Let the journey begin

deepskis · Post by **deepskis** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 12:14 pm

Hi!
I am sorry to tell you that it will be very hard to get that mould flat..

Cut one, make that perfect and use it as a template for the rest. Use a router to cut the rest. If the mould isn't perfect your skis will not be able to grind.

backyardskier · Post by **backyardskier** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 12:44 pm

deepskis wrote:Hi!
I am sorry to tell you that it will be very hard to get that mold flat..

Cut one, make that perfect and use it as a template for the rest. Use a router to cut the rest. If the mold isn't perfect your skis will not be able to grind.

Those are all 6" by 80" plus or minus at the most on one .15". I'm going to make a template with a some regular plywood get that perfect and use a jig saw to get a close enough cut and finish it with a trim router bit to create the rest with the mdf.

I didn't cut these with the jig saw i used a panel saw. I was saying that my jig saw broke so I couldn't make my template so another step back due to that.

I'm not sure why you think they wont be flat.

twizzstyle · Post by **twizzstyle** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 2:26 pm

I think deepskis thought you were going to cut all of the ribs with a jigsaw. Doing it with a trim router is the right way to do it.

deepskis · Post by **deepskis** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 2:38 pm

Aah ok. In the picture it looks like they are all glued together

Sorry. Have to check my eyes...

backyardskier · Post by **backyardskier** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 3:45 pm

deepskis wrote:Aah ok. In the picture it looks like they are all glued together

Sorry. Have to check my eyes...

Oh ok just got me worried that i took a wrong step.

But some good news went skiing today!

backyardskier · Post by **backyardskier** » Sat Nov 17, 2012 3:14 pm

New jig saw, check.
Mold and ski shape templates, check.

backyardskier · Post by **backyardskier** » Mon May 27, 2013 11:01 am

First ski came out pretty good for my first press ever. Still got to get a base grind and tune it up, but no rush seeing how I wont be able to ski on them for a while. Going to press the other ski some time soon. Specs 111, 86, 110 no camber with tip and tail rocker.

Made some mistakes from this first lay up but I learned a lot as well, and I plan on improving a lot on the next one.

backyardskier · Post by **backyardskier** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 12:27 pm

Hot out of the press, this lay up went much better as did the press. In a week I'm going to cut it out and have my first pair of homemade skis!

backyardskier · Post by **backyardskier** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 12:32 pm

Well after a few days in a makeshift hot box I did my rough cut and found this.
Core shift, and for some reason the tail didnt press down as much as it should have. Think this ski is skiable? If so how would I go about fixing the gaps? Any feedback would be great.

vinman · Post by **vinman** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 5:53 pm

Check your mold conformity. If there and gaps between your mold and the cassette layers it is likely the issue. I have a bad mold conformity issue on my first pair., now I do a dry run pressure test to check before every pressing.

Depending on how wide that gap is you might be able to just fill it with epoxy.

If it is super wide maybe epoxy and some kind of filler, maybe chopped fiberglass, maybe laying some strands of FG or CF tow into the voids and filling it with epoxy. I've used JB weld on small voids with good results. That one looks big though.

Might be skiable, might blow up.. Only one way to find out. Fix it the best you can and try to break it. Chalk it up to learning, diagnose and fix the mistake.

I try to find something to learn from at each pair I make. That's the only way to get better. Be critical of your process, dial it in, fix the stuff that doesn't work and keep progressing.

sammer · Post by **sammer** » Thu Jun 13, 2013 8:16 pm

Mask off your topsheet and base.
Mix some epoxy with sanding dust or very fine sawdust.
Use a putty knife or similar to push the mix into the void.
let it cure for a couple days then sand back into shape.
Neat epoxy will be fairly brittle and will crack.

sam

twizzstyle · Post by **twizzstyle** » Fri Jun 14, 2013 12:03 pm

It looks like you have a lot of air in your fiberglass, especially down in the tail there is a big blotch (but that may be due to the core shift? did it slide over the top of the tip spacer?)

Is this a firehose press, or vacuum bag? What pressure are you pressing at?

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