GSSucks Posted February 26, 2020 Author Report Posted February 26, 2020 Press is starting to take shape. Hoping for a dry run tomorrow night! More vertical supports will be added, I ran out of wood again. I’m getting really excited to press! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 5 2 1 Quote
toast21602 Posted February 26, 2020 Report Posted February 26, 2020 We're all getting excited for you to press! 3 1 Quote
C1erArt Posted February 26, 2020 Report Posted February 26, 2020 Any vacuum bagging in the plans? Quote
eaf Posted February 26, 2020 Report Posted February 26, 2020 Will the hoses really get that fat to fill the vertical gap? Quote
GSSucks Posted February 26, 2020 Author Report Posted February 26, 2020 (edited) 36 minutes ago, C1erArt said: Any vacuum bagging in the plans? I will most likely stick to pressing. I initially did some cost comparisons of press supplies and the cost of a vacuum pump and all of the consumables, from a cost perspective it did not work out in my head, hence why I went with a press. Cost of entry is why most people vacuum, and it takes up a bit less space. This will not be the only pair of skis I build, so putting a bit more cash out for the press was not the end of the world. My plan is to press at 40psig, the most you can get out of a vacuum set up is typically around 15psig, so Im hoping that adds a lot of durability to the skis, time will tell if my logic is sound. 19 minutes ago, eaf said: Will the hoses really get that fat to fill the vertical gap? The hose is 4" dia, so in theory it would fill the vertical gap, the cassette with the skis in it will also add about 3/4 of an inch of height. I want the hose to inflate to about 2" tall when pressing to distribute some of the load across the cat track. I left the gap a bit big to be honest. Its easier to shim the bottom mold up than to rebuild the press when the cassette does not fit in! Edited February 26, 2020 by GSSucks 2 Quote
Mixilplix Posted February 27, 2020 Report Posted February 27, 2020 That's nice work....Sometimes you get it right on the first try.... 2 Quote
GSSucks Posted March 1, 2020 Author Report Posted March 1, 2020 Wednesday night I glued the sidewalls to the core and then on Thursday I profiled everything. I had a bit of a learning curve and one of the sidewalls pulled away from the core a bit but was easily fixed with more superglue. Next I attached the tip and tail spacers with some superglue and hot glueSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 4 Quote
Popular Post GSSucks Posted March 1, 2020 Author Popular Post Report Posted March 1, 2020 Yesterday I completely finished and pressure tested the press. Turns out I have about 0.06 “ of deflection at 40psi, it is plenty strong enough. I knew I would be doing the layup first thing this morning so last night I cut all of the fiberglass, carbon, vds tape and top sheet. I laid everything in reverse order with the top sheet on the bottom so it was mindless and I could not mess up the layup order. This was the smartest thing i have done because I was scatter brained thinking the epoxy was going to set faster than i did the layup. I was also very paranoid about the core shifting on the base during pressing or layup so I drilled 1/4” holes thru the core then glues 3/16” dowel today to the base so I could set the core onto the locating dowels and be sure everything was where it belonged. Everything was flamed and cleaned with rubbing alcohol and ready to go in the morning. I didn’t really sleep last night i was so excited so I was up at 530 and started the layup. Next time I need a buddy to mix epoxy and hand it to me, it took me about one hour and 15 minutes to do the whole layup and most of that time was spent mixing epoxy. Everything is in the press now and I put a space heater in the room to add some heat and help the cure. I’ll fine out tonight how it all turned out. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 9 2 1 Quote
toast21602 Posted March 1, 2020 Report Posted March 1, 2020 Holy shit it is currently being pressed. Can’t wait to see the results of this 🙌 1 Quote
C1erArt Posted March 1, 2020 Report Posted March 1, 2020 West system epoxy? That stuff is great. 1 Quote
Shadows Posted March 2, 2020 Report Posted March 2, 2020 10 minutes ago, eaf said: Yeah, how about a demo day?? Eaf, please. 1 Quote
Popular Post GSSucks Posted March 2, 2020 Author Popular Post Report Posted March 2, 2020 If you’re in a 27.5 boot you’re more than welcome to a few runs on them when I’m at Blue. Popped them out of the press, took a bit of work to free them from the bottom mold but I got it. Bases look messy from all the excess epoxy but that will clean up. Put them in the smallest room in the house with a space heater again to continue setting the epoxy. I’m hoping to have them cut out and finished tomorrow night! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 10 1 1 Quote
Popular Post GSSucks Posted March 2, 2020 Author Popular Post Report Posted March 2, 2020 Woke up early as hell again this morning and managed to get one ski rough cut out of the blank. Held the two skis base to base and the rocker camber rocker profile looks great! Hand flexing also felt great! Hopefully I’ll get them finished up tonight in time to stick in a ski bag for a Wednesday evening flight. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 10 Quote
Justo8484 Posted March 2, 2020 Report Posted March 2, 2020 happy to play with epoxy for the next pair! 2 Quote
AtomicSkier Posted March 2, 2020 Report Posted March 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Justo8484 said: happy to play with epoxy for the next pair! I'm happy to supervise 😁 Quote
Justo8484 Posted March 2, 2020 Report Posted March 2, 2020 13 minutes ago, AtomicSkier said: I'm happy to supervise 😁 typical 2 1 1 1 Quote
GSSucks Posted March 2, 2020 Author Report Posted March 2, 2020 15 minutes ago, AtomicSkier said: I'm happy to supervise 😁 Supervisor supplies the beer. 1 Quote
AtomicSkier Posted March 2, 2020 Report Posted March 2, 2020 4 minutes ago, GSSucks said: Supervisor supplies the beer. Deal. 1 1 Quote
Popular Post GSSucks Posted March 3, 2020 Author Popular Post Report Posted March 3, 2020 Late night but got them finished and bindings mounted up. They are far from perfect, but definitely skiable. I forgot to order the beveling bit for the router so I improvised with what I could find locally, it worked. I’ll hit the sidewalls again once the bit comes in. Found out it is super important to cut right along the edge with the jig saw when deflashing them. The epoxy is way to hard to just sand away with a belt sander. top sheets profile pivot mounting templateGoing to drop them off for a tune tomorrow and I’ll be skiing them Thursday! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 9 2 2 Quote
RidgeRacer Posted March 3, 2020 Report Posted March 3, 2020 Congratulations dude...awesome read, thanks for sharing. Can't wait to hear how they ski. Quote
AtomicSkier Posted March 3, 2020 Report Posted March 3, 2020 Holy shit they look like skis! Can I hand flex them before @Justo8484 does? 1 1 Quote
eaf Posted March 3, 2020 Report Posted March 3, 2020 Wow, they look fantastic. I wish I could see the faces of folks where you're gonna be tuning these. Are the binding pieces from two different sets? Did I miss the part where you glued the bases? Or is the orange sheet it? What's that black strip in the middle, some sort of carbon? And the variable thickness, is that due to the wood profile or epoxy alone? How did you even shape it that way? Quote
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