Looking good!
For the epoxy heating up, this can also happen if you mix too large of a batch and leave it for too long. To mitigate this, I usually prepare three cups of resin without hardener and add the required hardener and mix as I wet out the layers.
Round Top skis 19/20
Moderators: Head Monkey, kelvin, bigKam, skidesmond, chrismp
Re: Round Top skis 19/20
Thanks! My local ski shop is definitely impressed with the progress I am making on the skis that I bring them for their initial tune ups. I am still making mistakes but every pair I am getting better.
As for the epoxy, embarrassingly enough I had tried doing this. I had two cups of resin (one 200g and the other 300g) and another cup with hardener. The first batch was measured and mixed but it ran out halfway through and in my panic I forgot that I had too much hardener in the cup and I dumped it all in. Oh well, live and learn! I make notes on how the press session went and always ends with all the things that went wrong and need to be careful of the next time.
Re: Round Top skis 19/20
Ohh, that's too bad. For your nerves, once the mixed epoxy is spread out on the ski, the working time will increase as the thin layer doesn't kick off as fast as a larger batch, so you can take your time with mixing the next batch. Only if it already started heating up in the mixing cup and you still use it on the ski, you'll run into troubles.
Re: Round Top skis 19/20
I live in the North East (southern Quebec to be a little more accurate) and we have been having an incredible season so far. I bought a Friday pass at our local ski area and that has allowed me to really put my skis through the paces and so I have found some issues.
The last pair of skis I made (181cm 125/94/107) are very soft...too soft and do not offer any sort of rebound or kick from the tails when skiing in powder or soft snow and holding an edge on hard pack is not happening, lots of smearing my turns. They are fun in the moguls, when the moguls are soft but beyond that they are a little bit of a disappointment. I am not sure if it was the problems I had with the epoxy during the lay up (see previous post) or the lack of camber or a combination of the two. I still ski them when I skin up in the mornings for dawn patrols but a full day on them is not as fun.
The pair I made with the lightening bolt inlay (178cm 124/94/111) had some issues with the tail design, the early rise tails caused me problems when in the bumps. Due to their length I kept stepping on them (I tele so this is an issue for me) so I decided to take a hacksaw and cut off 7cm of the tail since they really didn't add anything to the ski performance. I still have a nice rise from the remaining tail, I have not impacted the effective edge or the skis performance. They are now 172cm in length and I am enjoying the quick turning and not stepping on the tails in bumps. However, they don't feel like solid carving skis, then again, it could be me. I like the dimensions but I think for the next attempt I will lengthen the effective edge pushing the widest part of the tail back and maybe make the tips 128 - 130 mm wide.
My backcountry powder skis (183cm 143/111/123) have been a joy to ski. They are my heaviest pair of skis but for their size not too bad. The camber on them is cross country ski sized 7mm but think that's what makes them so much fun as I do get a spring out of my turns in powder and they are surprisingly quick in tight trees. I will be skiing them in Rogers Pass in a couple of weeks so I will have a full week of "testing" with them so really put them through their paces.
For my next build I am going to try some different things. Try to leave my cores a little thicker to see if they makes a difference in how lively the skis feel. Use a different type of carbon fibre in the ski to see if that will add a little more stiffness and spring and finally try and get a little more camber for my area skis which means a little warmer on the heat blanket under the press.
The last pair of skis I made (181cm 125/94/107) are very soft...too soft and do not offer any sort of rebound or kick from the tails when skiing in powder or soft snow and holding an edge on hard pack is not happening, lots of smearing my turns. They are fun in the moguls, when the moguls are soft but beyond that they are a little bit of a disappointment. I am not sure if it was the problems I had with the epoxy during the lay up (see previous post) or the lack of camber or a combination of the two. I still ski them when I skin up in the mornings for dawn patrols but a full day on them is not as fun.
The pair I made with the lightening bolt inlay (178cm 124/94/111) had some issues with the tail design, the early rise tails caused me problems when in the bumps. Due to their length I kept stepping on them (I tele so this is an issue for me) so I decided to take a hacksaw and cut off 7cm of the tail since they really didn't add anything to the ski performance. I still have a nice rise from the remaining tail, I have not impacted the effective edge or the skis performance. They are now 172cm in length and I am enjoying the quick turning and not stepping on the tails in bumps. However, they don't feel like solid carving skis, then again, it could be me. I like the dimensions but I think for the next attempt I will lengthen the effective edge pushing the widest part of the tail back and maybe make the tips 128 - 130 mm wide.
My backcountry powder skis (183cm 143/111/123) have been a joy to ski. They are my heaviest pair of skis but for their size not too bad. The camber on them is cross country ski sized 7mm but think that's what makes them so much fun as I do get a spring out of my turns in powder and they are surprisingly quick in tight trees. I will be skiing them in Rogers Pass in a couple of weeks so I will have a full week of "testing" with them so really put them through their paces.
For my next build I am going to try some different things. Try to leave my cores a little thicker to see if they makes a difference in how lively the skis feel. Use a different type of carbon fibre in the ski to see if that will add a little more stiffness and spring and finally try and get a little more camber for my area skis which means a little warmer on the heat blanket under the press.
Re: Round Top skis 19/20
Regarding "too soft": this is less a camber issue than your layup. Camber more changes how actively the ski engages into the new turn, but hardly changes how soft or hard a ski feels.
My skis were always hard enough but sometimes lacked edge grip in icy conditions. I fixed this by reducing the amount of uni and increasing the amount of biax. The hardness of the skis stayed the same, but the edge grip improved a lot.
My skis were always hard enough but sometimes lacked edge grip in icy conditions. I fixed this by reducing the amount of uni and increasing the amount of biax. The hardness of the skis stayed the same, but the edge grip improved a lot.