Has anyone else got a way to vary the length of the ski press base without the gaps of the alternating tip/tail and camber ribs?
Hose-man:
Check out http://www.grafsnowboards.com they built a system so they could slide the tip and tail blocks. They use several sheets of MDF and Aluminum to smooth out the transition. The information is far down on the home page on the right near the Nov 5th entry.
I'm planning on using something similar to this.
heated ski press
Moderators: Head Monkey, kelvin, bigKam, skidesmond, chrismp
-
Guest
Hose-man...
You said you were taking the heating element out of an old heater for your press, which seems like a good idea to me. How are you mounting it? I had a kinda crazy idea about making your own silicone blanket. You could lay out the wire in some regular pattern and than cast silicone around it. Doing a little googleing it seems that ordinary silicone caulk is rated to 400 deg F and you should be able to thin it with xylene [nasty stuff, but at any hardware store]. I was thinking: lay out the wire in a shallow mold; cast a layer of silicone as thin as possible and let cure; flip it and lay a very thin layer on what was the bottom. Holding a vibrating back massager to the bottom of the mold should make it level out pretty well. It seems silicone doesn't like to bond to silicone that's allready cured so that might be a problem if you're not gentle with it.
You said you were taking the heating element out of an old heater for your press, which seems like a good idea to me. How are you mounting it? I had a kinda crazy idea about making your own silicone blanket. You could lay out the wire in some regular pattern and than cast silicone around it. Doing a little googleing it seems that ordinary silicone caulk is rated to 400 deg F and you should be able to thin it with xylene [nasty stuff, but at any hardware store]. I was thinking: lay out the wire in a shallow mold; cast a layer of silicone as thin as possible and let cure; flip it and lay a very thin layer on what was the bottom. Holding a vibrating back massager to the bottom of the mold should make it level out pretty well. It seems silicone doesn't like to bond to silicone that's allready cured so that might be a problem if you're not gentle with it.
Greetings,
I was wondering if anyone has establised an ideal temperaturs for curing the skis? My thoughts on the cheapest way to provide the heat varies with the end temperature required. If a temperaturs of say 150 F is good, I think enclosing the press and supplying heat externally using a propane or electric heat source might be all that is needed. However if the ideal cure temperaure is 300 F the silicone strip heater sounds optimal.
I have been spending a lot of my spare time working my way through this great site and am really excited about getting set up so I may be making my own ski creations shortly as well. Thanks for all the hard work and dedication required to make this site work so well and bringing together people from all over to share some pretty clever ideas. My learning curve has been shortened by many years as a result.
I was wondering if anyone has establised an ideal temperaturs for curing the skis? My thoughts on the cheapest way to provide the heat varies with the end temperature required. If a temperaturs of say 150 F is good, I think enclosing the press and supplying heat externally using a propane or electric heat source might be all that is needed. However if the ideal cure temperaure is 300 F the silicone strip heater sounds optimal.
I have been spending a lot of my spare time working my way through this great site and am really excited about getting set up so I may be making my own ski creations shortly as well. Thanks for all the hard work and dedication required to make this site work so well and bringing together people from all over to share some pretty clever ideas. My learning curve has been shortened by many years as a result.
I just put a ski in the press yesterday and got around to putting a thermometer on it as well. My department store modified heat blanket heats the ski up to about 105 degrees F, or about 40 degrees C. This is certainly not extremely hot, but with the epoxy and hardener I am using (QCM ECA-315 and EHV-0050) I was able to press a ski in about 3.5 hours. It probably could have come out in 3 hours, but I wanted to make sure.
I bought a heated blanket from a second hand store a couple weeks ago. I ripped the whole thing apart to get the heating coils out. I hooked it all up to my top cassette and it seemed to heat the cassette up nicely. I did a test run with pressure and something happened. The heated "wires" got super hot for some reason, and some even started to melt together.
I was in a bit of a rush to get the press working so I abandoned the heating project. I am very interested in getting this heating aspect of the press working now that I have a little more time on my hands.
Any details that you have on your set up would be awesome.
I was in a bit of a rush to get the press working so I abandoned the heating project. I am very interested in getting this heating aspect of the press working now that I have a little more time on my hands.
Any details that you have on your set up would be awesome.
James
To make my heat blanket, I bought a heating blanket at Macy's (formerly the bon marche) because Target didn't have any. The first time I used it, I just folded it up and layed it on top of the ski. This worked okay, but not phenomenally. After the first trial, I ripped apart the blanket, and layed all of the coils into a loop. Then, I cut a strip from the ripped apart blanket, and used the material and my sewing machine to sew one heat blanket about 7' long and 8" wide. The only issue that I have been having with it is that when I lay it between the ski and the bladder, it can form perforations in the topsheet of the ski where the pressure from the bladder pushes on the individual wires. My next idea with it though is to use some metal flashing between the blanket and the ski, and hopefully that will solve the perforation issue.
For reference, I used a twin sized heat blanket, but with a king sized heat blanket you might not need to do all the sewing because it would be long enough to fit in the press. Also, when I run the press, I set the blanket to the highest setting.
For reference, I used a twin sized heat blanket, but with a king sized heat blanket you might not need to do all the sewing because it would be long enough to fit in the press. Also, when I run the press, I set the blanket to the highest setting.
Greg, thanks for the info.
Kelvin, I think that the wires must have been shorting out. The wires melting together were actually outside of the press and lightly touching each other.
In the next few weeks I'll see what I can get working. I also have a great resource as I consider my brother to be an electrical genius. There is something cool about having a heating system that costs under $10!
Kelvin, I think that the wires must have been shorting out. The wires melting together were actually outside of the press and lightly touching each other.
In the next few weeks I'll see what I can get working. I also have a great resource as I consider my brother to be an electrical genius. There is something cool about having a heating system that costs under $10!
James
Thanks for the ideas on heated molds. I was thinking of getting a cheap used oven and looping air through a well insulated enclosure (heater duct) surrounding my vacuum bagging mold and back through the oven. Good enough flow should ensure a uniform temp throughout, and convection should heat/cool things fairly quickly. That would probably be more difficult to do with a press though. I'd like a heater jacket, but am just starting out, and $500 on top of everthing else is a little out of reach....definitly need to install a smoke detector and get a fire extinguisher for my garage though, which it should have anyways.
-
sivart7208
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Thu Sep 14, 2006 6:56 am
- Location: franconia. NH
Hey sivert7208,
Some of the literature reports that a heat cure resin is a bit stronger that room cure resin, but I don't think it is too much of a big deal. So, ya, a shorter cure time is the main advantage of a heat cure system.
Regarding camber changes, we all have had such varying results with both heated and non-heated systems that I don't think we're at a place where we can say, objectively, that, with a non-heated system, you have to over-build or under-build certain amounts of camber into your mold. It's more about doing everything the same at each pressing, then adjusting the mold camber to get the desired end result.
Good luck with your pressing (take good notes).
G-man
Some of the literature reports that a heat cure resin is a bit stronger that room cure resin, but I don't think it is too much of a big deal. So, ya, a shorter cure time is the main advantage of a heat cure system.
Regarding camber changes, we all have had such varying results with both heated and non-heated systems that I don't think we're at a place where we can say, objectively, that, with a non-heated system, you have to over-build or under-build certain amounts of camber into your mold. It's more about doing everything the same at each pressing, then adjusting the mold camber to get the desired end result.
Good luck with your pressing (take good notes).
G-man