Ski Builders Forum

I spent all my winter skiing of course but also thinking about skibuilding (was not able to build as I was far from home).
Now I'm back, by the time I find a job I have plenty of time to prepare some new skibuilding toys, it starts with a pneumatic press !

For the design I was very inspired by G-Man or Mongo's presses, lightweight (300lbs still...), nice design, easy to carry... Well I went with Mongo's model.

So I went to a local metal shop and found some square 2x2x0.150 for a very good price ! This thickness is not standards and this shop was not able to sell thoses pieces. I had all the metal I needed for the press (80 feet) for 150 CAN$ !

Back home it's time to cut those long bars (4x 20 feet) in small pieces


Then time to weld... it was pretty funny as it was my first time welding ! The first beads were not that nice lookin but fortunately the last ones were sometimes descent... great improvement !


Assembly


Painting


That's it for today, actually everything is painted since yesterday but it's drying in the garage... will take some pics later if the weather changes...

I'm now heading to the building center to buy some wood to make a support for the press. I make it out of wood because it's gonna be cheaper but also because I don't have a trailer anymore to go get some more metal (20ft bars), and I also don't have the welding machine anymore... in a couple month I'll go to a scrapyard and see if I can find something interesting.

Great work!!

how much pressure are you planning on running this press at?

I first have to find some 5" firehose but I plan on pressing around 50psi, not more.
Heating is a project also but not for now.

Here is the press frame done :

I'm waiting for some news about a 5" firehose, also requested a quote for a couple heaters... everything keeps going nicely !
Next step is to make a new adjustable molds (top and bottom for regular and flat/reverse camber skis )
Is a ribbed mold OK to use with a press ?

hope so that s what I am building, ribbed that is. with metal sheets.

That's a good idea to make an adjustable ribbed mold. To keep the ribs from transferring marks to the ski, try laying a piece of MDF flat over the top (like plywood sheathing on floor joists). if you are going to have ribbed tip and tail radius molds, and cant get the mdf to bend to the tip/tail radius, you can cut the mdf into strips and run those across the ribs ( this time like exterior decking). The narrower you make the strips, the less they will show up (obviously). A couple of thinner layers of mdf or plywood may work well too. Otherwise, you will probably need a couple of thicker pieces of aluminum to keep the rib marks from transferring to the ski base which will cost more than the mdf to make a solid mold...

I don't know how well the pictures Ive posted show my mold, but I use an adjustable mold (solid) and have had great results from it. I can post some more detailed pictures later this week if you want.

Sure, any pic is always very appreciated and useful !

Actually I plan on making a ribbed mold for the camber with a 5/8 MDF sheet on top of it, then make tip and tail solid molds (pizza slice style) with MDF.

I'll try to make a drawing later to show the 2 options I have for all that.

From the press frame pics just above, I plan on going like that (from bottom to top) :
- lower frame
- 2x 3/4" MDF flat
- Camber mold ribs
- 5/8 MDF
- solid molds for tip and tail
- layup in a cassette
- cattrack (wood cat track, still have to find how to do it)
- bladder
- adjustable topmold (2x6s)
- plywood sheet
- top frame

your press like the couler von Benetton ... verry cool


Markus

thats a great looking press frame!

as for the heater...we'll be doing some tests on our new carbon heating blankets pretty soon. if everything works out, we'd have a cheap alternative to the silicone blankets.

Your press looks great Ben.
Looks like your open front would be a great lay-up table with a little bracing.
How was your winter at wh2o?

sam

Great looking press,
would you be willing to post the dimensions because I would like to build a simmilar press

I highly doubt anyone will give you dimensions. For one thing, that opens up the person that does to liability concerns. Secondly, figure it out. That's part of the fun.

like, doughboy said, thats part of the fun.

plus, its safe to say that each of us here have different end goals and certain requirements to suite those goals. there is also a huge difference in available materials and skills to use those materials. So, a press that suites one person here, definitely wont suite everybody else.

if you're just starting here are some things you want to think about... and the order in which to consider them:

1. what do you want for your end result? Skis? Snowboards? both? this will affect the size of everything you need to construct. if you only plan on doing skis, do you want to press 2 at a time? What range of dimensions of boards will you be making? widths and lengths are very important. im pretty tall, but my roommate is pretty short. since we build skis together everything had to be made to fit the larges ski i would want to make. What kind of camber will you be doing? standard? reverse? both? personally, i wish we would have built our press to be a little more versatile. remember you can use a large pneumatic press for things other than making skis, snowboards, and skateboards.

2. once you have your end results in mind, then its on to the mold. you've done most of the work already, figuring out the dimension and camber of whatever you'll be making. i'd say for the most part, the mold side is determined by ski dimensions (obviously) and building materials. remember, your mold will have to withstand whatever PSI you'll be pressing at... 30psi to maybe even 70 psi. search around the site to get a good idea of what people are pressing at. the more pressure, the more epoxy is squeezed out and the lighter the ski is. so, pick a material that is easy to shape and will withstand a lot of pressure... most people on here use MDF.

3. now that you have everything else figured out you can move on to designing the press. DO THE MATH... the most important part of building your press is the design. do the math to make sure whatever materials you're using and how you're bonding the pieces will withstand the PSI you'll be pressing at. and remember what PSI stand for... Pounds Per Square Inch. That means that if you're pressing at 60PSI, every square inch of your press that has pressure exerted on it, has 60 pounds of force.
you don't want to create a bomb. if you can't do the math, find a friend who can. so, once you have the mold size figured out and your PSI in mind, design your mold cavity to fit the mold and then go about figuring out how to equally and safely distribute the PSI throughout the press.

one more thing to think about when designing your press, is where are you going to store it? they tend to be pretty large things...

KevyWevy wrote:you don't want to create a bomb.

haha! Me and kevin still hide behind things in the garage when we're inflating our hose.... I trust our calculations and construction... but the noises it makes are still enough to make me poop my pants