To start from the beginning, my high school shop teacher agreed to work with me and CNC the pieces for our mold. (Yes the high school's in the district I went to have CNC routers, among other tools)
The set up
The results, all the pieces for the mold and a outline of the ski I designed.
The mold coming together, and my 4 cores sitting on the table next to it.
Apparently I did not take pictures of quite a few steps between the above and getting ready for layup.
Mold with formica bonded to the wood. As the press we were going to use was basically stolen we had to resort to vacuum bagging the skis. The bonded formica created a nice smooth layer on the mold and epoxy really doesn't stick to waxed formica.
Because I didn't like the extra space in the tips and tails where the edge tabs were, I cut little pieces to fill those gaps. (Not completely cut out) Also note, the roller cutter in the background is the HANDS DOWN BEST way to cut carbon and glass that I have ever used. Roll it down where you want cut once with a firm pressure and you get a perfect cut.
Ski in vacuum bag. Which we left overnight. We were not able to get heat into this for the first ski, but we are working on it for the next couple skis we make. (The pump in the picture is not the one we used)
The next morning, taking the ski out of the mold.
Mold (not cleaned up yet from sealing the bag down)
Ski season has pretty much ended here in NY, but from just playing with the ski it is pretty light but crazy stiff. I personally am not a fan of stiff skis, but as a first ski, I am at least glad it came out without too many problems.
Comments and questions welcome.
