Ski Builders Forum

skidesmond wrote:I say go for it and let us know how it performs. I made a pair of 86mm wide skis this year and loved them. About the same side cut, around 16.5. Great for big carving turns, and super smooth and stable.

What's you core dims going to be?

2.5 tip; 7mm at220mm; 10mm at center; 9 at 450 from tale and 3 tale

more changes


Overall Length 1700
Running Length 1400
Nose Length 200
Tail Length 100
Nose Width 120
Tail Width 110
Waist Width 86.164
Sidecut Radius 17000
Sidecut Bias 0
Stance Width 225
Stance Setback 80
Nose Height 49
Tail Height 17
Camber 8
Camber Setback 46

more changes


Overall Length 1700
Running Length 1400
Nose Length 200
Tail Length 100
Nose Width 120
Tail Width 110
Waist Width 86.164
Sidecut Radius 17000
Sidecut Bias 50
Stance Width 225
Stance Setback 80
Nose Height 49
Tail Height 17
Camber 8
Camber Setback 50

Looks better, more traditional shape. camber might be set back a bit too far still. I'm not sure the 55% formula works that well for shorter skis... But you can go with it I guess. It just seems like 8cm behind the center is a lot on a 170 cm ski.

But unless you want a soft ski I'd think about beefing up your core to something like 2-11-2.

I personally dislike soft skis and make my cores 2.2-12-2.2 with a maple-poplar laminate. Tis gives a fairly stiff ski hen using 22 oz glass.

started to work on bottom mold.
MDF creating enormous amount of dust, even outside respirator is a must. definitely this hobby not the easy one... should have try checkers first

cut first piece for the template


cutting whole bunch

Vinman wrote:Looks better, more traditional shape. camber might be set back a bit too far still. I'm not sure the 55% formula works that well for shorter skis... But you can go with it I guess. It just seems like 8cm behind the center is a lot on a 170 cm ski.

I'll change it for 30 mm for the final version

But unless you want a soft ski I'd think about beefing up your core to something like 2-11-2.

I personally dislike soft skis and make my cores 2.2-12-2.2 with a maple-poplar laminate. Tis gives a fairly stiff ski hen using 22 oz glass.

most of my skis are fairly stiff.
My plans to make core not with even taper more like in two steps which would create thicker middle section longer but without flat space
2.5 tip; 7mm at 220mm; 10mm at center; 9 at 450 from tale and 3 tale

Last a few days worked on mold almost complete top and bottom. Need little bit more sending to do and the top need only filler in the middle


drilling camber section 4 ribs at the time



Top was easy to do compared to bottom one



First time inflated with molds only 5 to 10 psi just to keep camber section straight. For some reason it got curled up and twisted and very uneven after ribs got bolted together. After couple hours under pressure look so much better

can i make a suggestion? see all those wood pieces you have above your top mold... all the 2x4 pieces and what not? To me, and i'm just going by what i see first glance, that looks like a giant frag grenade waiting to go off. I highly suggest you come up with something flat/solid to put in place of all those pieces to take up the slack.

We stacked about 6 sheets of 1/2" mdf under our bottom mold to take up the extra cavity space, and i'm nervous about that as it's not glued/bolted together.

knightsofnii wrote:can i make a suggestion? see all those wood pieces you have above your top mold... all the 2x4 pieces and what not? To me, and i'm just going by what i see first glance, that looks like a giant frag grenade waiting to go off. I highly suggest you come up with something flat/solid to put in place of all those pieces to take up the slack.

We stacked about 6 sheets of 1/2" mdf under our bottom mold to take up the extra cavity space, and i'm nervous about that as it's not glued/bolted together.

This is temporary and only up to 5 PSI because my camber section didn't come out too well, after ribs got bolted together. It's start twisted a little but it gets flats under pressure. Got to figure out what to do with this problem. Last thing I want to make a new one

1 step forward 2 step backwards.
After long thought decided to rebuild my profiling table to build it all including tabletop from metal. First step reinforcing frame. original frame was made from 1/8" wall 1" square tubing. Definitely not strong enough. This time I going to reinforce that with 1 inch U-channel. No welded only bolts to make sure all components stay in place. First time around frame got twisted like propeller after welding before cools off and get straight This time I don't want to take chances. Tabletop will be made from 1" thick steel plate. dimensions 8 foot long and 27 inches wide

I need advise.
This weekend going to cut cattracks.
How long? My mold 17 inches wide I am planning to make cattracks about 18" or maybe 19".Press 20" wide but I think this is too long.
How long is too long (wide)? 18 should be enough.... Building for the first time very frustrating

how wide cattracks and cassette should be in relation to the mold?

I'd go with just barely wider than your molds, maybe 18 inches.

My mold is 17" wide, so is my cat-track. My casettes however are 16" wide (so I can have 3 pieces cut out of a 4x8 sheet.
Actually if I could I would make my casettes wider than the mold so I'm sure I don't have any excess epoxy squezzed out of the layup and ending up on the mold..

My press is 16inches wide and my cat track is 20inches wide. Remember you need some extra width on the cat track to be able to suspend (using bungy chords or springs..) the cat track when the hose is not inflated.

Decided to go middle-of-the-road 19". Should be enough room to connect suspension system. It might be some problem here because steel supplier carry only 14gauge tubing. Going to need to go to get springs out of trampoline. Hope I need only one lol.
Had a few hours of free time today, cutting went faster than I expected almost finish all of it. Will have more time to work on profiling table