My homemade ski-sled

Cribbs74 wrote:Yeah I get it.

Back on point though, are you going to take it to the big hill soon?

Well.. we lost all our snow today (temp rose 60 degrees in 36 hrs...) There was no "base" previously and last Friday's storm dropped 8-10 inches of very light powder. It was 60 degrees today.. and it is now 31.. and heading for the teens. It will be icy tomorrow morning...  

The big hill you can see in my 1st posts video last season. I certainly hope to get there again this season. It was just too crowded yesterday. It's best to go to the big hill late in the day, when most people have left. You can see in this vid... there's no one there. I was only 2/3 of the way up... it's very steep and very fast! This vid was the "maiden" voyage... and I didn't know how well I could control the sled yet. It was kinda' scary!

This is the big hill...

A friend of mine got burnt (sort of).. on the purchase of a "rodel" (German name for snow-sled) that he bought "brand new" from a company in Switzerland. They shipped him a sled that was too big for him... and will not make good on the deal; without charging him enormous shipping charges... (after months of haggling). The sled alone; cost over $600.00 in U.S. funds... and shipping was an additional $100.00 plus (one-way...) My friend lives in the Pacific Northwest U.S.  

This is not your ordinary snow-sled... and my friend (and his G/F..) have x2 very similar "German-made" sleds bought previously. He can't use this new sled... and will have to try to sell it on eBay or something... I weigh 200 pounds and am 6 ft. tall... He weighs 160 lbs. and is 5' 6"... This sled is sized for my height/weight proportions, to be able to effectively steer it.




He offered it to me 1st... for 1/2 the money he has into it (with free shipping)... but unfortunately, being out of work; I just can't justify the expense.

Roddie

Yo! It's good to have wood.. and I "have" wood in my vehicle for cutting at work. Two 1/4" exterior plywood panels (2' x 4'), a single 84" 2' x 4' stud, and two 8 foot 1" x 2" rails. Those are the wood parts to build another ski-sled. This sled will have it's ply-decks cut on the CNC router.. from a CAD file I've been working on. The rail-lumber pieces will be cut to length using a nice powered miter-saw. By comparison, my first sled's parts were cut by hand and jig-saw. The two pivoting decks sit atop 8 struts made from 6" lengths of 2 x 4 laying lengthwise. The decks and their ski-sets lag/screw to the 8 struts top and bottom.

The rear deck has 48" long skis.. and the front deck has 42" long skis.. which extend forward for clearance with the rear skis while turning.. and for a 40/60 front/rear pivot ratio when the overlapping decks have their pivot/hitch-pin installed. This worked really well on the first sled.. from a "balance/control-standpoint".. and this second one will be a duplicate. I hope to "campaign" both sleds this Winter season. The first sled (2011/12 season) generated a lot of attention. A pair would be perceived from a "competitive" standpoint. A good friend of mine is a woodworker (finish-carpenter). He was recently diagnosed with "Parkinson's disease". He also has a love for snow-sledding. He's limited with how much and the type of physical work he can do now. I imagine building custom sleds with him.. in his workshop.. and selling them for a profit. With patterns/jigs and hardware.. these sleds could be built quickly. More "sedate" sleds are selling for upwards of $400.00. My design cost me about $100.00 to build.. and most of that expense is "hardware".. which can be bought in bulk for a significant cost savings. The "skis" are whatever you can find/alpine-type. People throw them in the trash.. or offer them for very cheap at garage-sales.

Anyway.. a second sled is in the works. I want to be able to stain and seal all the wood parts outdoors before it get's too cold.

I cut my decks on the table-router at work today. I was a little worried.. because both sheets were warped, and I wasn't sure if the table's vacuum would hold the sheets still. It worked.. and took less that 5 minutes to cut them both. The warps will flatten-out once the decks are lagged into the ski-struts.. and side rails are installed.



It will be finished same as the first sled; in Minwax's English Chestnut wood stain.. and sealed with several coats of Helmsman Spar Urethane, prior to assembly.

I hope it snows a lot for you!! Make sure you take a video or two of your shakedown run.

Well... are we going to put an 049 on that Roddie?

Cribbs74 wrote:I hope it snows a lot for you!! Make sure you take a video or two of your shakedown run.

Although I posted video of the first sled trials almost 2 years ago.. watching them can't convey the thrill of the actual experience. Alpine skis attached to the bottom of anything.. is going to be fast on a hard-packed snow hill. This sled is too low to perform in deep virgin powder.. but if there's a packed base.. it's literally a rocket ship! A "laying-position" on 22" wide decks having a 40/60 front/rear pivot differential.. and being 93 inches long overall, makes for a fast ride.. at 5" off the ground! If it didn't steer well.. I wouldn't be building another one. It's amazing watching the kids on those snow-tubes.. Zero-control.. and going down backwards!  

Here's a photo for comparison with a big 55" Flexible Flyer "Chief" in the foreground.

How do you stop?

Cribbs74 wrote:How do you stop?

When I was a kid there were 4 alternatives (listed in order of preference):
1. Put your foot (or feet) down and brake with your shoes, or do a one-sided braking and turn the sled sideways, thus slowing it down
2. Wait 'til you are in the bottom of the hill, the sled will stop eventually, assuming you won't hit anything or tip over first
3. Flip over and/or bail out
4. Hit something

Not sure if the first method works with the sleds pictured, it did work with my Stiga Snow Racer, but the rest of them will for sure work with most sleds The Stiga has a handbrake but it doesn't do much besides noise (it helps to clear the path).

Cribbs74 wrote:How do you stop?

Stop?? ..  there are a few ways to slow down.. There are two independent levers up front, that when pulled; "dig-down" below the skis. They were originally designed as "steering-assist" drag-type brakes. As it turned out; they were not needed for steering.. but pulling back on either handle will effectively pivot the front deck in either direction.. lifting the inside ski slightly, which causes the outside ski to "bite-in". This could "jack-knife" the sled if the decks pivot past 45 degrees. Pulling both levers simultaneously "will" slow the sled down.. but not anywhere close to a panic-stop situation.

EDIT: More stopping power is always a nice option on a snow-sled. The deal is.. will it work well enough for the added weight. I tried to design this ski-sled to be as light as possible.. while at the same time; keeping it on the cheap. My biggest concerns were with the 1/4" plywood decks. I knew that on their own, they wouldn't support the weight of an adult rider. There "was" to be a complicated cable/thimble/turnbuckle system, to cross-tie the struts together. This would have allowed for ski-camber adjustment.. but provided no side-loading support. I ended up tying the struts together with 1/4" threaded-rod spanned across. They lock the struts together with nuts/washers on both sides. This really stiffens up the decks. The decks have 1" x 2" fir side-rails on top.. which offer some lateral rigidity. Sixteen 1/4" x 2-1/2" lagscrews are used on the pre-drilled holes in the side-rails/decks/struts. This year I made a drill template..

I thought about a brake-mod tonight.. a lot. I'll sleep on it.. and maybe write about the idea.

I recall when I was a kid that my dad made us a sled out of what was on hand.  That included the front bumper off a 1937 Plymouth, cut in half & shortened for 2 skis, a fully welded steel frame with a 3/4" thick Red-Gum hardwood deck.  We were lucky to get to the snow once every couple of years as we had to travel a couple of hours up the mountains to find any snow which only stayed around for a couple of months. Needless to say, the sled was only used once in the snow.  That thing was so damn heavy us kids could do little more than drag it along for a few yards at a time before stopping for a break.  Carrying it was out of the question.  I do recall it being frighteningly fast on a packed surface due to the weight and the narrow centre ridge of the bumper.

My brother & I did find a better use for it though.  Our dairy farm was in a low lying area with very high rainfall.  Lots of mud through winter & spring.  We slung that puppy behind the old Grey Ferguson tractor, put it in top gear and towed each other flat-out around the paddocks.  If you rolled it (which we regularly did) the weigh of it was nearly enough to crush you.  The wide skis kept you from digging in to the mud so it was actually quite effective.  That was until we discovered that a 1958 French Simca Aronde bonnet (hood) was harder to roll & kept you cleaner, apart from all the mud slung from the rear tractor tyres.

Rod.

roddie wrote:I started plans for this; Winter of 2011/12... Obtained 2 pr. ($25) of older alpine snow skis in Dec. of 2012... made a model, and started building. Finished it in March... just enough time/conditions "locally"... to use it one weekend, here in Rhode Island. My wife shot the vid at Diamond Hill State Park's "ski-hill" that weekend. What a thrill!!!

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easy to build... and FAST!

My facebook page has more photos of the building process.

Bump.. (seemed appropriate for our weather here in the last two days..) Might take her out tomorrow morning if the roads are passable.

Good bump. I'd even go outside for a few minutes to give that cool sled a try.

RknRusty wrote:Good bump. I'd even go outside for a few minutes to give that cool sled a try.

Yea.. I didn't end up taking her out today Rusty. I really should take her out tomorrow though.... with slippery fresh-waxed skis.. to a nice long steep hard-packed hill (may as well go out on the same date I came in on, 55 years ago..)

a nice toy for the blizzard