Ski Builders Forum

Hi this is my first post on this great forum. Thanks everyone for your help so far. I have been reading this forum for quite a few months now and always found the answers to my questions.

But I am now stumped, I have finished my first two pairs this week and thought I was really happy with them. With both pairs I have noticed a problem I will try to explain. If I put them base to base and if I line up the tips together and the tails togther like you would when you carry your skis, I have noticed that the centre is not lining up. It seems to have shifted to the right by 3-4mm. So there will now be a smaller turning radius to the left than there would be if your carved right.

What am I doing wrong any ideas? Each pair is a completely different shape so I can't blame the template!

A while back people were experiencing problems where the base material was warping. If I remember correctly the 'kananas' were a quirky offshoot of that phenomenon.

The problem seemed to be most likely to occur when people were cutting the P-Tex base with a knife, rather than using a router.

How did you cut your bases out?

B.

I did cut the bases out with a router but they had been sat around for a long while. This is because the final part of the press took longer to arrive than expected. Do you think this could be the problem?

Sounds plausible, but I have no experience with that...

i think there is a discussion somewhere about p-tex. some have experienced same problems as you do. theis bases shifted after the cut them out, maybe because of some internal tensions of the material.

i wait as long as possible with cutting out the bases. they can be sensitive to changing temperatures and all such stuff. so if you cut them out in a cold garage and take them into a heated room there is a higher risk of wrapping.... but i don`t think there is a solution for this issue in general. one last matter uf luck just avoid possible stress for the material such as differences in temperature and wait until the very last moment to cut them out.

I'm with Ply on this. I have experienced this warping of the base material. To see for yourself, take a straight piece and put it in the sun (our use a blow dryer) and watch it dance (warp). Of the people I have spoken with they try to regulate the temp throught the project in order to minimize this.
rockaukum

I had the same issue with my first pair of skis. I was luck because I noticed the problem before I did the lay-up. I found that if I used the templates to hold the base in position while the edges were being glued to the base I could straighten out the base. Once the edges were glued to the base everything stayed straight.

Align the center of the base to the bottom template set the other template off center and clamp with a bit of overhang on a table. Then align one end and clamp it in place. Then do the other end. Now run the edge in place and clamp the center with a spring clamp. Glue and clamp the tabs on the edge to the base every so often. Flip and repeat the other side. The top template is there to hold the base in place.





Hope that helps

Hafte

P.S. can everyone see these pictures? I looked in here a couple of times and they are not coming up for me every time.

Thanks for all your help, im going to leave cutting the bases to last job on my next set.

What do you use to hold the ptex down on the template, at the moment Im using double sided sticky tape, all the ones ive used have been a pig to get off. This could could stress to the material!?

Will see wht happens and let you know. I have a heat press will this not effect the bases in anyway or does the pressure not let then move?