Ski Builders Forum

Eric, honestly the press was one of the cheaper parts of this. Probably about $100 for the steel and welding wire, and about $50 for the two beams and their hardware.

Yeah, but I just spent $600 on a planer and another $150 building a mobile table and dust collection for it. Luckily I think that was the most expensive piece of this puzzle for a while.

well.. that's what I say every time I buy something for skibuilding : "my be my last expense for a while..." unfortunately it's never the case...

Took a short break from ski building to actually go skiing... Caught the most recent storm up in the Telluride/Rico, Co area. It was awesome!

Edit: Forgot to add pics of my core profiler. Originally I wanted to use my jointer, but the size of the thing just makes it easier to use a jig with the planer. The jig worked perfectly, nice and light:




Got my cores profiled and ready to go: I went with oak/pine and 2-11-2 mm with about a 40cm middle section at 11mm
(had a small chip happen on one due to user error on the planer...)



My ruler just so happens to be 2mm:




I think my first pressing will occur either Monday or Tuesday night!

One base ready to go!
All I need to do is cut out my glass and route the edge relief in my cores...

Still no skis as I'm still waiting for the correct fiberglass to come in....
I had a buddy come by and help me go through some dry runs. A good thing too because my molds were causing the tips to not press fully. A little belt sanding and the problem is fixed.

He took some pics with his nice camera:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34845280@N ... 332707528/

Thanks for sharing the pics. The last pic.... I assume you're wondering what you got yourself into or solving a problem??? I spent weeks looking just like that.

I was really wondering what I got myself into once the epoxy was mixed!

That was one hectic span of 30 minutes!
I think everything turned out pretty well. I had barely enough epoxy, but I think that was the only hiccup.
I used epoxy from Raka and they have their mix ratios specified by volume; ended up using 2 cups. Does that sound about right?
After some bad experiences with fiberglass in contained spaces I'm afraid of the stuff. So the mask in the pics is to deal with stray fibers in the air.

The press is covered in a blanket and that heater is set to 65F. The drips of epoxy around the shop were still pretty tacky this morning (my garage was probably around 40F all night) so I think I may just let the press sit for a day or two.

Yeah I'd leave it in the press for at least a day. A mask is the right thing to wear when working w/ FG. I try to handle it as little as possible to avoid air borne fibers. As for the epoxy, each manufacturer has it's own specs on how it s/b mixed and ratios. And the obligatory beer!

Looks like a nice ski shape and some rocker in your press form, should be some really fun skis. I've been refining a similar design this year.
Nice job on the lay-up. You might consider wearing safety glasses too, if that curing agent splashed onto your face you'd probably scrap the ski build and seek medical attention.
Also, you should seriously consider adding a heater blanket and aluminum sheet to your lower press form, heat make all the difference when curing the epoxy. Even room-temp curing epoxy benefits from some heat.

-S

congrats on your first layup.

I suggest wetting out your core before putting that layer of fiberglass on there. Don't want anything dry in your layup.

Thanks for the comments/tips.

Heat will be on the way, but probably not till next season.... I already have a pid heat controller for beer brewing, just need to splurge for a heat blanket.

Ugg I didn't notice that I missed wetting out the core until after I posted that pic... Hopefully it'll be ok. I dumped quite a bit of epoxy into the fg layer on top.

Shot of the top layer wet out:


I think I'm going to play it safe and not take the ski out until tomorrow morning.

Slick layup - nice job!

Yeah, same things happened to me on the tip-mold sections, I couldn't fit everything in haha so much for drawings. Give that big orange cat a can of tuna! Tell him it's from me). You need heat, seriously. Nice job!

Alright, got both skis pressed.
I actually have the press covered in a couple of large wool blankets with a baseboard like heater underneath. I stuck a thermometer under the blanket and it registered 95F.

Apparently on the first ski I didn't pay attention to where my topsheet was so I missed covering part of the tip... It lead to some of the glass not wetting out completely, so I hit the whole area with epoxy when I did the second ski layup. I think most of the damage is just cosmetic, there's a little spot where the epoxy didn't quite fill in under the topsheet, but I think I'll be fine.

The flex is really spot on and I can't wait to get my bindings on them!!

The second ski layup went significantly smoother. It's shown on the last pic; I have yet to trim the flash.

Both skis are cut out.

We're supposed to get a foot of fresh this week! I can't wait to try these out.



Shot of the camber: