Aluminum type 5052-H32 is very common, rather cheap, and conforms really well to ski forms. I've used both .062" and .050" thickness with equal results. It bends nicely but can get kinked if bent about a sharp edge, so be careful.


-S

I'm looking for 2 meters length of the "almost" clear P-tex topsheet material recently offered in the Skibuilders.com store, ideally the same 51cm wide material.

If anyone has some extra to sell, please send me a PM.

Thanks!

-S

I modeled my 184cm Volkl AC4 dimensions to get this whole ski building project started three years ago. They have the waist of the ski about 50mm aft of the max camber point. Obviously the max camber location is midway between the contact points. The ski waist (center of turning radii) corresponds t...

wow shif that's pretty over the top... Ya, but it works really well. I like the idea of attaching metal guide pieces to the aluminum hot plate that would capture the base assembly. Especially for making multiple similar skis. If I continue this crazy project much further, I plan to build a two-up p...

I use two screws on each side of the core. These are about 400mm fore and aft of the mid camber reference line. Everything has a mid camber ref line; Templates, molds, base, core, top, graphic layer, and every piece of reinforcement. http://www.fototime.com/A302FD15ECF4516/standard.jpg The hardboard...

Yes, the photo looks like an Omega type K thermocouple with yellow/red wires and a yellow connector shell. International standard TC wire colors are green and white. TC connectors are made using special alloys, hence the different colors of connector shells that are available. http://www.omega.com/T...

Here in the USA, those yellow TC plugs are typically for type K thermocouples. And the wire colors are counter-intuitive, RED is (-) and YELLOW is (+).

Here is a handy chart:
http://www.omega.com/techref/colorcodes.html


-S

Angled sidewalls look great. They also make it nicer on your hands to grab and carry a pair of skis from the car to the lifts. And as stated above, it also makes it easier to tune them on an edge grinding machine. Here is my simple method using a router: http://www.fototime.com/CAD0337A06C0A46/stand...

How are you attaching the core to the vertical fence?

This sawing process looks promising. Especially if you could transition the taper cut into a parallel cut (2mm thin) at the ends.

Cheers,
-S

...they melted vinyl records w/ acetone and use it as a finish for a piece of wood funiture... There is plenty of candidate vinyl records at the Goodwill store but this sounds like a stinky messy job. I'm now building skis with Brazillian redwood sidewall blocks and having great success. I want the...

I use good old duct tape top and bottom to hold my tip fill in place. It is just outside the ski and gets trimmed off with the flash. Near perfect core alignment to the base is required, but that's easy to achieve: http://www.fototime.com/0CDFED685536FFF/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/C0FC4EAC...

Another thing that might play against me is I use the thermocouple that is in the blanket... not some other that I would stick directly on the casette... I think this last statement is the crux of your heater control issues. On my first couple builds I mounted tiny thermocouples on the ski top and ...

I need enough 22oz glass to build two sets of skis. I was hoping to crank them out this weekend/next week, but skibuilders just sent me an email that they are out of the 22oz. glass I ordered. Can anyone help me out? I buy 19oz. Triaxial E-glass from Fiberglass Supply, item C74-4325 Here is the lin...

Simple Floors in Oakland is where I’ve purchased vertically laminated bamboo flooring. Six footers, natural color, 12 pieces per box = 23 square feet. Two different times now they only charged me $2.50 per sq. ft. One box yields enough material to make eight ski cores. Including tax, the per core co...

... Have you had any trouble with warping or twisting in your experience with it? ... Also how does it accept glue? No warping or twisting. I thought for sure that the narrow strips I ripped from a 1x4 would warp but they stayed very straight. I solvent wiped the gluing surfaces on both the sidewal...