:: View topic - Bamboo tip fill?

I see a lot of people having success with bamboo core and sidewall but still using a ptex tip fill. Has anyone tried just using bamboo for the entire length of the job?

Hi!

That works fine as long as you make the tip thin enough for bending.

Full length is no problem. Like Deep said just make sure the tip is thin enough to retain it's shape after pressing

Cheers guys, much appreciated.

i saw some ski logik skis on my recent trip and it looks like they use a separate piece of wood to replace the plastic tipspacer. i assume it is the black locust they use for sidewalls. so you could either use full length bamboo cores or still have a separate piece of bamboo to use as tipspacer (not sure if the second option would achieve much over just using one piece - although it may allow easier bending)

That's what I do. It can be difficult to plane down to 2-3mm with a table top planer. Too much vibration. The wood tip fill (or bamboo) works fine.

special secret: You can use 3 pieces of veneer instead of plastic tipspacer.

...or you can use two pieces of base material glued together. Works good for me.

Yea, I just use base for tip fill quite a lot. Just make sure to sand it with 80 grit and flame the crap out of it

Hey, amidnightproject and Deep, how thin is thin enough? I'll be profiling on a cnc so I should be able to get down pretty thin if needed. I was thinking of dropping it down to ~2mm or even a little less over an early rise section after being more like 2.8-3mm at the contact point / transition between rise and camber (I'm a big fella).

Would sure be nice not to worry about the tipspacers on my first pair.

Thicker than 2 mm will be hard to bend. On a cnc you could probably go thinner. I would say 1.5 mm at the tips using bamboo..

Awesome, thanks, I'll cut a bit of bamboo and have a go. I need to test my resin system anyway.

I believe I'm at 2mm at the very tips. Just a tad over I think (very small, I cut on a planer for what it's worth).

Thanks midnight,

You're on a pneumatic press while Deep's on vacuum, right? Do you get much relaxation of the laminate coming out of the press?

Thanks again.

No prob.

Yes I'm on pneumatic with heat. I get very little relaxation. I can for the most part set the ski back in the mold and its an exact fit.

I pull the ski as soon as the timer is up. It's still hot and I have to wear gloves to pull it out. I noticed pulling the skis asap seems to work best for me.

With my vacuum system I have to use tipspacers to get the result I want. With a full wood core I have to make the tips very thin or I loose tip height.

With tipspacers the skis fit like a glove in the mould when finished