Here are a few pic of the profiling jig that I am trying out. Got tired of the inconsistencies of the prior method. While looking around at the pics of others methods, I cam across a post of Shif. After picking his brain a bit, I came up with this. It is currently Plywood (1/2") and it flexes under the load of the planer rollers. So I am thinking of using Melmine or MDF to construct the final product. Please let me know if there is something I should look into other than these products. I know the weight issue but that can be delt with.
Here is the profiler with the core in place.
This showes the hinge location.
Inside look at the hinge.
Other end to make the angle adjustment.
Another view of the adjustment screws / bolts.
At the planer. notice the blocks to align the core and I also use hot glue at the end to hold it down.
Looking forward to any suggestions on this. Also some input on securing the core to the profiler so it won't bounce.
rockaukum
i'm not a fan of the planer jig method but i've only done it one way.
what i know is that if you use one of those big yellow $550.00 DEWALT planers, it will eat away at the front of your jig over time.
planers are hungry, and you're dealing with about a 2-3mm gap (between highest portion of tip/tail of finished core, and your jig) so as the cutter rolls on, and later off of your work, it will chew a bit off the jig itself.
when i worked at a factory we used mdf planer molds, they were basically the profile carved upsidedown into a sheet of mdf....pretty much like a swimming pool with two shallow ends and a deep end in the middle.
you pop the core in there, if it's the right size...and boom, planer eats it up.
but over time the planers would screw up the molds, like i said, then the ridges would be gone where you place the core, eventually the cores would start to slip, etc. i'd say we were losing a few cores here and there as the planer mold faded. for repeatability, i would search for other methods. for a few cores here and there, it might not be an issue
perhaps put the core right up flush with the front of the template, if it's long enough to do so, it will protect the template, and the only thing that will get gnawed is the part of the core that will eventually be cut away anyway.
if you wanted to build the "swimming pool" planer template, you could first build an inverted version of a router bridge, and use that to rout out your swimming pool into some mdf, and give that a shot. then just figure out some way to secure the cores into it, and you could do the entire core tip to tail in a few passes, knocking it down maybe 1mm at a time.
either that or you could probably pay a cnc guy 50 bucks to build one for you with a mdf sheet, if you're good at cad/cam and generating toolpaths, etc.
but just keep in mind it wont last forever. but i'm sure you could get 100+ cores from it if you're careful. but then again, i dont think 100 skis total have been produced by all of the skibuilders community, YET, so it might not be an issue for a while.
but if you're looking for something adjustable? you might be on the right path with what you're doing.
I like how you are adjusting the height. I may use something like this in my jig.
I attach my cores at the low end with an aluminum clamp bar to resist the cutting forces of the planer knives. This image shows a tapered end clamped down for tapering the other end of the core:
The high end is simply attached with some double sticky masking tape. Two mdf blocks are also taped down and serve as a run-off for the feed rollers in the planer. This prevents the knives from making divots in the core end:
You made the thing really wide, are you going to make snowboards too? I find having a narrow angle jig allows me to shift the thing left and right in the planer to utilize the whole knife. When planing bamboo cores, the knives get ruined in only one pair of ski cores (four tapers). The knives are reversible so two pairs of bamboo cores can get planed per knife set. I'm using the cheaper 12.5" Delta knives in my 13" planer, saves alot of money.
This may be a silly question but are you guys using the planer to create the core thicknesses over the length of the skis/board? I.E. 7mm at center and 2mm at ends. The planer I use to clean up my wood products just has a single thickness adjustment and then it is fed thru by the planer.
Are the planers that auto adjust over lengths of material? Or am I just not envisioning this correctly.
The core I have done for my alpine board, I did with a router bridge and side rails.
Chubz wrote:This may be a silly question but are you guys using the planer to create the core thicknesses over the length of the skis/board? I.E. 7mm at center and 2mm at ends.
Are the planers that auto adjust over lengths of material?
Greg
YES, the planer is used to create the basic tapers on each end of the ski core. The planer is NOT automatically height adjusted. The core is fastened to an angled support structure (pallet) which is fed through the machine. It requires several passes to remove the required amount of core material. My bamboo cores are 13mm thick under foot and taper to 2mm thick at both ends. That's alot of material removal.
The final shaping to create uniform, parallel end areas is performed using other tools. A router bridge may work well for the final shaping since there is not that much material left to be removed. I use a 4x24 belt sander with 40 grit abrasive instead of the router bridge however. This part of the project is similar to shaping a surfboard foam core by hand. This requires skill and patience, making many thickness measurements along the way. I work a pair of ski cores side-by-side to achieve a nearly perfect matching set. The final profile has 2mm thick tips and tails and the taper begins right at the skis contact points, where the camber begins.
AH!!!! Ok, now I get it. Any idea what angle a snowboard core needs to be (i.e. the wedge under the core) to go from a 7mm at front of front binding to 2mm at tip and tail. I have had a long day of work and my brain isnt geared for geometry right now. Asquard plus b Squared = Csquared. Plus I bridge router my camber on the bottom, wil this affect the calculations?
Thanks!
the little tips you learn here and there are the best.
After taking micrometer measurements of my first core i did with a router and bridge, while not off a huge amount, the variability is much larger than what it looks like to the naked eye.
Shif,
With two sons that like to ride and not ski I will and have made a few snowboards (actually helping my son). When this is dialed in I will plane both skis at the same time. Hence the need to stiffen up the jig. I think I will only redo the top portion as the base seems to be okay.
Another adjustment I may make is to have several pivot positions. This will allow for easier adjustments for different length skis / boards. As it stands now, when I make a change in the adjusters, It is not equal over the length of the ski (don't know if this makes sence or not). If the pivot point is at the end location (near the binding location) of the core, I would only have to know how much or little to adjust and that would be far more accurate.
rockaukum
