How do the big guys do a cap construction?

[gketcham]

I'm trying to figure out what the process is for making a cap ski. Does anyone know of anything of how its different than standard pressing. Just curious if I could get some info. Thanks

[skidesmond]

There's probably more than 1 way to do it but, generally I think you have a top mold that fit's over the layup so that all the material gets wrapped over the sides. It has to be pretty precise.

Check out Kams latest build. He did a cap construction.

[twizzstyle]

Yep. The big guys still use firehoses even with cap skis, but they have CNC milled top molds. Take a look at a complicated 3D top ski, they can have all kinds of ridges/shapes/whatever. The top mold has to match this EXACTLY. Not something the homebuilder can do on the cheap. There are other ways of doing it, like Steve said Kam did some really nice cap skis recently. I've seen guys make RTV silicone cap molds - but you have to make a plug first, to pull the mold from.

[gketcham]

Yeah thanks guys for the input. I found a thread on doing it with a vaccuum bag yesterday but just needed to know how it was really done. I have already ruled it out because it does seem like it requires money and things... And using the vaccuum bag doesn't seem very reliable. Well, onward and upward toward making turkey, bacon and ranch sandwich skis!

[twizzstyle]

Mmmm sandwich.

A couple of years ago I did a combo vacuum/firehose press cap ski. The first ski, the vacuum hose got pinched off by my top sheet metal (I wasn't using a cat track at the time) so I lost all vacuum, but I didn't know it until the ski came out of the press. So that failed. I made sure it didn't happen for the second ski, and it sorta turned out, but not as good as I was hoping, so I've stuck with sandwich ever since.

[deepskis]

Vacuum is the way to do it. I have build a couple and they work fine!

[telehead]

Here are some cap skis I have been expermenting with. As Kam said, you need to make a negative top die, very precise and for me alot of trial and error. I can't seem to get more than 22 degree sidewall but that is cool with me. The ski that is mounted is 108 underfoot @ 175cm, it wieghs in at 3.091 lbs. (that is on Kam's scale) I want to get under 3 lbs here soon...cheers...kt

[telehead]

Not sure what happend there???? Kinda sideways!!!

[sammer]

Not sure what happend there???? Kinda sideways!!!

You can edit it, just have to press enter between the image tags so each image is on its own "line"

sam

[twizzstyle]

Fixed it for ya

[Bloefeld]

Vacuum is the way to do it. I have build a couple and they work fine!

Brilliant looking skis and in my opinion exactly the right way to make skis. Did you lay them up wet or did you use vacuum infusion?

Cheers,

Bloefeld

[deepskis]

Brilliant looking skis and in my opinion exactly the right way to make skis. Did you lay them up wet or did you use vacuum infusion?

Cheers,

Bloefeld

Thank's Blofeld!
I am always using a wet layup. Fast, easy and the result is great. With the vacuum system its actually easy to make a cap construction. They get a nice "factory finish" that I like.