Ski Builders Forum

This is a little different. It takes a while. I am sure a planer crib is faster.

The concept is that the router table is perfectly flat and square. I use aluminum shims to shape the core to profile flat. Same as a planer crib, but using a router. I had a few issues. Mainly I didn't have an additional layer of mdf above the profile shims so when I pressured the core from above it pushed in to the space between the shims, and ruined the first core that I profiled with it. Not everything works right the first time, I suppose, but I was still frustrated. Anyway, I added a layer of mdf above the profiling shims and so far it seems to work. I also had an issue with the core raising off the table. 2.5mm is thin and it's really tough to keep it from raising. I came up with a method that works pretty well. I use shims to press the core down on both sides of the area that will be routed. I think I need to take the time to come up with a vacuum table setup for it. I already have something in my head, but neither the time nor money to make it happen right now.

In the meantime the shims work fine.



I set up the carriage for the router so that I couldn't get too spacey and run the base off of it or hit the bit on to the metal side rails of the table.











My snowboard tools have invaded my house. Living room, kitchen, garage, and carport.

Although I've really grown to love our planer crib for the accuracy and repeatability over a router jig, what you've built looks really nice! First nicely built metal jig I've seen, our old one (and most I've seen on here) was just made of wood and was pretty rickety.

Interesting. I actually had the same idea and made the same thing for routing my cores. Makes for a very adjustable tool. I'll post pictures later. Mine isn't nearly as polished as yours, but on the other hand it cost me nothing.

I am so dded fed up. I just can't get the level of quality I want using this. I am getting variations of about half a mm. Not acceptable, and it's a huge pain in the ass. aaaaarrrrrggghhhhhh. I just ruined another core. Well, not ruined, I just have to use it for a smaller board.

Problems I am having is that the wood wants to flex, and the crib that the router runs on wants to flex. I can't get the core held down without tweaking something else.

Over it. Fed up.

will one of the 13" planers from home depot work?

Like the ridgid for 350 dollars.

doughboyshredder wrote:will one of the 13" planers from home depot work?

Like the ridgid for 350 dollars.

It will with the right set up. The ridgid is pretty good. It is what I used in Tacoma, though it was the older version.

It is all about having the correct set up. Josiah - if you want to hear a bit about what we do, your welcomed to give me a call.

We are actually looking to change it up even more next year to speed the process of a lot. Planers are pretty slow from a production sense...but routers are horribly slow.....

Mr 333 uses a bandsaw mounted horizontally with a super aggressive blade in place of the planer.

K2 also uses a similar setup. A bandsaw mounted vertically (normal) cuts like 100cm of wood into a wedge. They do this twice and then glue the two pieces to together.

I think Dynastar does something like the bansaw 100cm thing as well. I saw it on how it's made I believe. I will look for the utube video... can't find it right now but it is similar to 333's.

DBS, we use the 13" rigid planer. With sharp blades and a rigid well put together "crib" we can get to around +/- 0.25mm (most of the time a lot better). If we spent more time I think we could do a better but not anything like the tolerances the CNC guys are doing on here. We checked out Folsom Custom ski shop and they showed us there Shopbot. If you can afford it, and you can sell some boards to pay for it, it should pay for itself. From what I have seen with your press alone (and all this other jigging) it seems like you are possibly ready for something like this. I know it would be a lot of money but have you considered either building your own, or possibly buying a Bear (anyone know the status of these?) from Wednesday? The bear looked to have pretty good vacuum in the test videos he posted. I wouldn't think you would have to worry about the cores lifting or getting tweaked. Just a thought.

Yeah, at this point I am leaning towards building what I need to now with sbm cores and then either building or buying a small cnc setup. It really does get tricky when you're working with tenths of millimeters.

On that ridgid, how does not having a lock on the cutting depth work? Is that lead screw system really that precise?

I was also thinking about profiling with a band saw vertically. Does anyone think making a negative jig and running the core and the jig past the band would work. Obviously there needs to be a fence also. Really like a planer crib just in the vertical plane. Like what dynastar does as mentioned above just not Cnc controlled.

I will have to look at our manual, but the one we have has a depth lock. We have to flip it open and roll the cutting blades down 1/2 a turn each pass (usually do 10+ passes for our skis) and then flip it back locked. It is a pain but I think it does work well. I looked back in my notes I keep and the accuracies are better with longer cores and worse with shorter cores for some reason (mostly at the tips and tails). That is a good idea to build what you need to do now and then make it happen for next year with exactly the right tools. I always thought it would be nice to have a CNC router that you could put a cloth cutting head on to make your composite layers fit exactly (or 2mm over or something) so trimming time would be kept to a minimum. Have you talked to Mike at Wednesday to see if this is a possibility. You could save so much time and make such sweet boards!

Vinman wrote:I was also thinking about profiling with a band saw vertically. Does anyone think making a negative jig and running the core and the jig past the band would work. Obviously there needs to be a fence also. Really like a planer crib just in the vertical plane. Like what dynastar does as mentioned above just not Cnc controlled.

Hey Vinman! I'm just back from my freezing garage, building a jig you just suggested! I don't have any pictures yet and I will finish it tomorrow. I need a steel bar/rail for the groove that holds the fence on the bandsaw table. I must work! I'm tired of ripping my cores to pieces with my planer.

Sweet. Definitely post some pics. I would be very interested in your set up. If it works it would save me buying 2 tools...

Seriously looking at the craftsman 12 inch band saw for $359. 7 inch re-saw height would handle a cores up to 165ish in width. I seriously doubt I would make any cores that big. If I press 2 skis my press could only go as big as 150ish for each ski.

OAC, nice work. I think you could be onto something good. I will be curious to hear the results. Are you planning on doing the entire core length at once (like 333) or half of it like dynstar or K2?

shopvac wrote:OAC, nice work. I think you could be onto something good. I will be curious to hear the results. Are you planning on doing the entire core length at once (like 333) or half of it like dynstar or K2?

I will do more like the Dynastar trick, but not cut and join. I will do the whole core. The jig will be adjustable OR two jigs, since the angle will be different in the front and back of the ski. If your not making a symmetrical ski ofcourse. More info tomorrow..