So here's a bit of my background and my idea. I come from auto racing, where strong and light rule the day. I've found my skis to be a bit heavy, so what I want is to follow what we do in both cars and airplanes - use geometry to give strength, and use construction techniques to give it lightness.
My idea is to use Kevlar honeycomb material with a much smaller wood core (mostly for mounting points for the bindings. Carbon fiber layers top and bottom and the rest pretty typical ski construction.
If it ends up being too soft, possibly embedding a rib, which you could almost tune like a torsion bar. Too stiff and you can change the cell size, etc.
And if you really wanted to, you could build these without a press, if you designed a bottom profile and made sure the edges were contoured.
Any input? Previous attempts? Is it worth trying?
Goal: The lightest ski's ever
Moderators: Head Monkey, kelvin, bigKam, skidesmond, chrismp
it is worth trying, and i can see the benefit of having light skis, especially if they are strong and durable...
one thing to consider is that if it's too light, it might not ski as well because of lack of damping, especially in crud or variable conditions.
light and stiff structures tend to "resonate", and they are more "responsible" to vibration. it's a trade off in the end, unfortunately...
i mostly backcountry ski and it often requires traveling on skis over long distances. lighter skis require less work, but through my experiences i tend to avoid super light skis because of how they handle in variable conditions. it's preference though because some of my friends cruise around on balsa toothpicks... at some point i'll think about making a superlight pair to test a few theories...
anyway, keep us posted on your efforts...
edited oops, i meant "responsive", not "responsible"...
one thing to consider is that if it's too light, it might not ski as well because of lack of damping, especially in crud or variable conditions.
light and stiff structures tend to "resonate", and they are more "responsible" to vibration. it's a trade off in the end, unfortunately...
i mostly backcountry ski and it often requires traveling on skis over long distances. lighter skis require less work, but through my experiences i tend to avoid super light skis because of how they handle in variable conditions. it's preference though because some of my friends cruise around on balsa toothpicks... at some point i'll think about making a superlight pair to test a few theories...
anyway, keep us posted on your efforts...
edited oops, i meant "responsive", not "responsible"...
Last edited by bigKam on Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
invisible skis!! Now that would bring some looks..mattman wrote:what about a cotton or cabosil filled resin for flooding the bindingmount cells? I have always wanted to use a polycarbonate honeycomb with triax glass and clear topsheet and base material...ultimately a completely clear ski!!!
With wing a lot of the same structural forces apply - there is much more positive G loading than negative, there are torsional forces applied by flaps, ailerons, and a poorly designed wing will tend to 'flutter' with both a flapping motion and/or a twisting one.
I'm thinking possibly a thin laminated wood rib running partial length could be tuned like a shock absorber to give different ride qualities, without the weight of a full wood core.
Hi there, I'm pretty new on the forum and also with, maybe, a very poor english. Sorry about that . Anyway, I will try now to share few of my experience in ski building.
First, to reply some interesting posts, then later, post new topics with pictures of my different projects.
One of my old project involved nomex nida, but my advice is to add some wood strips on the edges to support the sidewalls, and to provide a hard but vibration dampening surface above the steels edges.
Also some small strip of hard wood could be used to reinforce binding area.
Bonding nida is not difficult to achieve (process), but I do admit that I'm not very confident about the structural integrity when bonding with laminating resin. A slightly elastic resin / adhesive should be used to provide some kind of dampening properties and avoid delamination (shear load).
By the way, interesting informations with "skitrab" (google it). Lightest ski ever seen !!!
The use of PVC foam Herex type C70.75 is (from my point of view) a very intereting solution (even if Kelvin Wu will say no !). It could be improved when adding some wood strip above edges and binding areas. When building windsurfboard, I always use a pasty resin (resin + microcell) to fill the foam prior to laminate the fiber on it. It is lighter and stronger. The best is to wait a few hours after filling the foam before laminate the fiber.
My 2 cents,
Kwetsor
First, to reply some interesting posts, then later, post new topics with pictures of my different projects.
One of my old project involved nomex nida, but my advice is to add some wood strips on the edges to support the sidewalls, and to provide a hard but vibration dampening surface above the steels edges.
Also some small strip of hard wood could be used to reinforce binding area.
Bonding nida is not difficult to achieve (process), but I do admit that I'm not very confident about the structural integrity when bonding with laminating resin. A slightly elastic resin / adhesive should be used to provide some kind of dampening properties and avoid delamination (shear load).
By the way, interesting informations with "skitrab" (google it). Lightest ski ever seen !!!
The use of PVC foam Herex type C70.75 is (from my point of view) a very intereting solution (even if Kelvin Wu will say no !). It could be improved when adding some wood strip above edges and binding areas. When building windsurfboard, I always use a pasty resin (resin + microcell) to fill the foam prior to laminate the fiber on it. It is lighter and stronger. The best is to wait a few hours after filling the foam before laminate the fiber.
My 2 cents,
Kwetsor