Ski Builders Forum

Hey all, I have only just joined this site recently, and I gotta say - what an awesome, informative site, so congrats on that. Knowing full well now how achievable it is to build my own skis, I am deep in research to hopefully start making something happen. I was just wondering, I was thinking about making a slightly reverse camber ski, say 3mm, and was wondering if anyone has experimented with using structurn bases and if it was possible. For those who arent familiar, although most probably are, they are being used more and more on snowboards, and it is basically like a dimpled golfball structure in the base that helps with speed - particularly in slushy snow and slow cat tracks etc. Given I spend half my year skiing in Australia, our fresh snow is often damp, and cat tracks can be a nightmare on rockered skis, I was wondering if the structurn base would perhaps overcome this problem? Any thoughts??
Cheers, and well done again on a mad site!!
Hopefully i'll have something to show for myself soon enough

interesting concept.. I hadn't heard of that, but I haven't really followed snowboarding

I wonder if putting round head rivets into the mold base would work. I'm not sure what the dimensions of the dimples should be, or if there would be enough 'give' with the base and just one layer before the core to allow much indentation. I can't seem to find pics/dimensions anywhere of what a snowboard uses..

yeh well something like that may definately work, but yeh, gotta make sure the base is thick enough. Thats the thing, there is no site for structurn or anything, but if you go to some of the snowboard sites (eg. stepchild or sapient) they show you what the structure looks like and how it works, just need to find somewhere with information on how it is constructed. I guess if anyone come across any information on these bases, or how it could be achieved, keep me posted!!

I've never seen or heard about structurn, but a description on the Santa cruz snowboard site says the dimples are stamped in. I'm assuming they are not very deep and are probably done at the time of pressing.

I've notice, in pressing our skis, that even a little debris or bump on the mold will cause a dimple in the base. A tiny fleck of dried epoxy makes a pretty good sized dimple. So putting a little pattern on the bottom mold, as robogeek suggested would work. I don't think the ptex is compressing, but the wood in the core probably does.

-kelvin

Yeh cheers for your help guys, i think i have an idea as to what to do. If I get the chance to press a ski or two this season i'll let you know how i go. As you said kelvin, i've heard quite a few people say that any small debris or anything on the mould shows up clearly once the ski is pressed. Im thinking ill just make a mould of the dimples (maybe from ptex or something to start with then work out what to supplement it with) on a structurn base and then lay the pattern down on the bottom mould before pressing. It would be interesting to see what effect it has on skis, if i get the chance ill keep you posted.
If anyone has any other ideas, keep em flowin. Cheers

ok im so sorry to do this, but that gay rule is really pissing me off so here goes some posts - figured i made the thread so its the fairest palce to do it

damn here we go again

might as well make this interesting - for all those interested in the UHMWPE and wax kinda debate - this kind of "structure" (although its not ground in, its pressed in) may further eliminate the need for wax

soon it will all be good

good to go, now i can post properly on other stuff - sorry bout the waste of posts here

found a pic of a structurn base.. I would think theres a lot of room for improvement - more dimples, different shapes, etc.

I'd like to see what a bottom dimpled just like a gold ball will do

pic: http://www.boarderszone.com/newsimg/equip/santa/5.jpg