wax bench

I just got a neat new functional, inexpensive, well made wooden,
portable (small) wax bench.
It works great and fits in a small duffle for travel.

Check it out at www.ezbench.com

http://nordicskiracer.com/Equipment/BuildYourOwn.asp this is the
Michigan nordic skier web site...Muha has a build your own bench with
some nice features. I like the cleaning trough, rack for cooling
skiis and the eye hole screws for securing your ski form.
pete

(David Smullin) wrote in message . com...
I just got a neat new functional, inexpensive, well made wooden,
portable (small) wax bench.
It works great and fits in a small duffle for travel.

Check it out at www.ezbench.com

'tis the season! I just got a wood wax bench on ebay from these guys.
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...sort=3&rows=25

The profile works great - a big improvment over my swix capslock
system. I never could get the NNN binding to latch into that swix
post.

The new profile is *not* however very portable: One feature that makes
it so solid is that they use superstrut as the base. Pretty clever,
actually. The profile does everything I need. It has two clamps for
the body of the ski that will except a wide variety of ski widths and
thicknesses. The top is covered in foam rubber so the ski doesn't
slide around even if I don't tighten the clamps.

Bob

"JMC" wrote in message
.. .
With one aluminum "U" channel, a piece of kiln dried pine, a few carriage
bolts and wing nuts, basic basement workshop tools and some time, you can
also build your own: http://www.geocities.com/jmcroteau/bench.JPG

JMC

Do you have a plan or instructions for this bench? It looks very nice, but
I'm having trouble making out the details from the photo.

DJ

"DJ" wrote in message
...
"JMC" wrote in message
.. .
With one aluminum "U" channel, a piece of kiln dried pine, a few
carriage
bolts and wing nuts, basic basement workshop tools and some time, you
can
also build your own: http://www.geocities.com/jmcroteau/bench.JPG

JMC

Do you have a plan or instructions for this bench? It looks very nice,
but
I'm having trouble making out the details from the photo.

DJ


I do not have plans for this bench: after looking at different benches, I
had a "mental" image of what I wanted to build. I went trough the junk I
accumulated over the years and pulled out the pieces that would match this
image.



I started with a length of "U" shaped aluminum profile I had lying around,
about 1" high x 1" wide, 1/8" walls (I think the whole bench would be a
little more stable if I had used a wider profile). I made a pair of slots at
each end to allow adjustments to the wood supports
http://www.geocities.com/jmcroteau/DCP02103.JPG .



These slots may well be the only tricky part. I had the chance to have the
required tool at the display house where I work. Any machine shop could do
it; I believe somebody with a table saw and a carbide blade for aluminum
could also do it. The width of the slots was determined by the square
section on the carriage bolts heads: this square section slides into the
groove and prevents the bolt from turning when you tighten the wing nuts. I
also drilled tapered holes from the top to allow screwing the profile into
my workbench (when on the road, I use the clamps I made
http://www.geocities.com/jmcroteau/DCP02106.JPG , which fit into the holes
I drilled trough the side of the profile
http://www.geocities.com/jmcroteau/DCP02105.JPG ; I figured it would not be
nice to screw the bench into the top of somebody else's table...)



The wood supports http://www.geocities.com/jmcroteau/DCP02101.JPG are easy:
use your skis to get the right shape. If available, use kiln dried softwood.
Lumber will warp and crack. The center post
http://www.geocities.com/jmcroteau/DCP02107.JPG is not necessary, the wooden
clamps on the wood supports are quite sufficient to hold the ski firmly. I
added it simply because I happened to have an old bracket that could easily
be modified to do the job. Besides, most of our skis have automatic
bindings. If you use this center post when applying kick wax, you can't
remove the ski without pushing into the ski base...



I would like to give you measurements but I loaned the bench to a friend who
is going to a race this week-end...
http://www.geocities.com/jmcroteau/bench.JPG





JMC



P.S. When I get it back, I will try to find some time to make a sketch with
measurements; I'll scan the sketch and post the link in this thread.

"JMC" wrote

a great description, with linked photos of his waxing bench.

Thanks very ;much- that's enough info to get it done. Actually, since I'm
not looking for a traveling bench, I'm going to take your ideas/design and
use other on hand materials to make something similar, but not portable.
Really a nice design. If I ever need a traveling bench, I believe I could
either fabricate the metal parts myself or have the welding and fabrication
shop next to my office 8-) do it for a reasonable price. These guys can do
anything.
DJ