Ski Builders Forum

I have another method of applying metal edges that won't require tons of spring clamps. I built a prototype and did a quick demo of it and it seems to work well.

I got the idea from a wood working technique of how to glue up 2 boards with only a few clamps. Basically you shave the middle of the edge of each board, then apply the glue. When you clamp the middle of the boards it pulls the middle in and applies pressure along edge of the boards, requiring a lot fewer clamps.

So, I took a scrap piece of MDF and glued some scrap metal edges to it. This became my edge guide. I routered a sample piece of ptex in the usual way using a template.

Then using my edge guide I placed it against the template/ptex. There will be a tiny gap the width of the metal edge between the edge guide and template. Next I inserted a piece of metal edge in that gap and pressed down. Then I took a pistol grip clamp and applied pressure. Since the template is shaped, the clamp pulls in the edge guide applying pressure along template/ptex.

One pistol grip clamp applying good pressure for over 12 inches in each direction. Just be sure the metal edge is flat.

Here's some pics of the prototyping. This pic is the edge guide and shows pieces of metal edges glued to a piece of MDF that act as spacers.




Here I have the edge guide clamped to the template/ptex with the metal edge inserted in place and applied super glue.



Here is the metal edge on the ptex. As you can see I glued to the wrong side of the ptex. BUT the metal edge has a great fit.




For the tip and tail sections you'll still need to use spring clamps as before. So perhaps a dozen springs clamps and 3-4 pistol grip clamps will be all you need to apply edges.

I'll use this method on the next pair of skis I make. The edge guide should be about as long as the running length of the ski.

Sorry the pics don't display. Looks like photobucket wants everyone to upgrade their accounts at a cost of $400 to post pics at 3rd party sites. I'm not going to pay that.

Back to the topic- the other option I used for applying edges was to use a strip of mdf and make a rabbet cut so the edges can sit in. You'll want 2 strips of mdf, one for each side of the ski. Use a pistol grip clamp at the center of the ski. The force on the pistol clamp pulls the mdf in and the edge tight to the base of the ski. A few pistol clamps holds the edge in place along the length of the ski. Then I use regular spring clamps for the tip and tail.

Wish I could post pics

Here's a link to the gallery for your edge guide, Steve: http://s878.photobucket.com/user/skides ... t=3&page=1

PS: the amount of pop-ups on photobucket is ridiculous!

When you click on the link it brings you to the pics BUT when you click on the pic it's blocked saying to upgrade the account.

It works if you click on the slideshow button in the upper right corner.

Awesome! Wonder how long that will last before they discover it.

My Flikr works for free still to host photos