Official Ski Pressing/Sha - Ski Gabber - Forums

Quoting NinetyFour$ from May 30 2012 10:26:36:
Sick setup up there beachball! Was sealing your vacuum bag tough after a stressful layup? Was an alternative to the ski press, but I decide to go the press route because of sealing the bag. Looks great. And Ginko, specifications of the roll (width, length) and how much do you want for it? PM me if you'd like.

Quoting beachball from May 30 2012 2:23:03:
sealing the bag wasn't stressful at all, what we did was have the roll pre-cut and taped down at the tip so we just had to roll it out over the ski once it was layed up!

Quoting NinetyFour$ from May 31 2012 10:56:14:
Sick man, always been curious, although I am going the press route, it's just such a man toy to have the press. And ginko, any details on the size of a box that VDS rubber roll would fit into? Apparently I have to convince my old man that shipping it wouldn't be an enormous cost to my personal bank account... The joys of still being 17 and living at home. Aha thanks for putting up with my ridiculousness. Anyways a quick little update, even though my old man drives me nuts, he does give me opportunity which I love. I work at the family business and we manufacture and sell fiberglass airplane fairings on the side (we normally fix airplanes) Anyways, the parts are molded out of the shop by our fibreglass guy, then they come to the shop were myself or my dad trim the mold flashing off of the parts. For our wheel fairings there is a top and a bottom portion, and for them, we have to bond them together with fibreglass strips. So my dad being the man that gives people opportunity, and him knowing what I was getting into with ski building let me do the full bonding layup process today by my big boy self (usually I just roll the air out of the glass and clean up the brushes, containers, etc...) and it went extremely well for my first time. It's killer having to wet the matt outside of the fairing, book it, then slide it inside of the faring and positioning it without tearing it while it's wet, but that didn't happen, and the parts look great. Stoked on having something to practice laying stuff up with!

Quoting Rowen$$ from Jun 1 2012 2:40:15:
It's $10, but I think the last roll already sold.

Quoting NinetyFour$ from Jan 14 2012 12:01:29:
http://www.store.skilab.com/ Has anyone had experience dealing with these guys. They have a very nicley laid out site, and just about everything. It says they are located in Reno, (so shipping wouldn't be insane compared to Europe) and their prices per meter seem awfully cheap.

Quoting NinetyFour$ from Jun 9 2012 6:29:18:
Ok so a quick little update. Haven't done much lately been busy with school and work and figuring out some prices, sizes and other logistics behind building the press. So because It was raining outside and I had nothing to do, I thought I would draw up a press. I spent the whole afternoon on the plan for the press, but here is what I ended up with: Just a sketchy little Isometric view I made in MS Paint. Not all of the drawings are in proportion with each other, but It gives you a good look at the whole press frame. The whole press is just over 4 feet tall (without wheels, It will be on some big wheels for convenient moving) The blue pieces in the picture are my four I-Beams (8x10" as planned, the top pieces and bottom pieces will be stitch welded together) the green pieces are my end frames made from C-Channel (6" as planned, they will be all welded together, and then stitch welded to the top set of I-Beams to tie the whole thing together) The red piece in the drawing is a section of C-Channel that will be welded to the bottom I-Beams (this guy will be sitting on top of bottle jacks so that I can raise and lower the bottom mold to make loading cassettes easier, it will also have 4 cold rolled steel pins to hold it in place while the press is under pressure on both sides) the yellow things are mach bottle jacks, and the wood colored things are exact copies of my molds. Quite abit to read but It gives you a detailed Idea of how the whole press should work (lets pray the real deal does) The real press will also not be as precise as this guy, I assume that the 8x10" beams and 6" channel will be slightly larger. Thoughts or opinions on the press design? Anyone have a simple FEA testing program that I could throw this in to? +K or some positive picture ratings for helpful advice. Thanks again to everyone who's helping me out!

Quoting DrZoidberg from Jun 19 2012 11:09:37:
I would think you could just throw the veneer in between some glass and the topsheet material, but I am not sure. I've heard many people say oil based stains will weaken bonds to composites since they close the pores of the wood, and the strength of the bond is related to the epoxy soaking into the pores or something. I've also heard a water based stains can be used or that there is some technique to doing it right. I know people dye wood with RIt or similar dyes mixed with a variety of things, I'm not sure how that affects bond strength though.

Quoting razors-chaz from Jun 19 2012 11:46:59:
thanks i was also wondering about press design. would a press which works on putting the laid up skis in a top and bottom mould then having pressure applied through plates which are held down by flat ended screws which were mechanically drove down and held by bolts work. im not sure if it would apply enough uniform constant pressure. if you dont get what i mean i will do a paint doodle if you want.

Quoting razors-chaz from Jun 19 2012 11:46:59:
thanks i was also wondering about press design. would a press which works on putting the laid up skis in a top and bottom mould then having pressure applied through plates which are held down by flat ended screws which were mechanically drove down and held by bolts work. im not sure if it would apply enough uniform constant pressure. if you dont get what i mean i will do a paint doodle if you want.

Quoting Rowen$$ from Jun 19 2012 1:18:39:
It would have to be a clever and well built press. Hoses inflate uniformly, and inflate quickly and consistently. One of the big things you fin out on your first home-built pairs is how essential it is for everything to go smoothly once the epoxy hits the ski, spend too much time dicking around with getting the press down and half your ski could be cured before it gets any pressure.

Quoting razors-chaz from Jun 19 2012 2:51:35:
would there be enough pressure from bolts screwed down onto it. of course the nuts could be welded onto a sheet/frame but i was trying to have minimal/no welding as i dont have the tools to weld or taps to thread.

Quoting Rowen$$ from Jun 19 2012 9:24:42:
The threaded bolts would just warp the top of your frame. The design doesn't really confer much advantage in my opinion, to get anything solid, it needs to be metal, and if you're welding you might as well just hook it up to an air bag and do a pneumatic setup. See what skibuilders.com forums say if you want to pursue it further.

Quoting NinetyFour$ from Jun 30 2012 1:25:39:
If you could get the veneer to adhere to the core and fiberglass with the stain that would be perfect. After though you would likely need another treatment to close the pores or else they will soak up water. And yeah developing a pow ski is sick, the flow of snow involved with pow skis just seems idk, more magical then sliding on ice and groomers with a ski.

Quoting razors-chaz from Jun 30 2012 4:47:31:
My plan was to have the veneer under a clear topsheet just for sheer durability. I will lose the wood feel of it but if you do something like a thick varnish its gone anyway.

Quoting hot.pocket from Jun 30 2012 4:08:52:
My dad has done a pair of skis with a wood veneer on top. They are still holding up pretty well, you just have to constantly look after them, like don't leave them out in the sun after skiing, keep em clean, simple stuff like that. After a year or two they still look pretty damn good.

Quoting NinetyFour$ from Jun 30 2012 5:14:26:
Pics plz? :D

Quoting NinetyFour$ from Jul 1 2012 1:34:14:
Damn those look good. All those made by your dad?