So I am planning to build skis... a nice fat pair like the Megawatt or the Lotus 120! But as I don't know anything about the process (vacuum bagging) and want to have a decent first pair of skis... I first made a pair of small skis! Took about an afternoon for each of them... :-)
So here are the details of the two prototype...
1. Wood and 30 min epoxy, pressed with a bunch of books on to off it. Also tried using regular laser printer paper with some writing on it. In general:
- The ski has way too much epoxy in it... the pressure wasn't enough to squeeze it out.
- Not enough pressure for the ski to keep its camber (I also removed it 30min after I layed it up... bad)!
2. Second ski has been vacuum bagged. Not sure about what is the base (probably some kind of low density PE), but then 8oz fiberglass, wood core and 8 oz fiberglass on top... same 30 min epoxy.
- I think there is almost too much epoxy that went out of the ski and into the breather. The finish on top is really not that good, it looks like it can absorb water, seems really fragile, and not as transparent as in the first ski...
- It kept is camber really well... Even if I forgot to pre-bend the tip using heat!
Here are some pictures (also on: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=5 ... =544301602)
Dry testing the bag... only reached about -50% full vacuum, good that I tested my skills with that first!
The mold... quite simple: flat on the bottom, a rocker in the front and a little up in the back!
Everything in... peel ply (dacron), perforated breather sheet and breather bleeder ply...
Did a better job the second time, reached -90%!! Had some leaks, cause I couldn't leave the pump off for more than 2min...
Epoxy coming out in the breather bleeder ply
Left it in the mold for 45 min... then remove vacuum and put a bunch of books on it!
Vacuum bagged ski on the left, other ski pressed with books on the right...
Nice rocker on the vacuum bagged one...
Both of them side by side:
If anyone has ideas about how to improve the finish of a vacuum bagged ski that has fiberglass as the last layer I would appreciate that. Should I get rid of all the breather layer and just hope that enough resin will stay on the fiber? Now I am thinking about putting a top layer of thin p-tex...
Thanks!
Alexis
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http://snowchasers.blogspot.com/
