Hey guys,
I'm new to this forum, and I'm looking for some help to build a set of skis. I'm from Puyallup, WA and I'm starting a ski mountaineering company. We have a ski that we need to build to test it's shape before it goes into larger production at a small factory. There's an image below with more specifics. Let me know if anyone is interested in giving us a hand, and how much you'd charge if you'd like to help. I can cut the mold out of MDF and do whatever you need, I just don't have a press yet. Thanks!
Kyle Hart
Alpine Descent Skis
You're just going to jump into production without any experience building skis first? It's a steep learning curve...
Unfortunately our setup can't accommodate other people's designs, but what you've got looks pretty crazy! I thought my 160cm 130mm wide skis were a little silly looking, these look nuts. Very interested to see how they turn out.
Well, our Senior engineer at our factory has 40 years experience building skis. However, it will cost around $2500 for him to tool a mold to mass produce these. So, before we commit to that I wanted to try to build a pair just to test the shape, sidecut, and tip/tail height.
I was thinking about getting into ski building anyway before we needed to get a sample built. Why won't this work in a regular ski press? I'm not very keen on this side of things so bear with me.
Interesting design. They are very short.... What's the design/concept behind them? How are they intended to be use? They seem more like snow blades than a ski. With something that short, building a ski press would seems fairly straight forward. I'm not set up to build something that short.
Here's a link that might help you out if you're interested in making your own press in the future. It's for skateboards, but could be modified for building short skis. Good luck!
I had someone asked me if I could build a pair like that, but their plan was to use them as ascenders with a permanent skin attached. Kind of a snowshoe. Anyway for something that size and as a test make the tool (camber and tip form) and vacuum bag instead. Simple tools low cost and easy to do. One sheet of MDF is about all it would take and a couple days work. No need for a big press until you go into production.
For the guys with pneumatic presses they would have to retools to make something that short. Kind of a pain. From my perspective all it would take is a new center board for the tool to match your running length, and the pattern for the shape. Not as difficult but a lot of work to match all of the tool surfaces up.
I have a pair of blades that short and they are hell scary on steep hard pack and soft snow is out too. Just too short no float for powder. I tried to wreck my knee with the things in powder snow. Anything but nice groomers can be pretty scary on them. YMMV
kmdhart wrote: Why won't this work in a regular ski press? I'm not very keen on this side of things so bear with me.
It will work fine in any ski press, its just a matter of having a mold that small. Some people have adjustable molds, but more than likely don't adjust that short. Even if you can use someone else's press, you'll still likely have to make your own mold (bottom mold, and top blocks to go above the hose)
They are intended for glacier travel with attachable skins that will help the ascent. Performance on steeps or deep powder is not what it's designed for. It's more of a tool to get you down from basecamp quickly instead of having to hike down after an ascent.
