Good bye planer, good bye router....

[OAC]

After destroying several cores using router w. router bridge, planer with crib/jig. I felt like, should I keep doing this? Not that the cores or the wood are very expensive. It was more like there where no skis coming out of my process!! Which annoyed me big time.
I probably did something wrong with the planer and the router. Having poor quality of the machinery is probably one reason. But anyway...of to something different. I got the idea from a production video from Dynastar ( I can't find it anymore..:--() where they where using vertical sawing. So I was thinking doing the same. But how? So I came up with this method. It might have been done before.
It uses the bandsaw, a midsize model, it needs to be fairly strong and have a gap measurment lager than 200 mm. And have a strong blade! This is for skis I might add.
The jig is made of regular fiberboard. One bottom plate with a bolt in the end where a turnable fence is mounted (pic 1.) This so one can turn it in what angle requested. The core is mounted on that fence. Before mounting the core. Adjust the miter fence so the sawblade is 2 - 3 mm, at the end where the bolt is, from the fence that holds the core (pic 3.). Put the core on the fence adjust the jig to wher you want the sawing to start.

The jig





The "hinge" bolt



The "fixation" bolt


The core mounted on jig. The vertical lines indicate where you want to start your taper.
Observe that this method goes from mid-core to the ends.



Adjust for desired thickness in tip/tail




Adjust the angel so you hit the starting point (more or less accurate)


The jig in action with the core mounted


The end! Here you can see the end of the pass, where the core is mounted and the fence is adjusted so the blade is 3 mm away.

For those who enjoy watching wet paint dry. This might be something for you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuC7XHuQ0fM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BMWW_C55Kc

Atleast it shows a saw time around 2 min!

I'm happy! The core/ski is in the press! Journaled tomorrow

[bobbyrobie]

Funny how you should post this i have been thinking about this all day. What size blade are you running? iv been pondering the idea of doing this with snowboard cores. i think it may be a little more tricky do with the extra width.

But i think with a proper setup it could be a fast and easy procedure.

[skidesmond]

Nice idea. That's a quick way to make a core.

I've thought of using a jointer. I've used a jointer to taper table legs. The process would be the same for a ski, but you'd taper each end. I have a 6 inch jointer, problem is the bed isn't long enough and I'd have to make an extension for it. It would save on hauling a planer crib around.

Just another option.

[bobbyrobie]

heres that video you were looking for i think.


http://science.discovery.com/videos/how ... -skis.html

[SHIF]

How are you attaching the core to the vertical fence?

This sawing process looks promising. Especially if you could transition the taper cut into a parallel cut (2mm thin) at the ends.

Cheers,
-S

[Mongo]

I have been doing this as a thicknessing operation prior to doing a 0.1 inch depth pass with my CNC machine to achieve the final core thickness. I attach the midpoint of my core at the center of my crib with a couple of 1/8" clamps I made so the clearance allows me to make the tip and tail pass in one without having to flip to a seperate crib configuration for the tip/tail pass. This has allowed me cut my CNC machining time by 400% as I no longer have to do multiple concentric passes due to rotary tool shattering concerns on the sidewalls. The same should hold true for those of you with a router bridge crib.

Great post by the way. I have been doing this for a long time and never really thought of posting it up as it was a move I made early on. When I do another production run i will take some pics of my setup.

[ben_mtl]

Waw, might be the time of the year as I just bought a used 10" bandsaw also (on Thursday). I still have to find a good blade and adjust everything. I've been told to use a 1/2" wide blade, with 3 TPI.. will see.
I only plan on using it to make core blanks at first (my router bridge gives me good results) but if I get good results I'll go with this method.

Would also be interesting to have pics if someone modified a vertical bandsaw so have the blade horizontal, we could use it the same way as a planer crib... I know that "333" did that and I believe I saw it on the Moment website also.

Do you have more pics or a link to seen them full-size ?

[knightsofnii]

heres that video you were looking for i think.


http://science.discovery.com/videos/how ... -skis.html

JUNK!!! Wow, one giant figerjoint right in the center of the core?
I suppose its got enough other layers like that metal layer, etc, to compensate for such a crap core, plus it looks like a recreational ski so the core failure rate is probably low

pretty neat press and cassettes though

[OAC]

Thanks for positive comments!

The construction/idea is of course in for some improvements. Right now I attach the core to the fence with clamps. Pretty rough, and a little timeconsuming, but still the result is satisfying.
The actual "sawingtime" for the whole core is under 5 min.
Also there is no parallell part in the tip or tail. I skipped it since I personally don't use it.. I only taper.
If that's an requirement I think the horizontal "333" way is to prefer. I considered that aswell, but I need my bandsaw for other stuff.

The blade: 2215x16mm, 4t, 0,81mm thick which makes it pretty stiff/robust for the purpose.

Thanks bobbierobie! That was the video I meant.

And yes knightsofnii the fingerjoint in the mid of the ski looks pretty scary. But I think the composites will do a good job.
My next project will be a cassette! That's my next source of irritation. The alignment towards all the layers of the ski.

[MontuckyMadman]

This is awesome and everyone should know about it. Thanks for the details.

Again, all of K2's older cores and ALLOT of boutique ski manufactures have finger joints in there cores. Seriously.

[knightsofnii]

hmm werent there like 5 more responses to this?

[Jekul]

There are, go here http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2292

[OAC]

Update in the first post.
Now with video!!

[skidesmond]

Thanks for the larger pics, the FOG's of the forum thank you
Keep up the nice work and let us know how the skis perform.

[Jekul]

The larger pictures give me a much better understanding of how your process works. Once I get sick of my planer crib method I'll make the switch to a ban saw setup very similar to yours. Thanks for showing all of the detail to the crib.