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Hi everyone,
I have decided to build my own press for making skis/snowboards. There is a lot of information out there on how to do this: ,
These sites are a lot of trial and error, so I wanted to take more of an Engineering approach (this will be my first question of many). I have already chosen some steel I-beam for the frame, and they are getting cut and drilled next Friday. If you go to this page and go to the 6th & 7th pictures down, you can see a bunch of little bars strung together right under the top beam. They call this a cattrack, and it helps to distribute the pressure.
Now, I wanted to use Aluminum (because the press is already heavy enough) so I called a local place, and they had 1/2"x1/2" aluminum tubing, but the wall thickness was something like 1/16" (can't remember exactly). The "bladder" (a bag fille with air) pushes down on top of this with a maximum of probably 80 psi, over a length of about 90" and width of about 20". Is there a way to determine how thick the walls of these tubes should be to withstand the force? (sorry if this seems like a simple question, I'm having trouble with it). Is there any other recommendations on something I should try instead of these Aluminum bars? Thanks a lot.
I have decided to build my own press for making skis/snowboards. There is a lot of information out there on how to do this: ,
These sites are a lot of trial and error, so I wanted to take more of an Engineering approach (this will be my first question of many). I have already chosen some steel I-beam for the frame, and they are getting cut and drilled next Friday. If you go to this page and go to the 6th & 7th pictures down, you can see a bunch of little bars strung together right under the top beam. They call this a cattrack, and it helps to distribute the pressure.
Now, I wanted to use Aluminum (because the press is already heavy enough) so I called a local place, and they had 1/2"x1/2" aluminum tubing, but the wall thickness was something like 1/16" (can't remember exactly). The "bladder" (a bag fille with air) pushes down on top of this with a maximum of probably 80 psi, over a length of about 90" and width of about 20". Is there a way to determine how thick the walls of these tubes should be to withstand the force? (sorry if this seems like a simple question, I'm having trouble with it). Is there any other recommendations on something I should try instead of these Aluminum bars? Thanks a lot.
