Ski Builders Forum

My Vaccume table is made out of white painted MDF (medium dencity fiberboard) which is pourous and I don't want to damage. I have been using some thin abs, I think, and it is sucking up and not staying flat. It would be nice to have something that did not stick badly. I have been thinking of using metal or rubber. I imagine metal would need to be .050 to be the right stiffness and flexability. What about rubber or some other solution. The Vaccume really lets me create every ski differently so I need to figure out this detail.

Thanks in advance.

Hadley

i did mine with formica, that kitchen countertop stuff.
it's pricey so look for stuff that they're throwing away or discounting.

its nice and smooth and mold releases quite well

+1 for the formica.

I used to use aluminum flashing, but it is too thin and bends or tears when you go to pop the ski loose.

I imagine I should use something with a gloss finish.
Perfect, thanks!

lay it down with contact cement and let it cure for a nite or two. Should be good enough that it doesnt pull up.

Formica works fine with contact cement.
S

I made the deck out of 3/4" MDF and coated that with triax glass and epoxy. Its way cheaper than formica (at least the stuff I see at home depot), but does take a bit more work to seal and get flat for use. I made tip parts seperate form the running length. That allows me to change the center board to make a different length ski while the tip parts move in or out.

Hafte

Since I am a woodshop teacher and every kid wants different lengths and chamber geometry I think I will contact sement the formica to a center piece of 1/4 inch mdf. This will sit on my larger mdf table that has the predetermined chamber profile set. I have already made tip and tail forms to be able to put on the ends. This in combination with filler spacers at each end will let us put this Vaccume table into production. Last year I made my Raven Arks on this table, but was trying out another material instead of formica which was lame. It left me with cups in the tip and tail. Thanks for all the help!
Hadley

To do a mold ccover I used contact paper. It is plastic and sticky backed. Some paper releases off the mold better than others, so get one that says it removes easily. It worked great for me and is easily replaceable. Hope that helps, Wayne