I was just wondering if you guys purchased all your plastics (base, sidewall, topsheet, fiberglass) from snowboardmaterials.com. If there is any other places that sells this kind of stuff for a lot less, I would really like to know. Also, I was wondering if their was a way to sublimate graphics onto your ski w/o having to buy a million dollar sublimating kit.
This site is great, keep it up!
nevermind, I jusst read the post below mine and got all the answers.
Hi there, I'm in Oz and interested in making skis - they're super expen$ive here and I figure it's possible to make a few for the price of buying one pair. Should be fun too, and sooner or later they ought to work...
So, has anyone been able to get stuff locally, and if so where? I'm guesing that plastic sheet and wood will be okay, but that edges and base material will be unavailable, and not sure about triaxial glass fibre - but it's probably available - I know carbon and kevlar are.
Freight from overseas is usually pretty pricey so getting things here would be good.
BTW, if you order edges/base from snowboardmaterials.com, does it come rolled up or straight? (If the latter, size will be a problem with USPS and Oz Post.)
Thanks for the awesome site!!!
International shipping can be a pain. Sorry I can't help you there.
Whether your edges come rolled or straight, depends on how much you order. If your order is small (~8 edges) it will probably be rolled into a squarish box, more than that, it'll most likely be a long box. I just mailed some edges to Canada and their limit is 106"
Kelvin
oh, and if you think you are going to save money by making your own skis, I would think again. It can become a pretty involved (obsessive) undertaking, and I'm pretty sure that we all could have bought several pairs of skis with the amount that we have spent.
Thanks for that! More time to think about it now that there's no snow, and uni is over for the year. Everything except edges (and maybe base material) is available here, but I expected the base material to be rollable, so didn't expect it to be the problem. As long as it's possible to get edges sent rolled, all should be well. I guess it's a matter of talking to the suppliers (snowboardmaterials.com?) and ordering the appropriate amount.
It hadn't occurred to me that it might be possible to save money by making skis! I was thinking more that it'd be an interesting hobby, and shouldn't cost all that
snowboard materials sent all of our bases and edges in a small box, rolled.
We have some materials available in Australia if anyone is interested, dont have a whole lot of stuff just now but will be ordering some more in very soon, so if anyone wants any base/edges/topsheet let me know.
Ive got quite a few edges about, and a bit of topsheet, but not much base right now, could possibly get some more added to my order if anyone wants some.
Did anybody try those inserts for a ski:
http://www.rampa.de/rampa/pdfs/s8-a.pdf
They are widely available in Europe (most Hardware Stores).
What do you think - give them a try?
I have seen them in a tools-shop few weeks ago. I suppose they are the ones used to fit a wear-out hole in the skis.
I suppose that if the wood-core is hard enough and if they are well placed (putting some epoxy) they should work. I was thinking to give a try.
the good part is you can put them in after the ski is finished. but you would have to make shure you don't screw the M6/5 bolts too far, or it will delaminate the base.
Yes that's the thing i'm thinking off - i would like to put the into the finished ski to make a variable mounting position possible. The ones with M4 thread that are only 8mm long seem to be the right thing!?
Well, you can cut (grind) them if they are too long.
M4 is too weak I think. you should just cut M6 to length
M6? - as far as i remember the binding is mounted with 8 x 4,5mm wood screws!? Maybe we're talking about different bindings i ment regular downhill bindings not telemark...
hmmm. I just imagine that the wider the inserts, the better they grip. Isn't M4 screws a littebit thin?
M6 (1/4-20 for english) is pretty much the standard for snowboard bindings. i think K2 uses M5 in their tele skis and Line either uses M5 or M6 for their reactors. i wouldn't recommend going below an M5.
Ok - i agree M5 should be a good selection. Wider inserts definetly have more contact to the ski.
