Ski Builders Forum

I want to build skis but I beams are just too expensive for me and I was wondering if a wooden press frame would work? I have a few big header beams that might work

Search. Many people have built these with acceptable amounts of deflection.

My press is primarily wood. You'll need to support the middle.

skidesmond wrote:My press is primarily wood. You'll need to support the middle.

QFT

My original frame was wood, no middle support. It deflects... A LOT...

Did it effect the quality? In short no. Not for personal ski building and friends. Does it effect repeat ability? In the long run, with no middle supports, yes it does. Plus it sounds deathly scary to use. Desmonds wooden press is much nicer then mine. He's got some pics floating around.

My Press is mainly wood too, but is supported in 4 places by steel - has seen 70 Psi once.....didn't snap but did make some scary noises

Those extra braces are key!

To anyone looking to go the wood route. You gotta have the braces!

Always liked the idea of a wood press - if I was at the start of this process I would laminate the beam together vertically using tri GF. A good introduction to GF and resin and it adds a safety net. So that's a belt and braces approach : (

Last year I had a guy stop at the house w/ his father-in-law who is a builder. They wanted to check out my setup. He's a member here at SB but I haven't seen him post in awhile, not sure he still follows the forum. Think he's from Framingham. Drop a line if you do.

So his father-in-law said when they would make a beam for a header on say a garage door opening or other large span, they would sandwich sheet metal in between the wood to help support and stiffen the beam. No idea how much difference that makes in a press. Each beam in my press is made of 21 pieces of 3/4x8x96 OSB. It would require 19 pieces of sheet metal for each beam. I don't know what gauge he used.

That does work. I've talked to people who have tested those and it makes a difference. I learned about it after I had put mine together and didn't think it was worth taking my beams apart to throw the metal in. I guess it doesn't take much either.

skidesmond wrote:Last year I had a guy stop at the house w/ his father-in-law who is a builder. They wanted to check out my setup. He's a member here at SB but I haven't seen him post in awhile, not sure he still follows the forum. Think he's from Framingham. Drop a line if you do.

So his father-in-law said when they would make a beam for a header on say a garage door opening or other large span, they would sandwich sheet metal in between the wood to help support and stiffen the beam. No idea how much difference that makes in a press. Each beam in my press is made of 21 pieces of 3/4x8x96 OSB. It would require 19 pieces of sheet metal for each beam. I don't know what gauge he used.

That's me! I'm still lurking, thinking about going live this spring... Might have to make one more visit before pulling the trigger.

He would use rolled tin for roofing, if I'm not mistakened. I'll double check on that. The tensile strength of the tin sandwiched between two pieces of wood increases the overall strength of the beam immensely.

Hey glad to see you're still with us! Let me know if you want to stop by. Hope you can get things rolling this year.

A little framer advice for wood presses, Don't start with OSB, if you were going to use wood beams use 11 7/8 wide or larger Microlam beams often called lvl's, But I would recommend welded steel holding them all together at either end and the middle. The only real benefit might be that you can unstack them one by one instead of having to relocate huge steel beams. But how do you control twist on the bottom level

dave, Yes LVL's is a better solution than OSB. I would have used that if I knew where to get them at the time, live and learn. Not sure why they would twist. I bolted the OSB together. I assume you'd do the same with the lvls. And yes, re-enforce.

Wood is completely viable for a hobby press. I supported mine with metal struts every 16". I initially wanted to make the struts out of wood also but joinery for tension can be tricky and expensive. $100 in steel and my crappy wire feed welder and it was done.

There are photos of some, including my own, wood/metal presses in this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=2196&highlight=

My press does not deflect very much. It is stronger than it needs to be....which is good enough. The wood is mostly filler and the steel carries the load.

be careful.