Ski Builders Forum

Does anyone have a good method for getting a taper I want without using a CNC? I am only in high school and I cannot afford one (let alone have the space for one) so getting CNC router is not an option. I have been using a hand powerplane & belt sander but I am struggling with getting an even and accurate taper. Any thoughts?

Yep.Let me try to give you some keywords so you can do homework...

Search "router sled" -- some plywood and a router and you can be up and profiling in an hour. Can also adapt to a power plane. Basically you can take a sheet of mdf, cut some rails and glue/screw them to the sides, then make yourself a sled for the router to slide in. The sled slides on the rails. There's a bizillion videos of people using a similar thing for slab flattening for their resin tables. I'm sure there's a good ski/snowboard one somewhere. its been a while since i've had to look. You can either screw the core down, double sticky it down, hot glue down, or make a more elaborate table and use a shop vac for suction.

It can be done with a well tuned bandsaw and a rip fence jig-- there are threads here on that.

You can make a "planer sled" and put it into your planer. This can also be done in a drum sander.

I've seen vids of people using belt sanders and just eye balling it. That is not for me.

Try this thread and its associated links: http://skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=47398

I've drawn the taper on the sidewalls, and then pulled down to that with a hand planer, and finished with a belt sander.

Lots of options though

Thank you. I've been researching and I am going to tryout the Router sled.