Ski Builders Forum

Started this last year and thought its about time I posted what I'm up to.









My new best friend and best tool I have ever bought for $10


One thing I should mention is that I have only put about $20 into this press if I am talking the cash out of hand. I don't even want to know what i would have paid for everything.
Next on my list is my mold and heat blankets .
At the moment I am trying to figure out which wire to buy I have found some that is 8.36 ohm per ft or 27ohms per m
so I'm planning on 4m circuits and having 10 of those
so my resistance is 110ohms per circuit.
divided by 10 means 11 ohms total for blanket.
Canadian household voltage 110
110^2 is 12100
12100/11=1100 watts
will this be sufficient for one blanket.

will this wire work for me
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kanthal-A1-wire ... 5658be7e92

Another thing I would like to ask everyone here about is the cnc mogul does anyone have one or has used one is this machine reliable enough to cut and profile cores and bases? I am really looking at purchasing one right now and my uncle wants to go splits with me so the cost is really drawing me towards the unit.

Wow a $20 press! Nice! Looks pretty burly. Nice welds too. Any idea what it weighs? You may need center support even though visually it looks hefty. There are others here that know more about steel/welding/etc than me. So if you have extra steel hang on to it. Great start!

MontuckyMadman wrote:

The funiest part is that all I've been doing the past few days is plowing snow and cutting wood.

Ok guys I am about to cut into a lovely sheet of mdf and before I start profiling my ribs I was just wondering how much camber I am going to lose on the original website they say expect to lose I think its 5-10 mm but then there are some guys on the forum that are saying they are not losing any. which is it?

Depends. If you're not using heat like me and you press at room temp (65F and above) I loose probably 20% or so. It's important after you take the skis out of the press to let them cure fully. That could be 5 days or so. If you start cutting the flashing and flexing the skis right away you could loose more camber.

...or delaminate..

I am hoping to use a heated press the materials for my mat are on there way
what kind of loss am I looking at with a heated press.

you can gain camber during cure time.
My mold zero camber. Skis came out with...... zero camber (I'm using heat). Propped overnight with 1" spacer got in the morning 8mm camber exactly what I wanted. Without heat cure time longer so keep it propped up all seven days.

MadRussian wrote:you can gain camber during cure time.
My mold zero camber. Skis came out with...... zero camber (I'm using heat). Propped overnight with 1" spacer got in the morning 8mm camber exactly what I wanted. Without heat cure time longer so keep it propped up all seven days.

I am really confused by what you are saying in this.
how long are you pressing for at what heat?
after out of the press are you saying that you put a block under the center of the ski's and letting them slowly bend while curing.
what would be the advantage to doing this vs putting a camber into the mold?

heuvlee wrote: I am really confused by what you are saying in this.
how long are you pressing for at what heat?
after out of the press are you saying that you put a block under the center of the ski's and letting them slowly bend while curing.
what would be the advantage to doing this vs putting a camber into the mold?

1 180F 40 min

2 clamps tips/tales

3.1 lot easier this way.
3.2 at the time I couldn't make mdf camber section perfectly even.

Heating more on the top or bottom will cause changes in camber as well. More heat on the bottom during the cure will increase camber, more heat on the top will decrease camber (relative to the inherent spring-back reduction you'll get, which is a function mostly of your core material).

If I use a flat mold, with bamboo cores, heating only from the bottom I might get 5mm of camber. Heating from the top only I get maybe 5mm of reverse camber.

Ideally you would heat evenly on both the top and bottom, but a lot of people only have one heat blanket. I've been using just one for a long time with no issue, just need to make sure the "un-heated" side gets fully cured.

Spend a bit of time reading the whole site and it will be clear as mud!
I've been loosing about 2% with vacuum, curing for 12hrs with minimal heat 120-150f.
Everyone will give you a different answer, as everyone has a bit different process, just do it and figure it out.
It really doesn't matter, build it, ride it, and figure it out.
Everything you need to know is here on this web site, in these forums, with this information you can build a decent, rideable ski/board.
I don't mean to be a dick, maybe I just am, but I'm getting really tired of everybody looking for someone to hold their hand.
Read everything, soak it in and then do it.
You'll have triumphs, you'll have failures, post those... but figure it out.
It's all here... NO MORE HAND HOLDING!

sam

sammer- I really don't mean to be a burden I have just build way to many projects to quick or without asking questions and end up screwing it up. I figured if I asked a question here and someone felt that they could answer it and wanted to answer it they could and if they didn't then they could ignore it.
madrussian- thanks for the clarification I understand how your doing it now.

twizz- thanks that's exactly the kind of answer I was looking for.

I am going to try to get a few more photos up today if my internet feels its going to be gracious.

cattrack and bladder






and I got my materials