First off, i'd like to introduce myself as this is the first time i've posted on the forum.
I'm an engineering undergrad up in Whistler building a ghetto wood pneumatic press. I'm leaving to Brisbane, Auzzyland soon and pushing hard to get some decent skis out of my press.
Anywho, i've been looking around for info to no avail about using hardware (aka nuts and bolts) for putting into the tips and tails of skis. I'm assuming they are just to prevent the ski from delaming when the tip/tail experiences hard impacts, but thats just my best guess.
Yes, tip delam can be a problem. I have however set up a lot of my skis with rivets in tip and tail in only one ski of a pair, and yes I do get a lot of questions on the lift, but prototype testing seems to go a long way in keeping the critics quiet. A good and cheap system that I have used is aluminium nails 1/8th in dia.. and pop rivet roves,[small washers with 1/8th holes. Do a few tests first, as the alu. nails are quite soft and if too much shank is left they can bend over. I like to leave just a little more length than the diameter of the shank width. I put the head of the nail on the base side, which if you are really anal you can countersink a bit first. So far I have not have any tip delam, [unlike the K2 skis made in China], but a small skibuilder does have th luxury of making sure that every piece of material is super clean. I have also been using closed cell expanded neoprene as a tip spacer with good results. If you would like to try some of this material Iwould be happy to send you some, but then you will owe me a beer if I run into you skiing in New Zealand. PM me if you would like some.
K2 is definitely not at all what it used to be.
And they've always had tip problems. when i was a kid i recall seeing every pair of k2's on the slopes with pressure/vibration cracks across the tips, to the point where people just passed it off as normal wear and tear.
that neoprene sounds great. is there a place to get it?
cut up some mousepads!!!! cut up your wetsuits!! old grenade gloves?
Expanded closed cell neoprene can be found at any rubber gasket making shop. This material has to be performed to allow epoxy to flow thru to layers of composite. I believe Volkl us this product in the entire P10 series. Good luck.
I have used 1/16th thick material. It should have read perforated. This allows the epoxy to flow thru to the composite layers above and below. the material is very bondable, but not strong. It will bond so well that when doing a peel test it will split on itself. PM me if you would life some to experiment with.
mountain bikes use a small threaded bolt to attach the rear derailleur hanger. its identical to a standard chainring bolt, but much shorter. ive used many of them over the years to fix delammed skis. they are low profile, stay in place, and are the perfect size. if you cant find those online, just cut down some standard chainring bolts. use a good deal of locktite too.
