Sidewall bevel tricks and tips.

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backyardskier
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Sidewall bevel tricks and tips.

Post by backyardskier »

Curious to see how you all are making your sidewall bevels.

As for me right now I have a belt sander that can be angled and been setting it to 20 degrees and slowly working away the sidewalls until they look good to the eye. The trick with my system is just like any normal sanding start with a heavy grit end with a fine grit.

So how do you do it?
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SHIF
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Post by SHIF »

I bevel sidewalls using a router and chamfer router bit having a 22.5 degree angle. The router is mounted on an aluminum plate that is cantilevered over the ski. The ski is pushed beneath the stationary router and is supported on a piece of MDF that has a shim to create an arc matching the ski camber. It takes about four passes to get it down to where I like it, leaving about 6 mm tall vertical sidewalls above the ski edges. I feed the ski in the direction causing the cutter to climb, not plunge into the material. The most important part of this process is to keep the ski pressed down against the MDF. If it raises at all the cutter will gauge the sidewall. This is critical when working on reverse camber ski profiles.

Here is my set up:
Image

This ski has UHMW sidewalls:
Image

This pair has ipe sidewalls which I prefer and now use exclusively. These were stained black prior to taking to the shop for a base tune. The edge sharpening process revealed raw ipe giving a nice look:

Image

-S
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Dr. Delam
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Post by Dr. Delam »

Here is my setup. Simple yet effective. I didn't feel like springing for a tilt base router so I just made a shim for mine. I usually do a seven degree angle. I can also do the tips and tails with my drum sanding bit so there is a continuous consistent angle.

Shif, what black stain are you using for sidewalls and how does it hold up? I haven't treated mine in the past but have been thinking about staining them black.

Image
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SHIF
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Post by SHIF »

Dr. D, As you know ipe is rather hydrophobic and doesn't soak up much liquid so I apply a couple very heavy coats and let it almost dry completely, then I wipe off the excess. Seems to hold up very well in use. Easy enough to refresh the look mid-season with another coat of stain.

Image

Cheers,
-S
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Dr. Delam
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Post by Dr. Delam »

Well that's good because that is the stuff that I bought. I haven't tried it yet but going to put it on some bamboo and see how it looks.
skidesmond
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Post by skidesmond »

I bevel mine the same way as Dr. Delam. Simple and effective. I normally go with a 15 degree bevel.
JSquare
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Re: Sidewall bevel tricks and tips.

Post by JSquare »

backyardskier wrote:Curious to see how you all are making your sidewall bevels.

As for me right now I have a belt sander that can be angled and been setting it to 20 degrees and slowly working away the sidewalls until they look good to the eye. The trick with my system is just like any normal sanding start with a heavy grit end with a fine grit.

So how do you do it?
^I do that. I like it a lot-- especially since i already have the board on the sander bringing the edges in. Only negative is that if you use a different tip spacer material that edge material, you might get some weird stuff at the seams.
Gilo
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Post by Gilo »

This one is really for Shif

Can you explain your set up a little more?

I am not quite sure that I understand the detail

Thanks

Gilo
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SHIF
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Post by SHIF »

Gilo, I can’t really add much more to the detailed description in my post dated July 23, 2015. I can say the red colored plate to which my router is mounted is just a scrap of aluminum about 10 mm thick that is clamped to my table saw with a box under the plate to elevate it. This set-up is very rigid. The ski runs on a strip of MDF that is shimmed off the table to sort of match the ski camber.
One improvement to this jig would be to add a spring-loaded roller or wheel to help keep the ski down against the MDF strip. Any lifting of the ski causes the router bit to gouge into the ski.
Remember to push the ski past the cutter so the blades “climb” the side wall, not “plunge” into it. You’ll know if you’re pushing the wrong direction, it will grab the ski and possible tear out a chunk of your sidewall.
When your local ski shop tunes your skis, their edge sharpener will cut into the sidewall material a little, especially if you get a 1 or 2 degree side bevel. In the case where I stained the sidewalls black colored this revealed a nice two-tone look.
I hope this helps…
-S
Gilo
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Post by Gilo »

Shif - thanks for this - sorry I'm am way behind the curve when it comes to being handy at finding solutions to some ski building issues - I am not an engineer by nature and have to work hard at it! My saving grace is that I am a slightly obsessive character with an autodidactic streak and have long been fascinated by things that slide. This, on the whole makes up for some (and I mean some!) of my lack of skills and intuition in other areas. Some of the f**k ups I make would make you weep.

Thanks again

Gilo
motoman
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Post by motoman »

I have the similar construction that SHIF has but I can't get sidewall flat and smooth enough. In general it looks good but it has small wavy scarring from router bit.
I was told that the reason might be that router bit isn't sharpened in the right way since it comes sharpened for the wood but not for the plastic out from factory.

Does anybody had similar trouble?
heke
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Post by heke »

motoman wrote:I have the similar construction that SHIF has but I can't get sidewall flat and smooth enough. In general it looks good but it has small wavy scarring from router bit.
I was told that the reason might be that router bit isn't sharpened in the right way since it comes sharpened for the wood but not for the plastic out from factory.

Does anybody had similar trouble?
Have you try to move the router / ski faster to each others after all material is removed. My router makes similat small waves in some areas but those vanish when just moving the router with max rpm against the part. I have had this when making the template to cut the ski base.

I think it might be reason that my router is not powerfull enought=> vibration to router bit?
Hannes
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Location: NRW, Germany

Post by Hannes »

Those waves are normal because the rotation of the routerbit ist combined with the linear motion of the routerbit along the ski.
When the blade of the bit is cutting the plastic the ski is moved forward. The result is the valley of the wave. As the bit keeps rotating the blade rises out of the plastic. For a very short time there is no blade in the plastic, still the ski is moved on. You get the peak of the wave. When the next blade dives into the plastic you get the next valley.
You could try to feed the ski slower so the peaks get smaller. But fast enough to prevent the routerbit from getting hot.
motoman
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Post by motoman »

We have two routers. And we use more powerful for beveling sidewalls. We move snowboard not too fast and not too slow against router bit. I will try to move it slower and faster as well))
But if it is normal reaction, how to make surface smooth and shiny?
I have tried to use 120 sandpaper and grindstone but still there are some villi remains.

Thanks for good advises.
Hannes
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Joined: Wed Nov 09, 2011 2:20 am
Location: NRW, Germany

Post by Hannes »

I sand them. They are not perfect but handcrafted.But I just made my fifth pair.
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