Senior Project - Logging Process

[knightsofnii]

i had trouble bending the masonite to a proper tip curve as well, when I tried my hand at building a vacuum mold.

I think what I ended up doing was pre bending it for a day or so just putting some weight on it in the mold ribs, so it would SORTOF start to bend in,

Then When I went to sink all the screws in, i put a few in at a time, and just sunk each down partially, then went to the next screw, sunk those in a little, went back to the others and sunk them some more, I would be working about 20 screws at a time, and doing pilot holes, which is critical for that mdf stuff, I'm sure you spun out a few of those screws when you tried, half the screws I put in just split the mdf. But i was able to get it close enough.
Then I covered the entire thing with formica. I was able to get 2 pieces from home depot's junk box for like 15 bucks, when a full sheet was like 45.
I used contact cement to put down the formica, and used like pipes and straps and bricks and whatever I could to hold it down until it stuck on the curves. Formica gives you a nice smooth surface, you can wax/mold release it easy, and its easy to clean up.

[cstoneskis]

@chrismp: Thank you for the tip. I have never done something like this before so it's nice that people are informing me of little things like that along the way.
And thank you, I'm trying to keep it as up to date as I can haha.

@knightsofnii: Yeah the screws did cause a bit of difficulty for me and I also experienced some MDF splits. When I took it a bit slower it seemed to work out a lot better.
Also thank you for the advice, maybe I will make a quick stop to home depot myself and see what they have for formica. I think that will really help solve the problem of the screw impression that chrismp told me about before.

Thank you both so much for the advice!

[cstoneskis]

April 1, 2010

1:55PM-2:29PM
34MIN

So today I had a bit of free time during study hall to do a bit more research. First I went and replied to chrismp and knightsofnii who both offered me great advice for improving my press in order to prevent the impression of the screws copying to my bases.
Then I went to look at how to build the top of the press, which appears easy enough because I actually have all the tools I need for this one right on hand, so that is exciting! I have a ton of 2X4's in the shed, maybe even some 2X6's, but I am not sure on that. I am estimating that I will need about five or six of them because my press is about half the size of the press displayed here and they used what appears to be eleven of them.

Tonight after track I will (reluctantly I am sure) go out to the shed and get to work on those boards. I say reluctantly, not because I hate this project, but because after two hours of track every day all I want to do is sleep. It really wears me out, but I can't put off this project much longer. My rough draft of my reflective paper is due April 19th, the final draft is due May 3rd. I need to make sure that I make my deadlines, but I am not extremely worried because I am positive I will finish on time.

My mom keeps putting off ordering my final supplies, so I am going to try and convince her to order them when I get home tonight. Anyways I need to go to the post office before my study hall ends, so I will hopefully continue working on this tonight.

[doughboyshredder]

order your supplies yesterday. Lead times can be teh suck.

[chrismp]

order your supplies yesterday. Lead times can be teh suck.

yep, better get them asap...everytime we built a board we were in a hurry to finish before leaving for our next holiday. there's always been something delaying our schedule.

[knightsofnii]

yea getting the stuff you need, when you need it, the absolute WORST part of this whole ordeal, worse than screwing things up, no joke.

I now have to try to plan for like the model year ahead of the one I'm working on, otherwise I dont get the parts in time. So yea I'm about to start the 2012 designs, and figuring out all the logistics so that the 2012 materials start coming in in like Sept 2010 and the last part of it will arrive like april 2011.

I just got a tracking number for some parts that I ordered on Nov 17, 2009.

================

On another note, you mention "top part of the press" and wood beams, etc. Are you building a press frame / pneumatic press? I was assuming you were building a vacuum mold.

[knightsofnii]

sorry i dont mean to discourage you.

But for one pair of skis or something you shoulddddd be able to make your deadline, but you might have to push daily to get it. Whatever you have trouble getting, let us all know, we can locate where to get it from for sure.

[cstoneskis]

Hey guys, no worries on ordering supplies. I order everything I need off of the ski builders website. It only takes about four to five days for supplies to get to me and the last time I ordered the supplies were sent out next day. The only problem I had was that FedEx was having trouble finding my house, so they came a day later than expected.
It wasn't so much that I was having trouble finding materials, as I was having trouble getting them. I buy everything myself, and as a high school student this relies heavily on how much money I have to spend. When my car broke down two Fridays ago, it was a priority that I get that fixed as opposed to getting supplies because I need my car to get to work, school, etc.
My point is though, I have had to put off getting supplies simply because I haven't had the funds to get them. I am ordering the last of my supplies tonight. I was supposed to order them yesterday, but when I got home from track I fell asleep instantly. The order will most definitely be placed today.

@knightsofnii: I may be doing a vacuum press. I am asking a neighbor who owns his own construction business if he has a vacuum press, because he has next to everything. However, if he does not I am going for the clamp press.
The reason I am not full on pursuing the vacuum press is that it can be a bit pricey to buy a vacuum press, from what I have read in other blogs. That is why, if it is unavailable to me, I am going to pursue the clamp press. Though it can be less effective than other means of pressing skis, it is really the easiest way for me at this point in time.

Oh and it's not discouraging at all. You are all just trying to inform me. Thank you all again

[cstoneskis]

April 6, 2010

1:30PM-2:56
86MIN

So today I started looking into writing my reflective paper, since I do not actually need to have the project complete to work on it. I talked to my Senior Project Coach about how to write it. As a reminder to myself, make sure to include all dates when writing out the body paragraphs about what I did. I forgot to ask about whether or not I should include the times as well, but I will figure that out later.

I spent most of today replying to posts, and then went and viewed SnoCadX at grafsnowboards.com due to the suggestion I had received earlier by Drew and Alex13 (Thank you again!)
From what I see, this program appears to be a great way to design the skis. I would download it now, but I can't download it to the school computer. I figure I will download it when I get home and work on it there as much as possible. I may begin bringing my laptop to school on days when I have this study hall, that way I can work with all of my programs instead of being limited to the school computers capabilities.
grafsnowboards.com also appears to be another site that I can use to reference how to build my skis, as well as the process too. This will be extremely beneficial to me because I can now cross-check ideas between both Ski Builders and Graf Snowboards.
For lack of anything better to do for the rest of the study hall, I added up some hours and put how many minutes I worked on each post. The school computers took a while to load, so this itself took a while.
I have about 22 hours in this blog alone, although I have hours that are not recorded in this blog.

[skidesmond]

I've been following your build also and I admire your courage and work ethic. This forum is a great place for advice and to find answers. Looks like you're making good use of it, excellent!

I agree with everyone else's comments about planning. A good plan and timeline are key. Looks like you have it under control.

You're doing a great job! Keep it up!

[cstoneskis]

May 7, 2010

5:05PM-5:47
42MIN

So today I ordered the final pieces I need for my skis (top sheet and sidewalls). The only real material I need now is the wooden core. I spent a lot of time researching different types of wood and think I am going to settle on an ash and poplar mix. Or something like that. I may go out and get the wood boards for the core tonight.

[cstoneskis]

@skidesmond thank you very much! You are also right about a timeline, and I think from my next post on I will post mini goals for myself, as a motivation to get out and do it. Maybe day-by-day goals or maybe week-end goals.
Thank you again!

[skidesmond]

That's an excellent idea! That way you can see exactly where you're ahead or behind schedule, so you can make adjustments as you go. Make it realistic so you don't get over burdened... sounds like you have other activities too. This should be a fun project.

btw- I work in IT and our work life is full of project planning and timelines. You're on the right track.

Way to go!

[MontuckyMadman]

Chicks with trucks and ski building. Be still my heart.
Core building and shaping is by far the most time consuming process associated with ski building other than building a press.
Wednesday manufacturing can make you profiled cores to your specs for an affordable price.
There are a few other guys out there also that can do it for a decent price.
Might want to buy preshaped cores to save a huge chunk of time.

Just a suggestion. Keep on trucking.

[Alex13]

Have a look at doing a Gantt chart if you're going down the timeline path. Very useful tool. I made one for my own project, counting backwards from when I needed the work done, and allocating time for the various tasks.

There's a good one available here http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/ ... chart.html