RightSideways Skis

[rightsideways]

So I just fired my third pair into the press this morning and i thought i'd start documenting my progress.

I found this site a year or so ago after checking out Lucid skis website and seeing that the process was fairly straightforward, and, since I have a new love of backcountry skiing, I thought "I'll make my own super light BC skis". I've skied cross country most of my life but, alpine is something i've only started doing regularly in the last two years. I tele and AT depending on how I'm feeling (much better in steep stuff on AT skis) so i figure eventually I'll put inserts for both in my skis.

At first I had all these grand plans about: light CF containing skis, teflon bases etc. etc. which I'm sure is pretty normal when you daydream all day about a new hobby... but, that's all backburner until I nail a few pairs of normal skis that don't suck to slide down hills on.

Anyway, I figured I'd post my progress here and see if anybody has tips and tricks. so... about the first, and second pair...

[rightsideways]

the first pair went kind of disasterously. I laminated poplar + maple together, used a planer sled to get to roughly 3-13-3 (I was aiming for thinner but got nervous about tear-out) and laid up the ski using

base
VDS
22 oz triax
core
22 oz triax
cotton relief map of Crawford Notch NH
topsheet

using West System epoxy and pressing at 40 psi at ambient temp (read: on a brisk fall night) for ~12 hours

things that went wrong:

1. one press bladder busted at the bulkhead fitting so i had to set up a jury-rigged cat-track using scrap wood and just used one bladder. this was about 30 minutes into the cure
2. cores were shifted and I actually nailed one to the mold through the base
3. screws holding the 1/8" hardboard to the top of my camber mold pressed into the base pretty bad in a few places
4. I don't think i used enough epoxy because i can see dry fibers through the clear section of my map topsheet graphics. it was a bit cool in the shop that night and the epoxy was kind of viscous. i think this was part of the problem.

but, i learned some stuff which prepared me for my second pair...

[gozaimaas]

Be wary of west systems in cold weather. I had one board lose all its camber due to that. Try and create a hot area with heaters and plastic sheets over the press.

[rightsideways]

For the second pair I decided to change some things:

1. MAS epoxy --> 2:1 vs. 5:1 should make for a more robust blending of resiner / hardener. certainly makes it easier to add the right amount by weight or volume. I use a scale accurate to 1 g and the densities are pretty close so i just go by weight.
2. brought the press indoors --> I thought of a bunch of ways to heat the press to ambient in the shop overnight and still would have to deal with viscous epoxy during layup if i didn't heat the crap out of the shop over the winter... i remembered i have a decent sized basement so (with wife approval) i decided to press in there.
3. router bridge core / camber profile --> i tore out a bunch of cores with the planer. then i stumbled on a sweet looking vacuum table somebody uses on this site (every jig I have has come from somebody elses idea on here) and built one. i use a shopvac and it holds the core in place nicely. i can profile a pair in 20 minutes or so.
4. mold --> i made a flat base and add tips, tails, and camber on top of the flat base. I profile my camber out of 3/4" MDF using the router bridge and use 3/4 MDF for the tips and tails. this makes my molds modular in that i can change the tip / tail / camber / overall length really easily.

the second pair was for my wife. they came out great compared to the first with one exception: I went farther with the edges around tips and tails (not a full wrap, still two pieces), and made two mistakes. 1: router the ptex the night before 2: attach one edge at a time. so, the bases were warped pretty bad. Otherwise, the graphics look ok and the flex feels ok. the fabric looks wetted out. we'll see how they ski though.

I'll post pictures when i get the green light on post count.

[rightsideways]

pics of the first pair with map graphics.

[rightsideways]

press. I used some metal the old man had in his shop. looking at some of the I-beam presses on this site i wish i sprung for that option. loading this thing is kind of a struggle



new mold



router bridge / vacuum table



wife's skis out of the press. somebody forgot mold release and the hardboard stuck to everything but the bases (good thing i taped the bases).



cleaned up.



third pair bases getting cut in my base cutting jig. this should help with the twisting.

[twizzstyle]

In your picture of your press... under the mold appears to be some plywood, bridging over some pieces of wood on either side, and it looks like it's getting pushed down? Whats up with that?

You're laying up the skis directly on hardwood with mold release, no metal cassette?

[rightsideways]

In your picture of your press... under the mold appears to be some plywood, bridging over some pieces of wood on either side, and it looks like it's getting pushed down? Whats up with that?

You're laying up the skis directly on hardwood with mold release, no metal cassette?

the plywood is bridging two pieces of scrap maple that sit on either side of the MDF tip mold section (vertically stacked 3/4" MDF). i didn't have any threaded rod to hold those together so i just stick a wedge (scrap cedar shingle) in between the outside MDF mold piece and the maple to hold them side-to-side. to hold them tight against the camber mold section I screw the bridging plywood to the flat box below. the screws are pulling the plywood down like that. if that makes any sense... you can kind of see how it works in the picture of the mold above.

so, the next pair i did I used 1/8" hardboard on top of the mold with a bunch of release wax. i held the base in place by using spray adhesive down the center of the ski base. to do this, i traced the ski outline w/ edges onto the hardboard, put painters tape down the center of each, apply mold release, pull the painters tape, spray adhesive where the tape used to be, and then temporarily stick the bases to the hardboard to hold them in place. when i had twisted bases i did a forum search and found a bunch of solutions, and i liked this one best.

the layers of everything in the mold is (from bottom to top):

1. mold base
2. tip/camber/tail mold sections
3. plastic
4. 1/8" hardboard w/ mold release as explained above
5. ski layup
6. plastic (folded over topsheet)
7. 1/8" hardboard
8. maple cattrack
9. hose bladders
10. top mold (2x4 scrap from a house renovation bolted together w/ 1/2" threaded rod)

[knightsofnii]

you should seriously consider putting a sheet of maybe 16ga thickness steel on top of your hard board, or instead of your hardboard, if the surface underneath is smooth.

Then all you need for "mold release" is a decent car-wax . Unless the mold release is cheaper, many of them are made by the same companies and are similar formulas.

[rightsideways]

It does appear that most people on here are using metal cassettes instead of hardboard. So far I've just used what I could work with, using the tools i have. The advantage of the metal is that it's easier to prevent epoxy from sticking to it?

The way I stick my bases to the hardboard "cassette" (I'm not sure if i'm using the term properly here) pretty much ruins the hardboard for future use:



I'm probably going a bit overboard with the adhesive down the middle. Anyway, having a metal cassette would prevent continued runs to the home depot. Skis look pretty good on top though:

[skidesmond]

If you continue to use hardboard lay down a layer of wax paper (not parchment) over the hardboard OR give is a heavy coat of floor paste wax. Leave a spot unwaxed where you can tack the base to the hard board.

[vinman]

Some cheap metal flashing would protect your hardboard

[rightsideways]

Some cheap metal flashing would protect your hardboard

I definitely have some of this sitting around. thanks everybody for the suggestions. I guess the next step for the skis i've built is to clean the bases up for a pro grind.

I need to poke around the forum a bit more for inexpensive solutions to get a rough grind on your bases. I tried to build a wide inexpensive drum sander using a piece of 2" sched. 4 PVC, two drum sander bits a few bearings and some scrap wood:



unfortunately, one of the 3 dollar drum bits is a bit warped so it wobbles. Ideally I could get the epoxy and other garbage (i taped the bottom of my first and second pair which is a pain to get off) off the bases. I don't want to spring for a grind every time for a pair that will potentially be garbage to ski on.

[rightsideways]

I thought I'd share a pic of the jig i used on my last pair to cut the base, and to glue the edges on with.



It gives me something to hold the template to, and when i cut the tip / tail section i just remove the hold down clamps and hold the template in place with a few of the million spring clamps i have kicking around.

[Dr. Delam]

If you continue to use hardboard lay down a layer of wax paper (not parchment) over the hardboard OR give is a heavy coat of floor paste wax. Leave a spot unwaxed where you can tack the base to the hard board.

You've got it backwards. Use parchment, not wax paper. I use it on my bottom aluminum and fold up the sides to catch any excess epoxy that gets squeezed out. I never use it on top of the ski as it would cause wrinkles in the top sheet. I just use aluminum with car wax and any bits of epoxy pop right off.