Ski Builders Forum

Based these ski's on the Zag FS/BK (free style/back country) which are 119-86-119 (from memory) and 184cm long. The idea being that they are a park ski which have plenty of float in the powder - I skied them the season before last in New Zealand and really enjoyed them so thought I'd base my first design on something fairly normal.

Me and a few friends got the idea of making a pair early last year and went a bit crazy and ordered a heap of materials from the States while the idea was fresh. It then stalled for a month or two while we fished around for info before stumbling onto sb.com. What can I say except thanks ! got us all keen as mustard again and gave us a bit of technical detail we were lacking at the time.

Anyway, the skis. I beefed up the dimensions a bit to 129-96-129, still twin tip, the edges, base and top sheet we got from snowboard materials in the US. For the core I eventually found a guy on Ebay who sells spare bits of wood he can't use so managed to get some ash and maple off him. For these I used the maple.

The layup was biaxial carbon, not sure of the weight, maybe 200-250gsm, managed to scrounge a bit from where I worked which was handy ! Likewise for the epoxy, although can't remember offhand exactly what the resin was, it was a room temp. cure anyway.

Core profiler and mould etc were all made in June/July and the project really got going then. I had a bit of time to play with and a shed in which to do all the manufacturing so with a lot of luck and judicious use of a big hammer we managed to get something resembling a pair of ski's.

Plain white topsheet (all they had in stock) was crudely added to by a home-printed sticker with the name on but this ran quite badly so will have to try something a bit more extravagant next time.

Tried them out over New Year in Courchevel and they were fantastic, not sure whether it was just because I'd built them myself but I really enjoyed them. Can't wait for the next pair now ;o)

Some (bigger) piccies below.



The core getting glued.



Core profiler.



The base and edges in the mould.



My mate Rog giving me a hand with the layup.



Full layup in the vac bag.



Tacky tape is a wonderful thing !



This is how they looked when they came out of the press.



Post routing.



The pair fresh off the press.



The finished item.



Me trying them out on a powder day in Courchevel (note the big smile !)

PB, nice work. by chance do you have larger pictures? the thumbnails you posted are difficult to see the details, but it appears you have a beautiful pair of skis.

Cheers Kam, I'll try and sort out some bigger photo's tonight if I get time.

Definitely wouldn't call them beautiful though (especially if you see them close up !) but they're a lot of fun ;o)

Paul

Yeh PB, thats a sick looking pair of skis.

This could actually be a stupid question, but that blue colour that the skis appear to be when they come out of the press - how did you end up with that colour, cause i actually think it looks pretty rad. How did you go from that to ending up with a white ski?!?!

Matt,

I was wondering the same thing, but I think it is tape to protect the topsheet.

Those are some nice looking skis!

Orion

Nice looking ski there PB, good job.

I think the blue was tape to protect his topsheet which is white if i read right!!

nice work! Looks really pro

Haha right... tape. Yeh i read the topsheet material was white, thats why i couldn't understand what was going on. Wonder if there is an easy way to recreate that look for the actual topsheet - maybe something like that (tape) under a clear topsheet?!?!

yep, you're all right - the blue stuff on the ski as it comes off the press is tape - 2" flash tape to be precise, good stuff it is too. You *could* just put some under a clear topsheet but to be honest, I think that the topsheet wouldn't stay on too long because that flash tape is designed not to adhere too well to epoxy etc. You'd probably have more luck just sticking it carefully on top of the topsheet.

ta

Paul

yeh cool, well that would be pretty easy!!
how did you find the vacuum press? Did you use any heat?
how are the skis holding up the more you ski them??
My mind is slowly swapping from pneumatic to vacuum press at least to start up with - for cost and for flexibility (ie. can make skateboards etc too), so keen to know how people are finding it

yeh, vac-bagging is pretty straightforwards, bit of a pain to get the bag properly airtight and you can probably squeeze a bit more resin out with a pneumatic system but my ski's didn't end up too heavy (approx. 6.5kg per ski with binding compared to my rossies which weigh in just a fraction lighter ~6kg).

Because I'm stuck in England I've only had the chance to get a couple of days on them so far but they looked fine, no sign of any delams etc. Hoping to go again at the end of march with any luck.

We didn't use any heat during the actual process but because we made them over Summer and because the bases are black, we just stuck them in direct sunshine as a bit of a postcure.

Hope that helps