twizzstyle wrote:It'd be cheaper to just get some formica and glue that to the foam, it will form to the shape no problem. As for how to prevent things from sticking, that's what mold release wax and parchment paper are for!

Agreed, that sounds like the easiest/cheapest method.

With the skateboard, I had epoxy-laden fiber right on the packaging tape, and I definitely "lost" (ie - broke off) some of the mold when I was removing the board. It wasn't a big deal for me as I was only making one. I guess it depends on how tightly you control your epoxy. If you're going...

Why not use the pink insulation foam stuff from the home supply store? It comes in 8ft long, 2" thick sheets. If you have any concerns about the foam crushing under vacuum, just tape the bag to the mold surface itself (rather than wrapping the entire thing in a bag). That way the foam won't ha...

No, not mine, but man this is cool. X, Y, Z travel of 151m, 9m, 4.25m and accuracy of +/- 0.2mm, used for milling out molds for wind turbine blades.



A bit more info here: uemfab.blog.com.

Thanks for the help, guys.

Not so worried about the plastic, but moreso making sure I have tight interface between the core and the spacer. Figured since it'll be my first build, the fewer variables the better.

Nice build! Did you do all of the machining yourself on the cnc grizzly?

Thanks for the help so far guys. The bamboo is going to be hard to bend to the tip shape, especially if you're just doing vacuum. Might want to re-consider tip-spacer for that reason alone. Noted, thanks. Does the core typically extend into the tip at all? Or is it all tip-spacer? Your profile seems...

Thanks for the info, Sam. Probably going to forego the tip/tail spacers to keep things simple for the first go, but I'll stick with the 2mm regardless. I've read/seen recommendations for the reinforcement in the binding mount area - is this just another layer of the 19oz triax only under the binding...

Well it's approaching 90*F today here in NJ, so that can only mean one thing: time to start working on some skis! I'm slowly working towards laying up my first pair and could use some critique on my shape before I start cutting a mold, ordering material, etc. Some quick info: Pintail powder skis (ba...

Thanks for the info, everyone.

MadRussian wrote:IMO variable speed very important especially if you going to run large diameter bits. You can go two ways buy router with VS or buy speed controller separately, $20 in HF

Any experience with the HF speed controller?

So how critical is it to have variable speed? I got a great deal on this Porter Cable 693LRPK, but it's fixed speed.

Reviving this old thread as I'm in the process of "tooling up" for my first build and am in the market for a workhorse router (I'll be using a planer to profile the cores). Is a plunge base necessary for typical ski-building applications? Any minimum specs I should be on the lookout for? ...

Reviving this old thread as I'm in the process of "tooling up" for my first build and am in the market for a workhorse router (I'll be using a planer to profile the cores). Is a plunge base necessary for typical ski-building applications? Any minimum specs I should be on the lookout for? B...

Weehawken, eh? I just moved from Hoboken two weeks ago (now I'm about 30 min further west into Jersey now - more space). I'm in the same boat though. Been researching and learning from these forums for years now. Built a carbon/balsa core longboard last year to get my feet wet and am gearing up for ...

I don't have experience with either of these, but it looks like there's a DXF importer available for $200. You should be able to export from SnoCad and then bring it into your software.

STL files are also fairly common in most CAD software, so that's an alternative as well.

-Nick