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just the material to make skis are way more than $50....depends on the
quality of the material, how many layers of carbon or fiberglass, what
type of wood core you are using, sidewalls or not, if you are getting
real topsheets printed up, if you are buying in bulk.....
right
now, my bamboo cores are costing me over $60 a pair alone.
When I am able to buy in bulk, this should drop down to about $40
though.
Professionally printed topsheets run about $40 a
piece, 1.3mm edges ~ $10 per ski, base material is about $25-30 if you
are using the normal grade, 1.3mm thick stuff. Eventually I am trying
to get 2.2mm race base stuff, and that will be running closer to $40
per ski. Edges will also increase in cost. Then there is tipspacers
($10), binding mat ($10), epoxy (varies depending on what you use....),
fiberglass (I use three sheets per ski, which costs about $30 per pair
for good 22oz triaxial). It really adds up.
That is just the
materials too. If you have an established wook shop with all the tools
required, than this would be much cheaper. Thus far, I've had to buy:
Table saw + good Thin Kerf Blade + Roller Stand
Jig Saw
Plunge Router
Fixed Base Router
Router Table
A number of router bits
Drill press + lots of metal drilling bits
Air compressor
Power Drill
Planer
Big Tool Box
Belt Sander
Palm Sander
tons and tons of clamps
and more stuff I am probably forgetting
Then the press......
Lots and lots of steel
150+ grade 8 bolts (think this is running about $300+ right now)
MDF for molds
Aluminum Cat Track ($200) + cable
Aluminum for heat-blanket sandwhich + cassettes ($300)
Heat Blanket ($320)
PID controller ($200)
Fire Hose ($20)
CNCed templates (~$220 for 7 templates)
ummm......think that is more or less the jist of it.
Granted....I
wanted my press to be as professional as possible. While it is only a
single-ski press, is still weights in at ~ 1,500 lbs, so it is pretty
beefy. Also, I bought relatively high quality tools, so that was fairly costly.
If you do it
on a budget, you can build a nice press for probably $250-$400 using wood and a number of metal enclosures. Forget
the cat track, heating blanket + controller, aluminum cassettes,
subliminated topsheets, plus if you already had a bunch of the tools,
and it is much more affordable. I figure I've spent close to $2800 just on tools thus far, then close to $700 on heating the press. The press, with molds, cat track, etc has got to be clost to $2000 by now too. Right now I almost have enough materials for seven pairs of skis too, which has cost me about $1800....then there are templates. Basically.....I've spent a shit-ton of money getting this all going. When it is all said and done, though, I will have my own little ski factory, so I really can't complain.
Buying in bulk saves you a ton of money for sure. If you have enough money to buy at bulk, and are not using anything super expensive, $150 per pair is pretty resonable. I hope when I can buy in bulk to get my pairs down to around $215. Bamboo is fucking expensive, as is race base, fat edges, etc.
and just to note.....how ever long it seems like it is going to take you to get it done, multiple by at least 2 and you will have a more accurate idea. I've been pretty hindered by how much this has all cost, but even if I had the funds available to me at the begining it would have taken a pretty long time.
