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June, 2025

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Official Ski Pressing/Shaping/Building/Constructing Thread

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NinetyFour
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All of us have thought about building your own shit at one time or another, but how many of you actually have? This thread will be dedicated to those who actually build your own gear from scratch, surely there are some of you on NS. Now I can't contribute to this thread much because I've never built anything and I only have a small amount of time working with fiberglass, but would sure love to see some info from you dudes who actually do, whether you build in your basement, or for a living. So if you can legitimately contribute please do.
14 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
Woah, aha I totally missed some of these replies in the thread... Must be going blind. Anyways those look super dope Taint-Wagon (lol...) Any specs on em? Also is that a fireman's pole coming out of the hole in the roof...?
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@ jmasterp. Aha I hate throwing numbers out on the press for now. It was pretty affordable though and ever dollar and cent was paid for the project by myself. I started the whole thing at 17 and turned 18 somewhere in there, and my wallet isn't hurting to much after the smoke settled. I do still live at home and have worked every summer since grade 7 though so I've had something to pull from to get going on it.

For the press though if you take time to source materials, especially steel then you can save quite a bit. I ended up saving about $10/foot on my I-Beams by making some calls and checking some prices. The little guy will usually be cheaper (at least that's what I found)

I couldn't really give you any good numbers or idea's on a vac bag setup though, but I'm pretty sure it will be quite a bitch cheaper then a press. It all goes back to pro's and con's though when making that choice.
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As far as the cost of a pair of skis go, it can range quite a bit as my lumber supplier sporadically prices their woods and what kinds of woods they carry. But for the first pair it cost me about $200 to make them and I had cut the core blanks WAY too thick, so a lot of that wood was planed away and wasted...
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@ Gargles_Chode (Aha oh god, these names...) Thanks for the stoke man! Aha I guess I'm pretty dedicated but I wanted it pretty bad. Don't forget that there are other guys on here putting out more insane stuff than I am though ;p I just have some catching up to do.
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Also had a chance to ride the skis again on the weekend and tonight. They put up with a full day of moderate abuse on Saturday. Knuckled a few jumps, threw a bunch of taps on some jibs, etc... Then tonight we had another session at **Steeze*Whiz**'s yard and I wen't pretty hard on the DFD, trying to clear it (never did, damnit...) Edges look like they held up good, and no knicks or separation at the base or anything like that. So I'm pretty happy with how they're holding up and riding.

Never did get to cranking out a second pair in this time that my parents have been away on vacation though. I thought life was going to be relaxing but my older sister has seemed to make the house a crazy mess and dysfunctional place so I've been chasing after that; and I've started work on a side project for next season. Totally secret and under wraps though :D Hopefully I'll get a chance to get back to building once my parents are home and can take some of the weight.
12 years ago
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HolySchimmel
Posts: 1601 - Karma: 1,295
thanks (dont mind the name, got it in that stupid name change action ^^)
Well as far as specs go, tips are like 145mm, waist around 120 and tails around 140. Sidecut was supposed to be around 20m. If you look at the earlier pics, you can see the shape of the rocker and the camber quite good. Both didn't turn out as "extreme" as I wanted, but after riding them, I feel like they work pretty damn good.
I used a pretty simple layup consisting of one layer of glass fiber on top and one layer beneath the core (ash). Thats pretty much all I gotta say about it :D

Ohh and yes, thats a firemans pole leading to a small, seperate room right under the roof. Doesn't get used much though :P
12 years ago
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jdubbs.
Posts: 728 - Karma: 119
threads
12 years ago
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K-Dot.
Posts: 3790 - Karma: 8,349
Threads
12 years ago
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conchetler
Posts: 280 - Karma: 609
threads.
12 years ago
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joelski
Posts: 1014 - Karma: 736
threads
and also my buddy pressed a long board under his car by setting up 2 by 4s in the shape he wanted and raping them with bubble wrap. it work really well i was wondering if this would work for skis and if anyone has ever tried it
12 years ago
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25444 - Karma: 13,856
Hahahahha
12 years ago
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LukasSchroeder
Posts: 1461 - Karma: 2,683
Pressing longboards is ALOT different. Anyway, this thread made me go to sleep 1hr later than a wanted. Was sick to see progress.
12 years ago
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KyleA
Posts: 865 - Karma: 510
We made a few new pairs of skis this week that we are very pleased with.

This is what they were supposed to look like.

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This is what they look like in actual ski form.

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As usual, sorry for the terrible pictures.

12 years ago
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cydwhit
Posts: 5079 - Karma: 43,075
Nice job guys! and threads...
12 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
Those are off the hook unreal, Kyle. Graphics look really clean; are you guys doing your own in house or? (I feel like Ive already asked that question...) Great job man.
12 years ago
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KyleA
Posts: 865 - Karma: 510
Thanks man!  These graphics were printed by Miller.  We have a sublimation printer, and will eventually print our own topsheets.  But for the time being, it is easier for us to outsource. 
12 years ago
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No.Quarter
Posts: 5257 - Karma: 16,966
Platypus bump
12 years ago
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HolySchimmel
Posts: 1601 - Karma: 1,295
Still got material for one more pair at home. Any ideas on what to try? Looking to build a twintip, all-mountain like ski. The last one was a pure powder ski, so I wanna try something new.
12 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
I've been posting small updates in post what's on your mind. And anyways, I just designed up ski called the platypus, gonna be a fatter, soft and floppy park ski with 126/97/123 in a 172. Has a wee bit of early taper in the tip of the ski to. Hoping the ski is going to be very buttery and relaxed for easy park laps. So Idk, maybe something similar to those sizes. Not sure if you would want fatter or wider then that, but something around that waist width would work well I think. Maybe keep it stiffer to punch through crud and whatnot.
12 years ago
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hill.dale
Posts: 172 - Karma: 131
threads for later
12 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
Just going to give this thread a slutty bump with a few to do's before I forget them.

Clean cassette. re-shim press, buy vinyl application tape, peg cores, plane cores, rabbet cores, profile cores, cut VDS, cut base, attach edges, layup?

Probably missing a few minor things but I think I got some major stuff that I haven't done yet written down there. Hopefully I'll have most of that done except the layup done by the end of the weekend.

I also need to get binding inserts. Will suck because I won't be able to use new inserts, on new skis, with new bindings, until I know if I'm getting new boots or not for next season... Doubt I'd move outside of the adjustment range but who knows.
12 years ago
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FreezerKid
Posts: 744 - Karma: 274
threads/ kitten factory skis topsheets are so clean
12 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
The purple ones are awesomely hilarious with the Wu-tang logo amongs other things, and these later ones a super awesome. Really nicely put together graphics, very clean, very mountain-esque. Reminds me a bit of the Rocker2 series topsheets., but I like the KF ones more.
12 years ago
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razors-chaz
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Im intregued as to why you're pegging and rabbeting your cores? Are you doing full wood core and trying to reduce top sheet chipping.


Also should start to see a little more from me in the coming months as i've finished my degree and starting to build my first pair.
12 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
Hype! Love seeing other peoples stuff.

And the rabbet, rebate, whatever it actually is called, is just a recess in the core for the edge teeth. Then the core drops down, and will sit flat and flush with the base. Prevents a concave base that can cause issues when doing the first base grind.

The core pegging, that's just two holes in the core, that seat onto two pegs glued to the base. Prevents the core from getting 'cockeyed' over top of the base.

Weather sucks balls today, so I won't be core profiling outside... Tomorrow hopefully.
12 years ago
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razors-chaz
Posts: 2255 - Karma: 1,250
Yeah i wondered if you needed to do that or the press put enough pressure on the layup to counter that problem with the bases. Pegging the core sounds like a useful tip. Not into doing umhwpe
12 years ago
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razors-chaz
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/abs sidewalls? And just doing full wood core and sidewalls?
12 years ago
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HolySchimmel
Posts: 1601 - Karma: 1,295
I just did wood sidewalls for my first pair and added a layer of epoxy on them after cutting out the skis (obviously). Seemed way easier to me.
12 years ago
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Mar-O
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threads
12 years ago
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shifty36
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Threads, Gonna have to look into this when i get some free time!
12 years ago
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HolySchimmel
Posts: 1601 - Karma: 1,295
Just finished my cores for the next pair, now I have to fix a printer problem to be able to print out my base shape. Going with something quite normal: 125-90-122 and sidecut of like 19m or something like that (dont have the exact numbers right now). All of that at a lenght of 185. Gonna be a "normal" all mountain ski I guess.
12 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
Hoping to finish up my cores today. I'm using 5/8" mdf on my template this time as opposed to the usual 3/4" mdf though, and it's causing some problems for me being able to router in my edge rabbet.

Hype for all mountain skis!

And I'm also using wood sidewalls. I always use maple in my sidewalls because it's rock solid. Slather it in a layer of epoxy, and I've found them to be more dent and slash resistant than any ABS or PTEX sidewall I've ever owned on a ski. The epoxy is nice and flexible to, so if you do get a dent, the epoxy sticks in place and doesnt flake away. At least that's been my experience.
12 years ago
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HolySchimmel
Posts: 1601 - Karma: 1,295
5/8" mdf? What do you mean with that? Not really used to english Abbreveations sorry...
12 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
It's 5/8 of 1 inch thick. So 0.625 of 1 inch, or 15.875 millimeters.
12 years ago
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HolySchimmel
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kk, thx. Hoping to finish glueing on edges on my bases tomorrow (if Im able to fix our printer :D) Wont be ablte to do much more, since I'm out of epoxy though... Kinda sucks but whatever. Will keep you posted on the progess. Also, any ideas on graphics for the topsheet would be greatly appreciated. I am usually drawing them myself (pencil on some drawing paper, worked quite good on the last skis). Hit me up with some ideas!!!
12 years ago
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5676 - Karma: 4,297
Solid maple sidewalls? What would be extremely cool and time consuming would be to make veneer sidewalls of 1/16" maple. It would look like a skateboard. I have no idea where you'd get such large veneers either, but it would look cool. Especially if you managed to get some infused veneers.

Also epoxy seals wood fine. The first surfboard I did, I made wood glass on fins and I slathered any exposed areas in epoxy. They never rotted, even after a ton of ocean water time.
12 years ago
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HolySchimmel
Posts: 1601 - Karma: 1,295
+ you can always add some epoxy if you see that the protection in some ares is fading ^^

Not too sure if I really want to build the ski I designed. I mean, I allready have 4 pairs of skis, dunno if I need yet another all-mountain ski. Maybe I'd rather build a ski for my brother/gf. Dunno yet really...
12 years ago
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HolySchimmel
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update: didnt get anything done (remembered I had an examn for university tomorrow, so I kinda thought I might aswell study for that :D )
Next weekend I'll be skiing, so no progress in sight there either. Will hopefully finish them at some point in June though. Still need ideas for a design (kinda love the design part the most, but I'm as creative as a stone, so thats kind of a big deal, I can draw pretty good though, so I want something on them that I drew myself)
12 years ago
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DBL
Posts: 1405 - Karma: 2,218
Design as in graphics? Or design as in ski shape? I think it would be sick to have a skinny 0 camber ski, like 82 waist, not too soft.
Also this thread has inspired me to build a set or two next year in my woodshop class!
12 years ago
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max...
Posts: 1379 - Karma: 802
I guess I will finally contribute. Here are a couple of pairs I made last summer. All the pics are off the iphone so they aren't great quality. I have an internship away from home for a couple of months so I won't be able to make any more pairs until late July unfortunately.

First up is the workspace. On the ground on the left is a mold being glued together. The blue and orange thing is my press. Up against he wall is some thin maple sheets I use to make my cores.
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Here is a good look at the press. The orange components are hydraulic jack presses I bought from Harbor Freight. The blue are two steel frames I got fabricated at a nearby machine shop. The upper mold is made from 2x4s. The lower mold is made from and MDF board cut into boards, cut to the profile of the ski, then laminated together with wood glue. The black tube is the bladder. I used a water bladder instead of air because it seemed like a safer (and cheaper) alternative to get uniform pressure within the press.
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The first ski rough cut. I used a jig saw to cut off excess material. Only the bases were cut to shape before layup.
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Me totally amped up on having the first ski made.
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The first pair. Pretty pleased with how the graphic lined up in the end. (Each ski was pressed separately).
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The first two pairs, mounted with squires (didn't want to buy expensive bindings in case the skis exploded--thankfully they haven't).
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All shape design was done by hand on drafting paper, both shape and profile. No CAD software was used. Both pairs are of identical design and construction. Both have skied very well, surprisingly. Perhaps one of the funner skis I have ridden. I believe the final dimensions came somewhere around 135-105-127 and ran about 183 in length (these are estimates, I have exact numbers somewhere but not in front of me). Profile wise, they have some camber underfoot, and a fair amount of early rise (rocker) in the tip and the tail. The rise is very mellow, but I never feared catching tips or tails, and they do not chatter in any significant way at high speeds (I've clocked myself going around 62 mph on them).

If you have any questions you can reply in this thread and I will try to check fairly often, or feel free to pm me. I have some more pictures of specific things, but not many, so if you have any specific questions I will try to answer them as best as I can.

Finally, sorry for the crazy long post.
12 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
Motherofgod.jpg. And you hand bombed the design on a drafting table to boot, that's insanely awesome! If you want to try CAD though, it's available for free online, and only the edges of your pages get watermarked. The graphics are sooo sick to. How did you go about doing them?
12 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
Double post.... But, what is everyone using for a topsheet and base mask to keep epoxy off? I used packing tape last time. Never again. I had a few wrinkles in the tape and it left MAJOR impressions in the topsheet, and some lighter ones in the base. Never thought the press could be capable of that.

The factory guys seem to be using like a clear vinyl transfer tape almost? Any alternatives that some of the smaller guys are using? Looking to really buy locally for availability, and I just hate ordering consumables online, but if I really have to I will.

The other sketchy one I've thought about is clear duck brand duct tape... Not sure if it will be too sticky, and leave a mess after being under pressure. But it would be mightily easy to work with.

Any insight here would be GREATLY appreciated!
12 years ago
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max...
Posts: 1379 - Karma: 802
I did download some free CAD software online, but realized I could do it by hand in a shorter amount of time compared to teaching myself the software and printing it correctly. I will probably download some and fiddle around with it in my free time though. What software do you use?

I really love the graphics, but all credit goes to my older brother, who is an industrial designer and very good with illustrator. I had the idea for the wolf/native american theme, but he did all the design beyond that for both the graphics. I got mine printed through a company that specializes in topsheet printing for skis, snowboards, surfboards, etc. Its pretty pricy (around $70 per pair), but definitely gives the skis a professional look in my opinion. The company is miller studio (millerstudio.net). I got them printed on white nylon, which gave them a matte finish I personally like over a glossy material.

Here is what it looked like before layup (I cut it in half because each ski was pressed separately).
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Finally, I used packaging tape to cover my bases during pressing. I had no problem with wrinkles, but I am also very meticulous when it comes to putting the tape on. I cut off all excess tape around the edges with an x-acto knife, and cut slits in between the edge and the base so epoxy could escape when it seeped through the crack, rather than get blocked by the tape and run onto the bases. For the topsheet I simply put an extra piece of clear ptex topsheet I had laying around over my topsheet graphic (obviously did not put epoxy between these layers), and again had no trouble. The whole ski layup was wrapped in painters plastic before I put the bladder over it and put it into the press.
12 years ago
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,410
Miller Studios for the win. They will definitely be doing my graphics when I feel like getting them done. For now I'm ok with the raw guts of my ski showing through clear topsheet. Then I'll play with cotton before I make the move to a dye sublimated topsheet.

And the quote. I'm doing basically the same thing. I was using what must be cheap, brittle packing tape though. It was frustrating to work with, and I was very impatient last time... Learned my lesson. In my quest to find a tape that works best though, I've gone all out...

The 5 tape showdown. I'm going to try some test samples of tape on some 2x3" pieces of base. Then I'm going to load all five into the press on some scrap aluminium, with a dime sized area of epoxy on the face of each piece of tape, then press all 5 like this at the same time, and see which one works the best in terms of removal, and porosity, and tear-resistance.

I'm using these for the test in order from right to left:

-hatched vinyl transfer tape
-gorilla tape
-clear duct tape
-heavy duty packing tape
-paper painting tape

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Test base material:

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Tape on base; smooth side, no wrinkles:

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So hopefully this test works out. I think the heavy duty packing tape will win to be honest with you. Not the same shit as the other packing tape I used from staples. This stuff is stretchy, hard to tear, and isn't brittle. And if a wrinkle forms, it's easy to pull it out without tearing the tape.

Pretty scientific shit if you ask me.

Click for larger image

12 years ago
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HolySchimmel
Posts: 1601 - Karma: 1,295
I used vaccum to press my skis, I guess the pressure is lower than using a hydraulic press, so I can't really say too much about the tape. I just used some random tape that lay around somewhere and it worked just fine. Didn't use any for the topsheet either, since it had a layer of some foil over it that I removed after pressing.

I was looking for ideas on the graphics, not the actual ski design, sorry if that was unclear.

And I always use snowcad to design my skis, it's really self explanatory and easy to use.
Link:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/augvbam3ydzflmd/SnoCAD-X.zip

12 years ago
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cydwhit
Posts: 5079 - Karma: 43,075
Sweet, I am planning on vacuuming, what did you use for a pump?
12 years ago
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HolySchimmel
Posts: 1601 - Karma: 1,295
Well I used a manual pump for most of the work (like one that can inflate and deflate a rubber boat). For the last bit I used some sort of small pump that is normally used to vacuum small amounts of food in plastic bags. I wouldn't have thought that it would work that good, but apparently even the small one created a strong enough vacuum. Nice side effect was, that I could use the heat-seal function of that machine to close my vacuum bag. That also worked really good for me, so I didnt have any issues with the bag inflating during the process (I keep reading that that might be a problem in some cases and that lots of people need to have their compressors running the whole 24h)
12 years ago
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cydwhit
Posts: 5079 - Karma: 43,075
Hmm, sweet, any ideas on durability? The pump is seeming like the most expensive part right now
12 years ago
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HolySchimmel
Posts: 1601 - Karma: 1,295
Durability of the skis or the pump? The skis are quite durable, I mean some chipping here and there, but nothing I would relate to the press.

A compressor or pump isn't as expensive as you would think. I would browse ebay, I think you will find somethig that will work for about 50-70$. You need to look for one that can achieve a vacuum of about -0.6 to -0.8 bar.
12 years ago
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cydwhit
Posts: 5079 - Karma: 43,075
Great, thanks a bunch!
12 years ago
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5676 - Karma: 4,297
Click for larger image
If you still need a better tape after all that science, maybe try this stuff. It's popular with surfboard shapers. I have something similar I used to cover fin boxes during glassing, and it kept all the resin out just fine.
12 years ago
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cydwhit
Posts: 5079 - Karma: 43,075
stoked, just ordered materials!
12 years ago
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Park.
Posts: 2480 - Karma: 4,587
need some exact numbers or atleast some very specific estimates/tight ranges about the actual full cost for a functioning press (including all needed materials i.e. bladder, screws, etc.). If the press is a 2 ski or board capable press, please say that. I really need to know fairly soon so all help is welcome.
12 years ago
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K.Breit
Posts: 211 - Karma: 143
i love you
12 years ago
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