Ski Builders Forum

hi folks,

i could not find anything about this, but please tell me if there's posts regarding this, thank you.
has anyone successfully used materials other than aluminum for your mould/mold sheets in your press?
i am currently using 1mm thick aluminum as direkt mould sheets below/above my snowboards and also further, same but sort of permanent, aluminum ones in the press above/below heating blankets/cattrack etc.
BUT am having to replace them more often than i would like as they tend to get little dents, firstly from not 100% perfect moulds (adaptable system) but secondly when pressing different lenghts (so they have to adapt to longer/shorter shapes/mould setups and are longer than for just one mould setup).
i could go for a couple different ones for different lengths for the two just above/below the laminated boards, but for the ones that remain in the press this is not feasible.

so any materials that can repeatedly adapt to new shapes lengthwise and still distribute heat from the blankets (at least not insulate!?) ?

cheers,
andi

Nothing is going to be as tough and heat conductive as aluminium.
I would suggest using 2.0mm sheet as it will not ding easily and will smooth out any differences in mould shape.
And multiple sheets will solve your bending dramas.

Not quite the miracle answer you are looking for but its one way to solve your problems. It works for me

We also use adaptable molds. On top of the mold shape we put two 5mm thick boards of MDF, then heat blanket and then just the cassette (no second sheet of metal in there...never understood what that is for anyway). In the beginning we've used a quite soft aluminum sheet with 2mm thickness (1015) which would always stay bent after the first press which made it hard to handle for different shapes.

I contemplated switching to a tougher aluminum (i.e. 7075) but that is hard to come by and quite expensive. So I started looking around for alternatives and ended up using a 1mm thick sheet of stainless steel (1.403 or AISI 304). The steel returns to almost flat after pressing even steep tips/tails. However it must not be bent beyond a certain point in order to return to flat. So you need to make sure that after your mold ends the sheet doesn't get bent downwards again.

As we cannot extend every mold to the length of the steel sheets, we ended up buying a couple of sets at different lenghts (i.e. increments of 10 cm).

I used thin mdf (3mm?) when I first started ski building and it "worked" but it's not really the best material to use especially for the bottom. Then upgrade to 1mm AL. A much better solution. Now I've upgraded again to a 1.5mm bottom and still use a 1mm top and that works pretty well.

You'll need multiple lengths of AL for different lengths to keep the bending/denting problem at bay. I have 3 sets now to accommodate skis from a 150cm to 185cm. Each set of AL can handle about a 10-15cm variance in length.

this subject has been discussed numerous times.
I'm using 22 or 24gauge mild steel for cassette. It can withstand more abuse less scratches. imo will last longer. Also I'm using 0.016" aluminum on top/ under blankets.

Why is everyone using a second sheet of aluminum above the top blanket and under the bottom blanket?? Doesn't that act as a heat sink which leads to slower heating. I just have the mdf sheets above and below the blankets and it's working well.

I have
Top mould
Fire hose
Aluminium cat track
4mm mdf
Heat mat
2mm aluminium
Baking paper
Lay up
Baking paper
2mm aluminium
Heat mat
4mm mdf
Bottom mould