hi i am looking into making my first skis i need to know is it possibly for me to make a pair that i will actually be able to ski on?
and how important is the heat blanket and the fire hose compressor?
would i be able to just make a mold then tighten the skis inside it with straps or screw it down very tight to compress the ski together?
problems
Moderators: Head Monkey, kelvin, bigKam, skidesmond, chrismp
You can make a 1st pair of skis that you can ski on.
They probably won't be the best skis you have ever ridden.
Heat blanket is not essential.
Fire hose style press is not essential.
Using a screw/clamp style press is possible, but will probably reduce the likelihood of your skis ever being very good.
You could look into vacuum bagging or a fabric style firehose press. A pneumatic press with firehoses doesn't have to cost a lot. Firehose even bought new is not that expensive.
It is possible to make a 1st pair of skis that is skiable, but when you start to want to do this by removing a lot of the things that make a good ski (eg. pneumatic press, heat) then it makes me think that the chances of the first skis being really skiable reduces greatly.
They probably won't be the best skis you have ever ridden.
Heat blanket is not essential.
Fire hose style press is not essential.
Using a screw/clamp style press is possible, but will probably reduce the likelihood of your skis ever being very good.
You could look into vacuum bagging or a fabric style firehose press. A pneumatic press with firehoses doesn't have to cost a lot. Firehose even bought new is not that expensive.
It is possible to make a 1st pair of skis that is skiable, but when you start to want to do this by removing a lot of the things that make a good ski (eg. pneumatic press, heat) then it makes me think that the chances of the first skis being really skiable reduces greatly.
Don't wait up, I'm off to kill Summer....
My first pair came out pretty good and definitely mprd than just skiable but I threw down big on the whole process. Pneumatic press, heat, the right tools and a space to house everything.
If you are looking to try this with the least overhead and best chance to have a decent ski then look into vac bag or cloth presses like falls said. But don't try to totally cheap out and expect a good outcome.
You can save a lot of $$ buying some of your tools on craigslist as well as maybe some materials like wood. Some stuff might even be free. I built my cat track out of broken hockey sticks and coaxial tv cable. I even got a full sheet of MDF for free on CL. Thinking outside the box is a good thing. Read up in various thread to glean some pearls before jumping in. But some lessons are best learned the hard way too.
Good luck.
If you are looking to try this with the least overhead and best chance to have a decent ski then look into vac bag or cloth presses like falls said. But don't try to totally cheap out and expect a good outcome.
You can save a lot of $$ buying some of your tools on craigslist as well as maybe some materials like wood. Some stuff might even be free. I built my cat track out of broken hockey sticks and coaxial tv cable. I even got a full sheet of MDF for free on CL. Thinking outside the box is a good thing. Read up in various thread to glean some pearls before jumping in. But some lessons are best learned the hard way too.
Good luck.
Fighting gravity on a daily basis
www.Whiteroomcustomskis.com
www.Whiteroomcustomskis.com