Layer Prep

To get the ski ready to press, the edges, base, fiberglass, rubber, and top sheet must be prepared.  This year I purchased clear base material which will allow me to put some graphics on the bottom of the ski.  A razor blade and the base template are used to cut the base material to size.

 The edges are clamped in place and temporarily attached using super glue.

The image below illustrates the opacity of the base material.  When epoxy is applied, the material will become more clear.  The edges, black rubber, graphics, and core design will show clearly.

In order to protect the base from epoxy and damage, tape is applied.  This year I purchased 6" wide label tape from McMaster-Carr.  In past years I have used both contact paper and packing tape which both have their difficulties. Packing tape is applied in strips, and any overlap will leave minor depressions in the base material.  Contact paper uniformly covered the base, but was hard to apply and remove. This tape was by far the easiest to apply out of anything I used.  I built a tape dispenser to help me apply the tape to the base.

Once the tape was stretched out, a paint roller was used to evenly apply the tape to the base.  Because there was tension in the tape during application, there were no creases or bubbles.

The extra tape was then trimmed using a razor blade.

The top sheet, made from p-tex, is also clear and was cut in half and covered in tape similar to the base material.

Rubber is placed between the steel edge and fiberglass layer in order to prevent delamination due to shear between layers. The rubber comes in a roll and was simply cut into four pieces.

There is a fiberglass later between the base and core and between the core and top sheet.  The fiberglass on the base is 19 oz with a tri-axial weave (45, 90, and 135 degrees).

I did not purchase new fiberglass for the top of the core, but used some old bi-axial fiberglass (0 and 90 degrees).  Rather than covering the entire top of the ski, which adds considerable weight, only the edges will be covered.  This strip of fiberglass was cut into four pieces.

The ski is nearly ready to enter press stage one; however, graphics will be applied to the core prior to pressing.