Ski Builders Forum

Hey guys im kinda stumped here.
I've looked into this way back before i had my press built but now my press is getting close to finished and now i'm at the point i was ignoring earlier...

What software do i use to play with the design of my skis???

I'm currently using a Mac, I'm by all means not a software programer so when looking at Monkey's ski design software, i felt like a deer in the headlights, i didnt know where to start...

I looked at boardcraft but i'm not sure if that's compatible with Mac. which lead to a little more clicking and more midless screen starring
If i need to switch to a pc, to run a good user frendly program i will, just curious what you guys are using

I've been skiing since 2 so i kinda know what i want form my boards,

Just dont know how to take my ideas and put them in the computer, to tweak and make templates. Where's a good place to start?

Thanks

Just my $0.02
Take a ski you like and copy it for your first pair.
Add a mm to the tip, tail, and or waist and build it.
Once you're familiar with the process you might have to learn a cad program, but you can design skis with a pencil and paper if you know what you want.
I've built a couple pair now with the"that looks right" mentality that turned out to ski well. Trial and error,sure, but that's what this is really all about.

sam

Check out draftsight and do like 20 hours of tutorials and rhino cad and maybe solid works.

I got some radius templates cnc routed. I use those to cut the edge and cut the nose and tail to whatever shape I like. I can have a shape designed and cut ready to build in 10 minutes.[/quote]

Autocad. You can download free student version.

http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/autocad

If you need some help for this software, send me PM.

Good luck!

snocad is the easiest to start with. I use turbo cad for mac.

Sweet,
looks like i got some more research to do,
I'm having so much fun with this learing curve...
One little step closer to pressing my first pair, he he

Thanks guys

Here is a good thread about using Solidworks for ski design

http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3135

-S

And just for the record, the approach in that thread can be use for almost any parametric modeling software. I use inventor and its basically identical. Main difference between 2d drafting programs and 3d is that most 3d will let you constrain sketches to points and features which is handy when you want to play around with dimensions and see how they interact. In 2d like autocad you usually have to have a pretty good idea what you want before you start since there is less flexibility in how the curves are initially defined.

I tend to start by sketching out the shape in a 3d program and playing around with tangent curves till I'm happy with the shape, then go straight to 2d for toolpaths since its easier to chop lines up and move things around when they aren't linked to everything else.