Ski Builders Forum

I just recently found skibuilders while researching ski design and I am very impressed; all the projects I have seen are very nice.

I am new to ski building, but no new to the industry. I spent 7 years in competitive freestyle (mogul and aerials) before injury forced me to seek out the softer (steeper) snow.

I am currently working in the aerospace composites industry which provides with a wide variety of equipment and materials for my first ski building project.

I have worked in the ski industry for several years and I feel that I have a pretty good idea of a ski that I would like. For my first project I will be building an graphite fiber/Nomex core ski. The tip/waist/tail dimensions are similar to a Rossignol B2 at 118/78/107 with an 18m side cut radius. Ski length should be around 176cm with a 155cm running length and 13mm of camber. Layup will consist of 4001 base material 4 plys graphite prepreg, nomex core, 4 plays graphite prepreg with ABS sidewalls.

The design of this ski will rely on the cloth/resin system for structural integrity instead of the core as it seems is the case with conventional ski design. I really have no idea how it will turn out, but I can't wait to get them done. First thing I am working on is the mold, I will be curing the prepreg in an autoclave so all I need to build is the lower contour. I should have something going in the next couple of months. For now, I will just continue to absorb the wealth of information on this site.

-Reid

hi black magic, a full nomex core should come out really interesting, what cell size nomex do you have planed? also four layers of carbon(graphite)? what weight of cloth-fiber orientation are you thiking about?
look forward to seeing your project postings.

I will be using 3/16 hexagonal aramid core. For the first set I was planning to use a 0/45/90/0 ply orientation just to keep things simple.

I am using a 3K-70-PW prepreg which is a 3000 filament count 7-mil plain weave fabric.

3/16 aramid should be good, here in new zealand you can only get .125 inch (3.2mm) nomex which is used in the boat building industry, to small a cell size for a core. The other problem is that the maximum length is 4 feet so... I really want to do a aramid honeycomb core as well. I contacted an american composites seller, but the postage they quoted to get what I wanted out here was really high, like 10 times the value of the honeycomb..
could you recomend anyone who sells the material your planning on using for a core?cheers

My company buys the core direct from the manufacturer, which has VERY expensive minimum buy requirements. I was able to snag some scraps off of some production parts for this test run.

Ill keep my ears open though and let you know if I can find anything.

thanks black magic,
Any nomex materials you can hook me up with would be great. Cheers