Ski Builders Forum

Very nice looking ski!

Thanks des. I can't wait to get some urethane on these. I've been trying to get a way to print some more detailed labeling first. Tried rice paper, in a test the urethane ate the ink first, then the rice paper. Iron on would work but I want to add a label to the tail and can't iron on the curved part of the ski.

Now I'm working on making a screen to screen print some ink. Hopefully I can get this to work and it will make graphics much easier in the future.

I had vinyl decals made up. Oil based poly will stick the decal.

I tried packaging labels before for custom decals like "Made exclusively for....". Make sure the ink has time to fully dry (or de-gas as some folks say, apparently some inks give off a gas for awhile). I've had mixed results. Last time it worked good, I let the label sit a day before coating w/ poly. The ink didn't not dissolve. Try a sample. The label is not 100% transparent like vinyl but it's not bad.

The silk screen worked! Now for a few coats of LPU and a quick tune!

Do not i repeat do not attempt to iron on to a finished laminated ski

Yeah, good call MM. Now that I've got the silk screen process down I'm good to go. I'll keep the iron on for some logo T shirt swag.

Was the negligible camber by intent? I know people do this often, but I'm wondering if the heat blanket on the bottom is 1) altering your mold radius by its thickness and 2) squishing/deflecting enough to steal away your camber....if its not on purpose that is.

JSquare, negligible camber was the intent on the first few pair of skis, but the last pair I was hoping for more camber. Thus strait to 180 degrees. The heat blanket doesn't really compress so I don't think it really changes the shape of the mold. My mold is flat though. I just think that for some reason I'm not getting much camber from the differential heat that others talk about. There is some, but it's just not very significant. I'm OK with that though. It heat out as a major factor for camber for me. I'm going to build a cambered mold next and should be able to get what I'm looking for.

Wow dude, those ladies skis are bomber looking. Nice shape, graphic, the whole thing.

Thanks Dtrain. That's what has made this so much fun.

Yes fuse both wires for your mat between the SSR and mat. I use fast blow ceramic fuses from radio shack. Use the smallest fuse you can, I bet you could run a 10 amp just fine. Also get the biggest SSR you can and use a heat sink. And if you can install a fan in your control box.
Marc

A couple of photos of the latest work...




And a little tribute to my friend Keith who encouraged me to start this ski building endeavor.

Wow, incredible! LOVE the look of the fish! Is that screen printed??

The lettering on the tails is screen printed, but with the fish I just cut out templates out of regular paper and used Elmers spray glue to tack the templates to the ski. Then sprayed with spray paint. It works well and is relatively easy, but rather time consuming. I've been planning on switching to doing a printed clear topsheet much like the last pair that you did.

Prior to clear coating...


Wet clear coat....


I have a photographer friend who used these in a photo shoot before I mailed them off to my buddy in Colorado, but I haven't seen the pro photos yet.

Here's a mock up of what I'm hopefully pressing this week. All carbon fiber (no fiberglass at all). The logo and lettering are cut out of bamboo, and I have some silk screen labels on the two cross bar pieces.

Has anyone ever tried this stuff for adding graphics with a urethane top coat over it?



It looks promising, as long as the ink doesn't run after covered with wet urethane.

Thoughts?