New workshop = new skis...The Chronicles of

[mattman]

We found a scrapbooking store around us that let us play with their assortment of dies. We used an accucut roller and die of the snowflakes and moose. If you go to a craftstore or scrapbooking store you will find all sorts of ways of doing it. We are cutting out another set of bases tomorrow, so we will try to get pictures.

After we did the cutout, we pressed some 2oz plain weeve glass to the base with peel ply to hold it together before routering it out.

[rockaukum]

I agree! Bases look great! Looking forward to the pics to better understand the process.
rockaukum

[skidesmond]

I know this is an old post, hopefully you still follow the forum... So how did the skis work this past winter? I ski the east also and need a ski that holds on packed powder, and frozen granular (ice). Anyway, I'm working on a similar pair of skis, they'll be 174cm, dimensions 116-70-102.

I'd like to know more about the materials you used and layup process. I have 2 sets of cores. One has poplar and maple, the other poplar and ash. I was going to go w/ a 13mm cores and taper down to 2.5mm for tip and tail, using a full wood core with no spacers. I was going to use a basic layup of ptex base, metal edges of course, VDS, 1 layer 22 fiberglass, the core another, 22 layer of fiberglass, cotton fabric for graphics and a top sheet.

Were your skis extremely stiff? How was the overall flex and snap? How well did they hold? I ski on Fischer AMC 79 (170cm) for all mountain skiing (fun ski, can really crank on 'em) and Volk p50 (188cm) for racing, which is very stiff ski, and probably a little too long and stiff. So, I'm trying to build a ski that's in between the 2 I have now.

Any info is much appreciated.

[mattman]

Glad to hear you are making some ice-capable skis. There are too many fat powder skis on east coast ice...just shows how effective marketing can be! We love our slalom twin tips and are going to start pressing them in larger quantities this winter with a modified press process. Not sure if you are considering cap or sidewall skis...I highly recommend cap skis if you are building a press, but the easiest way to get into this is by using a vacuum bag and sidewall design. Cap skis with a vacuum bag is an extraordinary headache that I would not recommend. That said, our skis were spruce or poplar core with hard maple strips for binding inserts (make sure you got something hard there if you arent using inserts). Our next pairs will have binding inserts because its just more durable and super-clean. Our cores stopped right where the tip begins to curve up. We experimented with steam bending the tips, but it wasnt worth the hassle. There are some great tip fill options (standard UHMW tipfill comes Treated For Bonding on both sides so delam is not a concern). We have also experimented with a few different rubber compounds with lots of luck (and great dampening). The one mistake we made on our first pair was to use fiberglass layers as tipfill...this creates horrible vibrations (fiberglass does not vibration dampen) and eventually lead to the death of the ski. Delam problems tend to come from the sidewall material (TFB doesnt matter once you profile it down), which is why we like cap so much. If you go with sidewall, use a hardwood sidewall (cherry takes impacts great, among others) and save yourself the high risk of tossing out a pair of skis. As for your core thickness...might be a little stiff. My first skis were 13mm and that skied stiffer than race stock skis of similar length. Granted my skis are shorties, so would be stiffer, but I would consider going thinner. You can find a good discussion with a quick equation I discussed here: http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/viewt ... +thickness
To take length into account, stiffness can be compared by:
(width/length)*(thickness)^3="same thing for a flex you like" and solve for the thickness. A popular flex is 12mm thick for a ski 80mm wide and 178cm long...check out some of the skis in kelvin's gallery...he has pinpointed what is a good all-around flex.
Your layup sounds perfect, it doesnt need to be any more difficult than 22oz triax and a topsheet. I would say go with a length more like your fischers and get your "in-between" ski by just playing with sidecut dimensions.

[skidesmond]

Mattman - Thanks for the advice. I'm in the process of making a pneumaitc press similar to the type many in the forum have made. Wasn't planning on capping the skis for my first time. But if I can do it w/ the type of press I have I'll give it try. So sounds like I'm on the right track. I don't want to get too fancy right away. Every one has a different opinion as what's too stiff/soft. I'll take a bit off the core thickness and bring it down to 12mm maybe a shade under. I rather have it a bit stiff than too soft. I'm 5'11 and 195lbs so I can bend a ski when I have too.

I'll take your advice and stick w/ the 170cm range +/- 5 cm and play w/ the shape and wood cores. I'd like to make a pair for racing also and see how they compare.

I like the idea of using an insert for bindings but don't you need to know the brand/type of binding you'll be using ahead of time when designing the ski? I like the rail system Fischer uses. They mount w/ one screw. Of course you have to have the rails and on the Fischers they are part of the ski (as far as I can tell).

btw- I've done a lot of wood working and it's hard to work in mm instead of inches, when all my tape measures are in inches. I use this site all the time: http://mg-jewelry.com/mmtoinches.html

Thanks again. This is great forum.