Ski Builders Forum

Just pulled a ski out of the press for my 13 year old daughter.
They look really good which makes the task of triming up some what daunting.
Does every body get gittery at this point?
I will be back at Mt Hotham at the end of the week.
My Wife intends to steal these boards for the trip because the rightfull owner is not coming up with us.
This is my fith post so hopefuly I should be able to add some build pics and some decent trip report pics.

water heat?

Yes 160L 2400W domestic hotwater service, 30W recirculating pump, 80m of good quality garden hose.
Threaded in cat track and base mold as 5 seperate elements.
Gets 75 deg.C peak. 2 deg.C per minute rate of change from pump turn on.
I wlll have to retro fit a stop tap as it tends to thermo syphon and prevent cool down.

skis look pretty awesome! press setup also.
Are you using ptex or abs for sidewalls?

Falls, sidewall is UHMWPE sourced from Dotmar Australia. Black and neutral only. just bought half a sheet of each. Ski trimed up well, binding on, waxed and ready to rumble at Hotham on Friday morning.

Very nice looking skiis! You live in a beautiful place man. And that floor in the last shot. Is it eucalyptus? Pardon the spelling.

Is it looking down at the Tamar?
Did you grind the bases or just wax them straight out of the press?
No need to pardon yourself huck for spelling it correctly!

Huck
Thanks Yes about four different species in shot. The core of the ski is a leftover board from the same pack of timber.
Falls
Huon River betweem Huonville and Frankiln a little further south and you fall of the edge. The ski is hand preped. Edges are rebated in to the core so it's very flat. I will give it one pass over a machine after a couple of days skiing.

Nice! Some euc has good ski building properties.

BlueRoof wrote:Yes 160L 2400W domestic hotwater service, 30W recirculating pump, 80m of good quality garden hose.
Threaded in cat track and base mold as 5 seperate elements.
Gets 75 deg.C peak. 2 deg.C per minute rate of change from pump turn on.
I wlll have to retro fit a stop tap as it tends to thermo syphon and prevent cool down.

Nice looking skis.

If I am reading this correctly you are trying to cool the skis down in the press?

Don't.

Take them out and cool them on a flat surface with no pressure on them. You will get less variation in the flatness of the bases.

do you mean cool them by immediately taking them out and placing on a COOL flat surface? or a WARM/HOT flat surface, and bringing temp down?

dont cool the laminate under pressure.
Yes, pull hot and let cool at room temp.
You have very different coefficients of expansion in materials and cooling under pressure will lead to problems and non repeatable results. Trust me, been there, done that.
THanks again dbs.

I did cool these in the press but not at pressure. The air temp. in my workshop that night was about 2 degrees C. That might be a bit harsh for room temp. cooling. Thanks for the tip though.