If anyone has a pattern, model, etc of their ski mold I would love to see it. I know its a long shot to get a mold th way I need it but I am not so sure of how to make the mold for my skis. I am thinking of starting with ski ski blades or twin tips to keep things simple.
Is there any library of skis made by commerical companies and include their ski measurements?
Is the core profile shown on these diagrams what I need to make for my ski press's mold? http://www.skibuilders.com/gallery/klownwhacker.shtml
Thanks
ski mold patterns
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doughboyshredder
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he probably wants to make ski blades because they're tiny and you can pretty much make like 3 or 4 of them with the materials for one snowboard or pair of skis.
and those things still are used here and there, they've just lost lots of popularity.
as far as help figuring out how to make molds etc., search through the forums, search skibuilders.com, search grafsnowboards.com, look at everything you can. there's so much more out there now than when I started this, its amazing.
and if you have cash and you dont feel like making molds you can always pay for them from places like snowboardmaterials.com
honestly i dont have much time for anything other than making my actual boards, coming up with the few home built tools I do have has been difficult enough, so I just bought my press and my molds and everything.
i have a mold i built on my own several years back, and I used it with a little success, it was a work in progress for a long time and when i finished it it still had lots of flaws, but the last board I built in it came out pretty darn good, considering the constraints I had which I wont even bother to get into here.
doug
and those things still are used here and there, they've just lost lots of popularity.
as far as help figuring out how to make molds etc., search through the forums, search skibuilders.com, search grafsnowboards.com, look at everything you can. there's so much more out there now than when I started this, its amazing.
and if you have cash and you dont feel like making molds you can always pay for them from places like snowboardmaterials.com
honestly i dont have much time for anything other than making my actual boards, coming up with the few home built tools I do have has been difficult enough, so I just bought my press and my molds and everything.
i have a mold i built on my own several years back, and I used it with a little success, it was a work in progress for a long time and when i finished it it still had lots of flaws, but the last board I built in it came out pretty darn good, considering the constraints I had which I wont even bother to get into here.
doug
Doug
The bottom image that shows the camber of the klown whackers is the image you would want to model your mold on.
The mold determines how much camber you will have and the curve of the tips and tails. The high point of the camber section of your mold generally corresponds to the boot center mark on your ski.
When your mold is complete you should be able to lay a ski, of the same length and without brakes, into it without very much space between the mold and the ski. Contrast this with laying a traditional ski onto a flat surface. In this case you will end up with the ski only touching the ground in 2 places, the front near the tip and the back of the ski.
It seems like the mold section on the how to page of the skibuilders web site has more than enough information about how to make a mold. You don't really need to use a computer to make a mold. I recently finished a mold and its complimentary top mold using 2"X6" lumber. I used narrow mdf strips to trace (and later rout) the curved shape of my mold. I used existing skis as a guide and I also added a rockered section to the front and back of my mold. This approach also yielded the top and bottom mold from 6 doug fir 2X6's.
Don't forget that the bottom mold needs to be exact because it determines the actual shape of the ski (any errors will be evident in your finished skis). The top mold does not need to be super precise because the air bladder will absorb any irregularities.
Making a mold for ski blades is just as much work as making one for actual skis. It seems like most people nowadays, myself included, think that ski blades are a waste of time. You should just study the shape of a regular ski when viewed from the side and the replicate that shape onto a board and then duplicate it with a pattern bit until you have enough to make a mold. I think it is simpler to make your mold with out the gaps seen in the example mold in the how to section. You can also make a solid (no gaps) adjustable mold.
The mold determines how much camber you will have and the curve of the tips and tails. The high point of the camber section of your mold generally corresponds to the boot center mark on your ski.
When your mold is complete you should be able to lay a ski, of the same length and without brakes, into it without very much space between the mold and the ski. Contrast this with laying a traditional ski onto a flat surface. In this case you will end up with the ski only touching the ground in 2 places, the front near the tip and the back of the ski.
It seems like the mold section on the how to page of the skibuilders web site has more than enough information about how to make a mold. You don't really need to use a computer to make a mold. I recently finished a mold and its complimentary top mold using 2"X6" lumber. I used narrow mdf strips to trace (and later rout) the curved shape of my mold. I used existing skis as a guide and I also added a rockered section to the front and back of my mold. This approach also yielded the top and bottom mold from 6 doug fir 2X6's.
Don't forget that the bottom mold needs to be exact because it determines the actual shape of the ski (any errors will be evident in your finished skis). The top mold does not need to be super precise because the air bladder will absorb any irregularities.
Making a mold for ski blades is just as much work as making one for actual skis. It seems like most people nowadays, myself included, think that ski blades are a waste of time. You should just study the shape of a regular ski when viewed from the side and the replicate that shape onto a board and then duplicate it with a pattern bit until you have enough to make a mold. I think it is simpler to make your mold with out the gaps seen in the example mold in the how to section. You can also make a solid (no gaps) adjustable mold.