I am a nOOb here and I was wondering if any of you had some designs or drawings of skis or ski presses
thanks
CAD drawings/designs
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Hi zachjowi,
It's pretty easy to tell that you are really excited about getting into ski building. We've all been there, too, and it's a great place. Rather than attempt to answer any of your specific questions myself, I'm instead going to make a suggestion based on what I've learned from my ski building experience thus far, with the hope that, in the long, run you'll come out further ahead.
Ski building is kinda odd in that, on a theoretical level, it's a pretty straight forward process, but then, in reality, it's incredibly involved. Just to give you an idea of how involved it can be, I have a step-by-step instruction manual (three-ring binder) that I have developed for my own process, and it involves over 200 critical steps in building a ski. I have 70 to 80 different templates, jigs, and special machines that I use in the process. I have spent almost a year, more than full time, refining my process and I feel I'm still a long ways from 'having it down'. But, that's just my approach to ski building. I must admit that there are guys building very nice looking skis who make the process look much less complicated than I do.
But, here's my suggestion. Pretty much all of the information that you could ever want regarding how to build a ski can be found on this website somewhere. I suggest taking a month, maybe sitting down in the evenings for 3 or 4 hours, and scouring every nook and cranny of this web site. Lets say that you are reading an old thread on the forum where someone is talking about what epoxy they use and how they like or don't like it. Save that page to your desktop, along with others that seem to have important bits of info, and at the end of the evening, organize the different saved pages into file folders on your computer. At the end of your month of sorting and organizing, if you want to review all of this site's information regarding epoxy resin, all you have to do is click on that file and you'll have a 20 or 30 pages of epoxy specicific info to refer to. Likewise, if you want to review pictures of all of the press frames that have been submitted to the site, all you have to do is click on that file.
Sure, the process takes a bit of time in the beginning, but, in the end, you'll have tons of well organized information right at your finger tips. Also, after exploring the entire site, you'll have a much better idea of the overall process and where you personnaly want to go with it. Oh, don't forget to back-up all of those files. I go through the forum every couple of days and do just as I describe above, adding to what I've saved over the past few months. I find it invaluable for quick access to lots of very specific information.
Good luck to you,
G-man
It's pretty easy to tell that you are really excited about getting into ski building. We've all been there, too, and it's a great place. Rather than attempt to answer any of your specific questions myself, I'm instead going to make a suggestion based on what I've learned from my ski building experience thus far, with the hope that, in the long, run you'll come out further ahead.
Ski building is kinda odd in that, on a theoretical level, it's a pretty straight forward process, but then, in reality, it's incredibly involved. Just to give you an idea of how involved it can be, I have a step-by-step instruction manual (three-ring binder) that I have developed for my own process, and it involves over 200 critical steps in building a ski. I have 70 to 80 different templates, jigs, and special machines that I use in the process. I have spent almost a year, more than full time, refining my process and I feel I'm still a long ways from 'having it down'. But, that's just my approach to ski building. I must admit that there are guys building very nice looking skis who make the process look much less complicated than I do.
But, here's my suggestion. Pretty much all of the information that you could ever want regarding how to build a ski can be found on this website somewhere. I suggest taking a month, maybe sitting down in the evenings for 3 or 4 hours, and scouring every nook and cranny of this web site. Lets say that you are reading an old thread on the forum where someone is talking about what epoxy they use and how they like or don't like it. Save that page to your desktop, along with others that seem to have important bits of info, and at the end of the evening, organize the different saved pages into file folders on your computer. At the end of your month of sorting and organizing, if you want to review all of this site's information regarding epoxy resin, all you have to do is click on that file and you'll have a 20 or 30 pages of epoxy specicific info to refer to. Likewise, if you want to review pictures of all of the press frames that have been submitted to the site, all you have to do is click on that file.
Sure, the process takes a bit of time in the beginning, but, in the end, you'll have tons of well organized information right at your finger tips. Also, after exploring the entire site, you'll have a much better idea of the overall process and where you personnaly want to go with it. Oh, don't forget to back-up all of those files. I go through the forum every couple of days and do just as I describe above, adding to what I've saved over the past few months. I find it invaluable for quick access to lots of very specific information.
Good luck to you,
G-man
Good Answer
G-Man,
I liked your response. A lot of people on this website have logged lot of hours to figure out how to make their own skis. I have found this site extremely useful. I wish I would have found it earlier since I started making skis before the site was created (I used to vaccum bagging) and it would have been nice to have a reference right from the start. I think since the publishing of the magazine article a great number of people are going to flood the site and ask for information, which is fine but they need to realize that failure is a major part of the process and they need to be patient. If your serious about ski building it is going to take a great investment of time and money. If you only want one pair of skis it is cheaper to go out and buy the the latest and greatest skis off of the rack at your local store. And they shouldn't expect to have something that is of store-bought quality (or even something that will even work) the first couple of attempts. In closing I feel that ski building is something that most people who are successful at it do all year round and is something that they are truley passionate about. I don't want to discourage anyone from starting but I want them to know it requires a large commitment. I quess I just don't want anyone to get halfway through the process and realize that it is too hard and waste a lot of money and time. On a side note it seems like most people on this site are engineers or have a science/math background, let me know if I am right or wrong.
I liked your response. A lot of people on this website have logged lot of hours to figure out how to make their own skis. I have found this site extremely useful. I wish I would have found it earlier since I started making skis before the site was created (I used to vaccum bagging) and it would have been nice to have a reference right from the start. I think since the publishing of the magazine article a great number of people are going to flood the site and ask for information, which is fine but they need to realize that failure is a major part of the process and they need to be patient. If your serious about ski building it is going to take a great investment of time and money. If you only want one pair of skis it is cheaper to go out and buy the the latest and greatest skis off of the rack at your local store. And they shouldn't expect to have something that is of store-bought quality (or even something that will even work) the first couple of attempts. In closing I feel that ski building is something that most people who are successful at it do all year round and is something that they are truley passionate about. I don't want to discourage anyone from starting but I want them to know it requires a large commitment. I quess I just don't want anyone to get halfway through the process and realize that it is too hard and waste a lot of money and time. On a side note it seems like most people on this site are engineers or have a science/math background, let me know if I am right or wrong.
Re: Good Answer
I am just a 17 year old that is still in highschool. I go skiing about 1-2 a year but would like to get a job at the ski places and go everyday.Skivolkl wrote:G-Man,
I liked your response. A lot of people on this website have logged lot of hours to figure out how to make their own skis. I have found this site extremely useful. I wish I would have found it earlier since I started making skis before the site was created (I used to vaccum bagging) and it would have been nice to have a reference right from the start. I think since the publishing of the magazine article a great number of people are going to flood the site and ask for information, which is fine but they need to realize that failure is a major part of the process and they need to be patient. If your serious about ski building it is going to take a great investment of time and money. If you only want one pair of skis it is cheaper to go out and buy the the latest and greatest skis off of the rack at your local store. And they shouldn't expect to have something that is of store-bought quality (or even something that will even work) the first couple of attempts. In closing I feel that ski building is something that most people who are successful at it do all year round and is something that they are truley passionate about. I don't want to discourage anyone from starting but I want them to know it requires a large commitment. I quess I just don't want anyone to get halfway through the process and realize that it is too hard and waste a lot of money and time. On a side note it seems like most people on this site are engineers or have a science/math background, let me know if I am right or wrong.
Thansk for your help guys
I think the questions is, G-man, what's it going to take to get our hands on that binder? Ever travel alone at night with it on your person? Got anything especially valuable that we could hold ransom? 
edit: Regarding backgrounds I actually belong to the group most hated by engineers worldwide . . . I am a marketer
edit: Regarding backgrounds I actually belong to the group most hated by engineers worldwide . . . I am a marketer