Ski Builders Forum

Hey guys,
I've looked on this here forum and haven't really been able to find an answer for this. On numerous posts throughout the forum, people have discussed how to make the edge teeth invisible to give a "clean look." Most of the answers consist of using inks (i.e. Nazdar) or epoxy printing onto the base material. However, I thought of an idea that just might be stupid enough to work. Our plan on the next pair was to do a clear P-Tex base and put some fabric underneath it. Obviously, under normal circumstances, this would mean that the edge teeth would show. However, I figured why can't we just glue or epoxy the fabric to the P-tex (creating one layer) then superglue the edge on top of the fabric as if the fabric were the regular base material. In my opinion, this could result in two things. The first being the possibility that the fabric acts almost like VDS, strengthening the bond between the edge and everything else. On the other hand, it could also work catastrophically and the edge would blow out within minutes of skiing. This idea seems so simple that I'm surprised nobody has ever brought it up before. However, it could also mean that it's so stupid that nobody has ever bothered trying. Let me know your thoughts.

Definitely worth a shot.

Only thing I can of is if the epoxy is very brittle, when you bend the ptex/fabric laminate in the mold it might crack. Maybe if you let the epoxy get mostly cured, but not completely, so it's still flexible, then let it cure the rest of the way in the layup? Probably a few ways to do this, go for it!

Afaik most white fabrics turn translucent when they come in contact with epoxy.

that what I was thinking, that your white fabric may virtually disappear, like the white fiberglass does!

I was thinking white epoxy with clear, but you'd see the spots where you tacked with the clear glue, unless you coated the edges with a white color prior.

I'll give it a shot and see what happens.
Chris and Doug- We were going to do a "camo" looking fabric. Possibly, we could epoxy the camo to the base, do the edges on top, then do another white fabric above that, or just do a full sheet of "natural" VDS to give it a nice background.
Twizz- I sort of thought that would be a problem. If we go ahead and try that, I think we would do the base/fabric epoxy about 5 or 6 hours prior to doing the edges, then do the layup.
I'll try it and see how it works out. If anyone else has some ideas on how to do this, it'd be cool to know.

HHmm neat idea. If you epoxy the fabric to the base first, let it cure, then cut the base out. That way you'll get a nice clean cut of the base and fabric. The base should still be flexible enough. Only need a thin skim coat pf epoxy. Post pics!

Hey guys, so I gave this a shot and it actually turned out pretty good looking. I put the fabric on the P-tex with epoxy, then let it cure. Then I cut that out and did the edges. As I would expect, you could see the VDS and edge very slightly through the fabric. I have attached the pictures, but I've never posted a picture on the forum before, so don't criticize me if it doesn't work. I just realized that if if my photos end up working, they will probably end up being sideways. Sorry about that.

[img]http://i42.tinypic.com/244z9t2.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i42.tinypic.com/30crocp.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i42.tinypic.com/2vcth7l.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i39.tinypic.com/1191aia.jpg[/img]

Don't know why the pictures didn't show up in your post. It's wierd, your bbcode looks right. I've attached them here for those who can't be fagged to cut&paste their way through.

Looks pretty damn good, though. What's the last photo, which appears to show something blue and slightly chipped?

That doesn't look too bad. You could add a floodcoat of white epoxy ink to make the colors more opaque and to better hide the edges and vds.

Thanks guys,

Tufty- That last photo is sort of a close-up on the edge. As you can see, the VDS and edge teeth are slightly visible through the p-tex and fabric. The little white marks are just some tape left over on the P-Tex from the layup process.

chrismp-I would have done that if we had the resources, but because we had limited epoxy etc., we didn't really try. Also, since it was primarily meant to be an experiment, I wanted to see if it would work before I actually bought stuff like white epoxy ink.

As an experiment, it looks like it turned out pretty good. I'm not entirely sure how it will ski, but I'll update it when I get a chance

So after 15 days on the skis I did this with and one crash going 60 mph in which most of the energy was focused directly on the edge, these skis are still holding together quite nicely. It seems as if this experiment has miraculously worked. By the way, the last time I posted on this particular thread, I neglected to post a picture of the topsheets, which we have gotten many comments on since.

really cool bases and topsheet! Three questions:

1. when you epoxied the fabric to the base, prior to cutting the shape, did you apply pressure?

2. how did you do those topsheets? did you use fabric as well, or did you get a topsheet printed? I'm kind of assuming you had them printed because of the white color, but, just wanted to be sure.

3. I'm curious you you're holding together after a 60 mph crash! I'd like to hear the back-story on that one.

Thanks man.
1. When we epoxied the fabric to the base, essentially what I did was put a piece of sheet metal above and below the plastic, then just put everything in the garage I could find that was about the same length and was heavy on top of it all (probably ended up being 250 lbs in all). If I were to do this again, I would probably want to throw it all in the press with the same layout and do the same thing. That would make it stronger and it would entail moving less heavy objects all around the garage.

2. Yes, we got them printed from Coda.

3. I was straight lining one run. These skis are kind of awesome for doing that as they weigh about 4 lbs each (1800 grams). At the bottom of the run, after I had been going 60 mph, I tried to hockey stop to lose some speed. Unfortunately, the run was steeper than I thought and I went at too much of an angle against the slope to slow down. The skis slipped out and nearly all of the possible force went directly on the edge. Surprisingly, all that happened to me was a bruised shoulder. The skis were also totally fine. I guess I just got lucky?