Blue Cheese

krp8128 · Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 3:11 pm Post subject: Blue Cheese

Over the summer I completed my first "Pair" of skis with moderate success: http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=907&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

The first ski came out mechanically sound, but with cosmetic issues. The second ski never really came out; my vacuum pump malfunctioned and I had no backup. There were gaping voids in my sandwich.

So i tried it again, starting with a new adjustable mold, made plenty wide. It is 18" wide, which gives me around 16" of room for skis plus an inch on either side for sealing the bag. It's covered in a thick sheet of Formica, smooth and airtight. I taped of the sealing surface and applied a release wax.

I must have done something right when I cut out the bases and attached the edges, everything sat perfectly flat on the mold.

Alignment block are a PITA, and I can't pin the cores due to the mold needing to be airtight. So I used an 1/8" dowel to make some alignment pins:

Here are the skis, all ready to be wrapped up:

I kind of took a big leap of faith here and decided to do both skis at once. I had little faith, so I skipped over printing and applying graphics. Ooops.

I sealed the bag up, located the leaks, and then placed the "Eazy Bake Oven eXtreme" over the mold. A 3/4" particle board enclosure placed over the mold with two 150w heat lamps inside. No idea on the actual temp, put it got past toasty in there. For some reason I had fluctuating vacuum throughout the day, it would plummet when I turned the pump off, but other times it would hold for over an hour. I checked on everything and then ran the pump a bit until 10pm when the rest of my family went to bed.

When I checked on everything in the morning, the gauge read 5" HG vacuum, put the bag was still as tight as could be. I think my brand new gauge is defective. I opened everything up to find this:

Success!

Here they are all cleaned up and mounted:

Oh yeah, we got 10" of powder at my parent's on Monday morning, and are looking to get 12-16" tonight. When I took this pick there was already 4" fresh on the ground. I think I'll skip work to go skiing tomorrow Very Happy

.

Specs:

114-75-104, 172
15.7m radius

Mr. Fiberglass SLOW epoxy

VDS along edges, in tip and tail
22 oz triax
UHMW Tip/Tail Spacers
Cherry and White Pine core, with Cherry Sidewalls
VDS in binding area (~20")
22 oz triax
Cotton graphics
3 oz. woven glass

They ideally need a base grind, but I sharpened them Up a bit and threw on a coat of wax so I can play with them tomorrow.

rockaukum · Joined: 03 Nov 2006 Posts: 400 Location: Placerville area

They look great! Hope they ski that way also. Enjoy the new snow. Looking ofrward to some new stuff this week also. Prelim reports are up to 8 to 10" when the latest bands are through.
Rockaukum

plywood · Joined: 13 Oct 2006 Posts: 488 Location: wilen, switzerland

i`d second that! they look pretty and well done!

next time if you`re getting 10" again i`d build fatter skis Wink

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plywood freeride industries - go ply, ride wood!

breid19 · Joined: 01 Dec 2006 Posts: 27

Hi,

Nice looking skis!!!.

I'm curious about your mold. How do you attach the formica to an adjustable mold. I am assuming that the formica is removable so the mold can be adjusted. Do you have any problems with is cracking at the tip radius? I've used acrylic plastic clamped to the mold but it breaks on occasion and it's pretty expensive to be breaking.

Thanks

bill

bigKam · Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 6:38 pm Post subject:

nice looking skis! so, how did they work?
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kam k leang (aka Big Kam) www.leang.com/kam/

RoboGeek · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 7:53 am Post subject:

very nice! Love the color too!
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I used to be a lifeguard, but some blue kid got me fired.

oasisvader · Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 14

Look great! How did they ride?

krp8128 · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:42 am Post subject:

krp8128 · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:59 am Post subject: