Ski press

Big_C

Big_C

Member
I am building a ski press and wondering if using a vacuum bag or a press would work better. I believe the vacuum is cheaper but will the press do better at about 3500 ft. Also wondering which will most likely last longer?
 
skibuilders.com forums. Super helpful for building your own skis

personally i think pneumatic presses work better and provide a more even pressure but are waaay harder/more expensive to build. i've heard that vacuum bags do work though especially if you put some sand bags or weights on top of it

http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/

good luck! building some sticks is super fun and rewarding
 
yes we have already purchased materials and have plans and are starting to build. We are making a pneumatic press and i thought i would check on others opinions to see about the vacuum bag
 
How much will it cost to make a pair as far as materials & man hours? It would be so sick if they come out nice. How do you plan on making the molds and edges? Any rockering?
 
we are not sure on price yet and not sure how or if we can do different sizes as far as edges we are leaning toward capping them and we can put rocker into the mold what size might you think has the most buyers
 
Me and my brother built a pneumatic press for basically free from spare wood and supplies. We built the press and 2 pairs of skis for under $400. The only expensive thing we had to buy for the press was a hose big enough. Definitely check out skibuilders.com thats where we got all our info.
 
maybe a 168 twin tip camber mold and a 186 or 176 twin rocker? might be hard to find the rockers though. PM me when you have it all together and working I might buy if the price is right
 
I'm seriously considering building a press for a senior project and just because I think it'd be interesting and rewarding. If I have no spare wood or anything, how much would a press cost to build?
 
Thanks man. A few friends and I have been tossing around the idea of making our own rockered park ski for a while, and we're actually gonna try to do it.
 
I have talked to a few others that have made their own press and they said it was well worth it. Ur own graphics. Once u have the press it's a lot cheaper. Shape you want. And to say they r ur own is dope
 
I would not go into a ski making project expecting it to give you cheaper skis than you can buy off the shelf. In order to make a ski of similar quality that you can currently purchase, you are going to spend a bundle of money.
 
a friend of mine has a ski press and can build skis for the cost of materials and has sold them for quite a bit more also he can design his own and loves it thanks for the opinion tho +k
 
I have made quite a few pairs of skis over the past five years. I know how much time, effort, and money goes into it. I'm not denying the fact that it is awesome and has taught me a lot. It is also the best feeling ever skiing on something that you made. It just takes thousands and thousands of dollars and a few years to make a ski that is worthy of selling.
 
OP! Welcome to this wonderful world that is ski building man. I to am currently building my own ski press and firstly to answer your question of press vs bag? I'd honestly recommend that you build the press if you have the time, resources and money.

Press Vs Bag:

Cost- The press will cost you waaay more money than a vacuum bagging setup ever will. I've gathered just about all of my materials for my press and have quite a bit of it completed. I've done some hunting to to get some materials on the cheap. With that being said, a rough estimate on dollars spent on my press is about $1400-$1800 CDN. It's not cheap. A turn key vacuum bag setup and mold will cost you at most 800, and I'm sure you could easily acquire the gear to vacuum bag at a much lower cost than that.

Skill- The press takes alot of free time and some decent knowledge of shop tools and equipment if you plan to do most of it by yourself. I probably have 30-40 hours of raw time cutting, welding, and grinding on my press, and I'm probably just over halfway done. A vacuum bag setup doesn't require as much 'shop; skill and it is much quicker to get a working setup.

Quality- Now both methods can produce some very nice skis, but a ski press will apply much more force to the ski and the pressure can be adjusted accordingly in turn producing a stronger ski. A vacuum bag relies on the outside atmospheric pressure to apply a force to a ski. This force is somewhere around 14psi. In regards to your comment on altitude, the closer you get to sea level ( 0ft ) the more force will be applied because there is more atmospheric pressure at sea level. Ideally, all vacuum baggers would be pressing in death valley :D below sea level, and LOTS of heat!

Convenience- This is somewhat subjective. After doing a full layup, it is much easier to slide the sandwiched ski cassette into the press cavity, and turn up the pressure. A vacuum bag requires that you make sure you have a good sealed up bag, and only then can you turn on the vacuum pump. It does take a little longer to get the pressure onto the ski in a vacuum bag as opposed to the press, which can be costly if you epoxy starts to gel and harden before you get the vacuum pump going. Size wize, a ski press is a pretty large shop tool, and it will likely get in the way if you don't have a good place for it. A vacuum bag setup has only a few parts, the mold being the biggest part, and a mold is sizable, but easy to store. If storage is an issue, a vacuum bag setup is the way to go.

In the end, like I said, I'm making a ski press, I have the time and would like to think I have the moeny, and storage isn't a major issue for me. I also like the convenience during the layup process, and a big burly press is just another man toy for me :D

As far as help from people and places go in your journey to build skis, hit me up with anything, and I'll try to help you. NS Members KyleA (who's already posted in here) and hot.pocket (his dad has helped me out alot aswell) have been nothing BUT helpful. Extremely knowledgeable on the subject and have hooked me up with some very useful knowledge and pics etc.... Iggyskier and Ginko are another good set of guys (They're from ON3P)

Links:

My Ski Building thread on NS: https://www.newschoolers.com/ns/forums/readthread/thread_id/651776/

Ski Building website:

http://www.skibuilders.com/

Ski Building forum:

http://www.skibuilders.com/phpBB2/

Good source for materials:

http://www.skilab.com/

Good luck with everything man. Read around before you take my word for anything just yet though. I may have screwed a few things up in there, and I'm only really knowledgeable on the basics of the process. Enjoy!
 
It depends on how much money you are willing to spend and how much experience you have with metal working. I'm assuming you are about 16 or so based on your posts? Sorry if I guessed wrong. But if this is the case it would not be a bad idea to start with a vacuum press. Being at the 3500 feet I believe you said you were at, you are only going to see a maximum of 13 psi when you vacuum. This will translate to an epoxy heavy ski that may not have the best mechanical bond.

A pneumatic press is pretty much a bomb if you do not know what you are doing. Especially if you do not know what you are doing and make a press from wood. I would suggest to make a vacuum press for now and after you make a few successful pairs make a pneumatic one.
 
Yeah, forgot to even mention this. Kyle helped me calculate that my press at 50psi would put out 43 tonnes of pressure. 43 tonnes is a huggge amount of force. Nothing to play with forsure. Also seems to be a few close calls over at ski builders from welds and bolts cracking, all the way to shearing completely, and blowing pieces off of the press. Thats where alot of the cost comes into play is getting good sound steel (and the sheer amount of it, my press will weigh in at around 2000 pounds) and quality welds. Nothing to mess around with.
 
Thank you so much for the help i am 15 turning 16 in a month but do have parents that are very knowledgeable in these fields but because of price i think i am leaning toward the vacuum
 
Whatever you go with keep me posted i'm really interested to see how it turns out and possibly interested in buying a pair of custom spec skis if possible
 
k ill try to remember but keep on the lookout for a thread of mine ill post when we are up and running
 
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