further 5 degrees and hey look new again!

Those turned out SWEET!

I agree, super sweet! Like that topsheet a lot too.
Those pictures are pushing me closer to pulling the trigger on the bamboo, nice work Falls!