Well, I've been picking away at skis for a couple years now. Finally upgraded things from an abused wooden press to a neat-o steel one.
Basically I'm making a place holder as my resolution this year is to actually start one of these threads instead of only posting on Google+
I'll be back in awhile with some pics!
- Chris
Oh! A new journal!!
Hey Chris! Lets see some new skis from that fancy new press
Fancy Schmancy
I would have had some pictures last night, buuttt my epoxy crystalized. So now I get to heat up and mix epoxy tonight... Boooo.
Ok so I've got a few pics and I guess I'll go from here.
This was my first press. All wood. I built the top and bottom beams by gluing and bolting 3/4 advantec together vertically. It weights about 450-ish without the molds in. I've got some more pics floating around elsewhere that I'll put up when I've got time to go get em.
It worked pretty well for about 15 skis or so. And it sounded like an old barn floor when being inflated, cracking and groaning the whole time. It's still standing but I would recommend against it without way more supports in the middle for strength.
Made these on this press.
Soo after a season of working in a barn (a really cold barn) and pressing in a basement (still kinda cold) I decided I wanted to actually get into ski building a little more. So I decided to shell out for some work space.
Built a new press with heat and all that fun stuff
Decided to search for ISO's 8210 top sheet as I personally feel crowns product is not that great. Found it and it's shiney and more durable...
It's also more clear.
And Brazen Enjoys FIRE
AND THEN.......
nice prayer flags.
Thanks! I've got another smaller set to string up too. Just haven't got around too it
So I had 2 jugs of epoxy crystalize out of no where. Thanks to Rob I was able to figure out what had happened in about 30 minutes. So I fixed the issue with a hot bath of water for about 2 hours and it's almost 100% liquid again.
So since that got taken care of I made a pair of skis earlier tonight.
How are you doing the graphics? Is it subbed on the topsheet, or just rice paper?
Regardless, they look great!
Thanks Twiz!
I do them on an Epson 1400 with the driver hack for length found around here. I'll go back and dig it up to repost because it's damn useful.
I print on 27lb matte paper at 240/300dpi. I was printing on 35lb, but can't find it in a 13" wide roll yet. I just make sure its pressed onto the top layer of glass real well and then put a skim coat of epoxy on top of that before laying up the top sheet.
One of the tricks to little or no bubbles is to make sure you let the ink off gas for 24 hours before you lay it up. Otherwise you can get funky white spots.
How much more opaque does the 35 lb paper appear after pressing compared to the 27?
It's pretty much the same unless you are using a super light color or all white on the 27lb. If they are both saturated with ink it looks the same. I just feel the 35lb has better color density. Just my opinion though.
No more pics until tonight. Got side tracked yesterday then hit the gym.
did you have heat in your wood press
I did not. It was just ambient room temp. Which on a non zero degree winter day in an unheated basement translated to about 55F. It took 7 hours for a good cure on the epoxy using Entropy room temp cure. Most of the time I would put the ski in and just go to bed. Wake up and its done.
hey amidnightproject since you use 2 blankets with one controller does this create any problems?
does one blanket get hotter that the other?
if it doesnt please tell how cuz im starting my heat blanket wiring
I am running one controller to control 1 relay right now for two blankets. I have a seperate PID to act as a temperature gauge to watch the second blanket to make sure it doesn't run and if it does i just flip a toggle to kill power to that one blanket. And yes, one blanket will heat up faster then another. for me it's the bottom blanket as the top blanket gets dissipated through the cat track.
I will be re-doing my setup once i get some time to have two relays. One for each blanket for better system control. And will be buying the new controllers from omega. And so I can set different temps for top and bottom when i want without baby sitting.
amp - you ski saddleback much?
Nah I don't.
Mostly Sunday River and Sugarloaf. Thats where my roots are for the most part and most of my friends/people I know ride those two.
I'd like to get over there though.
my buddy and i are thinking about heading up that way to do their randonee race tomorrow. i'll be keeping my eyes peeled for any Volition skis out there.
Rockin!
Where you coming up from?
Comin up from MA, hope to stay with a buddy at Sunday River then head further North tomorrow.
I love the scene! Never would have thought of using that as a back drop.
Great idea Chris, it works really well.
Thanks guys.
I've been checking the train yards regularly waiting for the right colors to come through. Finally got what I was looking for. Good lighting too.
Milestone!
Don't have to babysit my PID anymore. WOOOO!!! Though this does probably mean my BTSR will go down guys...
Sometimes when BTSR is too high it can have an inverse effect on the end product or cause injury. It's a funny ratio like that.
Reminds me...need to buy beer!
I've yet to notice an inverse effect on the end product, only slight injury
Like wise I've noticed STSR (sleep to ski ratio) has an inverse effect on everything
Actully that's not true. Remember when I put that topsheet on upside down? Yea well that was a bad BTSR haha. oopsies
Mixed things up a little bit with this one. Pretty happy with the final weight. 6.7lbs at 181cm. Can't wait to get em on the snow
Is it just the photo, or is there some waviness to the top of the core/top?
It's wavy. I stepped the core on this and then made some changes to my mold that gave it an additional wave I didn't expect but accomplished what I wanted to. Camber under foot with slight early rise once you are applying weight. Before pressing the core didn't appear to have that much of a wave, but afterwards, sighting down the sidewall it's far more pronounced then I originally expected.
I'm going to be up at Sugarloaf March 8,9,10 for any of you NE/New Englanders that head up that way. I'll be hanging out at the Widowmaker Lounge all three nights. Stop buy grab a brew.
Had loads of fun this weekend. 3 nights of raffling, chatting with people and beers. It was great! We raised just over $1000 for Children's Cancer Treatment. It was great!
The new skis were great too. Very smooth flex. Great rolling over bumps in the woods. Very fast and extremely edge-able. Great pop as well.
That is AWESOME Chris!
That is AWESOME Chris!
Yea I'm actually very happy with how much we raised. It set the bar for next year. Hoping to try and double that next year. We closed the bar all 3 nights and raked in a bunch of people. The bar staff was all equally pleased with how much we raised and started giving us free drinks at the end of Sat night after they learned how much we raised.
The raffle was part of a 3 night concert series put on by two Maine bands. The cover at the door all 3 nights goes entirely to the cancer benefit as well and they also sell T-shirts to raise money too. Pretty cool.
Chris that's great!
Thats fantastic!
yum
Pretty much just for the sake of posting SOMETHING
Nice looking cf
Weight? Triax?
that stuff there is 6.9oz Uni.
I like it. quite a bit. I need to pickup some biax however for the tips on my longer skis.
I love unrolling huge rolls of CF. There's something so beautiful and satisfying about it. I've used a lot of twill weave for other projects, and it turns out looking amazing.
Yea its honestly one of my favorite things to do. That roll was at the end and had already been cutdown quite a bit. My favorite is when it spans the whole width of the table. I could honestly cover everything in it!
Well, I'm almost finished up production stuff for my season up in Maine. It was a good season for me, I didn't make any money but my process has gotten WAY better then what it was 3 seasons ago.
Now on the list for this summer is to experiment with different sidewall layups and possibilities, die cut base, and rounded sidewall bevels (getting pretty close to having that down)
do you think semi-matte paper would work for graphics or do you specifically need to use matte????
I think it'll work either way. Just test the bond strength you get with different paper types. DO NOT use gloss though. Or lazer ink printers. It almost always runs.
Thanks for all the updates on your progress throughout the season. I'm wondering how many pairs of skis you built this season. I'm guessing quite a few because of your "production" speak. Keep up the good work!
24 pairs as of this afternoon. Not big by any means but it definitely was a step up from making for only myself. Calling it production just makes me feel warm and fuzzy
Mostly I get to take a bit of a break now. I did about 2 pair a week since Christmas. Nothing like iggy or the bigger guys but doing it while working a normal 40 hours a week plus side jobs to pull in exta coin was tough. Worth it though. Made a ton of progress on my process.
Now going to play with Urethane!
Nice work man!
inkjet is fine. actually thats what amidnightproject is using.
thank you very much for everyones help! is there anything else i should know about graphics??
Bingo
Theres actually a thread here somewhere and chrismp did some testing with various prints. Do a search for graphics and it should come up
I'm still alive
GoPro helmet mount?
Yep!
It's the headband mount thing that comes in the "outdoor" kit.
