Ski Builders Forum

I have 3/4 inch square rift oak cattrack. Just what we had lying around the shop.

I found the leak and it turned out to be in my complex gague/valve air imput thing as seen here:

Oval fence is likely to squash under the pressure.

It is actually square, i just couldn't find anything online that was the same. I'm going to test them like Skidesmond said them I'll start looking into alternatives.


Also I was given a roll of some rubber that is similar to rubber found in tires and I was thinking about using that for the cassette. Its about 1/2in thick.

Here are some pics of the rubber:

I tested the plastic fence and it seemed to work. I got it up past 70psi for 20 minutes and the plastic held its shape and there was no visible stress.

Here are some pics

I think the potential deformation will happen with relation to the sidewall edge of the laminate and the bladder pressing down it will warp the plastic tube lengthwise and defeat the purpose of the cattrack slightly.

I saw this when I used mdf cattrack and had concave bases slightly.

Yeah, try again with the board underneath the plastic about the width of a ski (presumably narrower than your hose).

Unless you're pressing snowboards.

That rubber sheet will make an excellent layer on top (between the ski and the cattrack) but I wouldn't use it underneath, you want a hard mold surface or it'll push your base through and be convex.

I see what you mean. It works out cuz I could only find enough plastic for half a cat-track so ill prolly just go pick up some steel/aluminum tube at Lowe's for the cat-track.

@twizzstyle I was thinking the same thing about the rubber.

MontuckyMadman wrote:I think the potential deformation will happen with relation to the sidewall edge of the laminate and the bladder pressing down it will warp the plastic tube lengthwise and defeat the purpose of the cattrack slightly.

I saw this when I used mdf cattrack and had concave bases slightly.

I use a mdf cat track. I made a router bridge for profiling skis and didn't like it.... it ended up as a cat track. I've been thinking about replacing it this summer because the width is a bit too short and it just seemed a bit flimsy. The bases were a bit concave (very slightly)..... Good enough reason for me to make a new cat track. Thanks Montucky! Another project on the to-do list Good thing I'm on vacation.

Drew wrote:I see what you mean. It works out cuz I could only find enough plastic for half a cat-track so ill prolly just go pick up some steel/aluminum tube at Lowe's for the cat-track.

@twizzstyle I was thinking the same thing about the rubber.

Shop around, trust me. Try onlinemetals.com as a start, depending on where you are it could work out. Lowe's or HD is a rip off on that sort of thing.

Thanks for the heads up krp.

So after calculating the price for steel for the cat-track, i decided to just use wood. I bought pressure treated 2x2 rungs for wooden fence which were really 1.25x1.25in. Also I have noticed that many people use masonite over the mold but i was thinking about using metal flashing which should work well with some mold release.

krp8128 wrote:

Drew wrote:I see what you mean. It works out cuz I could only find enough plastic for half a cat-track so ill prolly just go pick up some steel/aluminum tube at Lowe's for the cat-track.

@twizzstyle I was thinking the same thing about the rubber.

Shop around, trust me. Try onlinemetals.com as a start, depending on where you are it could work out. Lowe's or HD is a rip off on that sort of thing.

onlinemetals is a fracking huge rip off. made that mistake myself on some aluminum sheets.

Call local fencing or metal fab contractors. I got my cat track material for free from one of the local fence builders. They were in his scrap pile.

unfortunately not if you live in the middle of nowhere.

Online metals with the shipping was less than 1/3 ythe local pruce for al sheets in my area.

steel Cattrack may be easier to come by.

Drew wrote:So after calculating the price for steel for the cat-track, i decided to just use wood. I bought pressure treated 2x2 rungs for wooden fence which were really 1.25x1.25in. Also I have noticed that many people use masonite over the mold but i was thinking about using metal flashing which should work well with some mold release.

Instead of mold release, we put parchment paper down over steel sheet metal on our molds. The parchment paper can take the heat, doesn't leave any residue on the ski or the sheet metal, its cheap, and there is no clean up

I like using parchment paper as well. The Reynolds website even has a coupon for $1 off. Also keep in mind that wax paper is NOT the same as parchment paper. I made that mistake once and it doesn't work that great at releasing.

I just found an ad in the classifieds that says 2x2 steel tube for $1 per linear ft. Is 2X2 too big for a cat-track or will it work?