Budget tuning bench

[baseWeldr]

I use an anchored tele-strap thingy to wrap binding toepiece or fritschi bar, blocks o wood w/rubbery top support ski, bent romex holds brakes, I hold beer...(took no time to cobble-up but I had a bench to mount to, could def b improved but works...)

[hutash]

Quick (and shitty iPhone) pic of a cheap and easy bench. I put it on a B&D workmate, but any work bench or kitchen table will do.

[JayPowHound]

Do you have a basement or garage with a little space for something permanent? Lumber is pretty cheap and this went together in under an hour...



More pics in the workbench thread if you're interested.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...er-workbench!?

[XXX-er]

Its pretty simple to hack together your own jig for the price of a couple of pieces of dimension lumber, cut the slot in the end piece like Hutash did to hold the ski on edge, if you make it with the end pieces close enough/wide enough you can also do snow boards and I found that # to be 42"

One key thing is to make the end blocks tall enough so the binding clears your bench which I found to be at least a 2x6 on its side, 10 " wide will support a snow board fine

If you get the workmate type portable bench it folds up real nice and you can probably sneak it past the memsahib by telling her its for home construction projects

edit: I made a cleat on the bottom of the jig to keep it from coming out of the workmates jaws with some 1x4


Thats way too fucking clean JPH ?

[DougW]

I thought I'd posted a pic of mine long ago but can't find it. Took an old wooden table, Ikea type, screwed to under side some heavy flooring and connected back legs. WEnt from light table to heavy and stable. My method of attachment was 2x6 on top of table bolted to wooden "boot".

[nickwm21]

Grabbed my pics from the previous bench thread......

[co_trekker]

similar idea. cheap and easy to put together. folds up for storage, and holds skis as good as any clamp or vise ive used.

[skisurfmirth]

Lamothe, what does Canadian Tire call the saw horse you got in the pic. PS is the canadian tire open in canmore now?

[Fat Mike]

Lamothe, what does Canadian Tire call the saw horse you got in the pic. PS is the canadian tire open in canmore now?

Looks like this one to me http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en

[climb.on]

I use one of these:

http://www.harborfreight.com/folding...egs-47844.html

along with 2 of these for supporting the ski tips and tails:

http://www.harborfreight.com/132-lb-...and-95621.html

I like this idea. Really simple, not time screwing around building anything and will work with almost any rig, even nordic. Wish I would have thought of it before I made my over engineered bench.

[TexasGortex]

Do you have a basement or garage with a little space for something permanent? Lumber is pretty cheap and this went together in under an hour...



More pics in the workbench thread if you're interested.
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...er-workbench!?

I'll browse that thread.

I have a killer garage. I live above it in a firehouse-style loft.




We usually rent the garage out, but just lost a tenant. Will probably pick up a new one in the spring. I'm already keeping at least two motorcycles in there, so I would really prefer not to further clutter up the place any worse for potential renters. I built two similar benches (with a backing board for hanging tools) for my mom, I just don't want to drive across the city to my parent's house just to wax my skis. Whatever I use at my place has to have pretty easy storage in a closet or similar.

[Fat Mike]

Attachment 101912

picked this up yesterday at canadian tire . 17$ winning. it folds away, closes right on the bindings , its seriously perfect for those low on space

Just finished my setup. Once I get pics off my phone I'll post them up. Basically used the el cheapo bench above with this setup clamped to it (http://skitracks.wordpress.com/2010/...-tuning-bench/)

The only problem is the bench alone is not very sturdy (who woulda thought a $17 work bench was ricketty???) so I added a length of 2x4 as an end support and clamp the opposite end of the ski support thingy in the bench. Now its nice and sturdy. All the supports are on brackets so they fold up and whole thing tucks neatly away in my tiny little garage. Total cost was about $30

[Tye 1on]

I'll get some pics up soon, but finished the last piece of it and gave the boards the first wax yesterday, worked great.

Zero cost.

Cleaned off the workbench, that was a key first step. Looked over, have a red metal toolbox about 10"x16"x9". Looked the other way, saw a small ammo can, a little shorter, but full of old tools and heavy. Saw a little 6" black rubber bungy.

Set the ski on it with the tail against the wall. Used the bungy to hold up the brake. Voila!! Might glue some rubber onto each if i decide to go deluxe...

[Kim Jong-un]

Just finished this. Cheap except for the vises.

Stole the foldable sawhorse legs from my father.

$20 for the 2.5" white pine slab from a sawmill down the road. I contemplated leaving the bark on but the beetles got a start on it and the vises didn't fit well over it so off it came.

Its a lot lighter than it looks, as I think the legs may be aluminum and the w. pine is dry.

It can double as an ironing board or portable bar.

[old goat]

I'm sure there is, but I sure as shit couldn't find it. Plus, who doesn't like feeling special?

Thanks for the tips guys. The Harbor Freight solution is surprisingly cheap, small, and multipurpose.

But this thing http://skitracks.wordpress.com/2010/...-tuning-bench/ looks killer. I'm thinking I will build one.

I agree--that could go on the kitchen table with a drop cloth underneath. Very ingenious/

[bigdude2468]

I agree--that could go on the kitchen table with a drop cloth underneath. Very ingenious/

Amazon has a vice for $82.00 from Tools4Boards that will clamp on to any workbench, Workmate etc, and is easily moved. I like it because it snaps into the binding and is fully adjustable for any size. The homemade one shown above you would have to mount new blocks cut to fit different sole lengths, this one accommodates all. No monkeying around with straps or rubber bands to get the brakes out of the way either. Also includes two supports to keep the tip and tail stable. Using the binding leaves nothing in the way for side shaving or other interference. I find them to be plenty stable.

[Fat Mike]

I agree--that could go on the kitchen table with a drop cloth underneath. Very ingenious/

I built one of these last year and it works great...for your own skis. Problem is that I also tune my wife's skis and my buddy's, and both have different size boots which causes a problem with the binding clamp method they suggest. Much better to use the middle as a support, put a small hook on the base board and just tie the binding down. That way you get all the benefits of this system but with the ability to use if for different BSL's

[bigdude2468]

I built one of these last year and it works great...for your own skis. Problem is that I also tune my wife's skis and my buddy's, and both have different size boots which causes a problem with the binding clamp method they suggest. Much better to use the middle as a support, put a small hook on the base board and just tie the binding down. That way you get all the benefits of this system but with the ability to use if for different BSL's

Take a look at the Tools4Boards option on Amazon. For $80 it is a good set up that clears the brakes and allows a large BSL adjustment without homemade blocks.

[mrburns]

So I stole some of the great ideas I saw in this thread, and the workbench thread as well, and finally got around to building a tuning bench. It is still kind of a work in progress, but I think it will end up working out pretty well. If was going to do a mount, I would probably still go into the shop and use the jig and bench there, but for basic edge work, p-tex, waxing, I think it is going to be great. I used some scrap 2 x4's and plywood I had lying around, and and old bike tube. So, I have $0 in parts, I did have to buy a staple gun, but I am not one to complain about having to buy tools. As you can see from the pics, it is portable, and just clamps on to the workbench I built in the spring. Now it just needs to snow..








Sorry about the rotated images, I am at work and the crappy photo program I have will not let me rotate. Anyone have luck linking to images hosted on Flikr? I can't get that to work, so they are attached directly from the computer.

[chatton18]

I have something similar to this. The silicone does a great job holding the skis and a tube costs ~$3 at home depot.

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ight=workbench

[Ed el Loco]

Here's mine, added a hinged support in the middle for waxing the kids skis. Total cost of about $12.

[anthonycronce]

Table is done! Fits my halos and my hellbents...all I need to figure out now is how to wax skis with a smaller BSL that. Mine...oh well

[TexasGortex]

Bump from the long dead.

I bought a new house, and this one has a work room! I'm just starting to settle in to it. Installed a slop sink and some extra outlets (for the shop vac under the bench, less cord stretch for tools across the bench). Next up is ski specific stuff. Going to start by building some clamps out of 2x4s, maybe just sack up and buy proper ones at some point. I'd prefer not to because I can be a cheap ass. Rebrowsing the thread for inspiration.