Is anyone using an infrared waxer?

[Snuckerpooks]

I like it. I use a lot less wax than I did with an iron, so scraping and clean up is way easier. I work outdoors and I've found iron waxing to be difficult in cold weather, but the IR works fine. The emitter is about a foot long and it's a little heavy. A shorter lighter one would be better. A linear rail would be perfect, but that's not gonna happen for me.

So are you free-handing it along the ski? How do you know what pace you need and what ranges of waxes have you used it with?

 

[Dave Marshak]

So are you free-handing it along the ski? How do you know what pace you need and what ranges of waxes have you used it with?

I use it freehand because I work outside and I don't want to build a permanent rail system for it. I go slow and watch to be sure the wax wets out the surface evenly, maybe 2 or 4 passes. I think it's slower than an iron, but the scraping/brushing is easier and the cleanup is much easier. I've only used it with my lifetime supply of Purl Purple universal wax. Next time I'm gonna use the last of my F4 flouro stash.

dm

 

[WhistlerGman]

I am still fine tuning my contraption and workflow. So far the pros are - less mess and less wax. The cons are - a challenge to crayon wax evenly and works better on black base (Head) vs yellow base (Fischer)

 

[anders_nor]

I am still fine tuning my contraption and workflow. So far the pros are - less mess and less wax. The cons are - a challenge to crayon wax evenly and works better on black base (Head) vs yellow base (Fischer)

very nice !

my plan is to do something like this, and the swix wax machine for application of wax

 

[Mark1975]

I am still fine tuning my contraption and workflow. So far the pros are - less mess and less wax. The cons are - a challenge to crayon wax evenly and works better on black base (Head) vs yellow base (Fischer)

My friend that uses the heat gun originally had the same issue with getting the wax to crayon on evenly. He started to use the Wax Wizzard that Mike DeSantis sells to spread the wax evenly after crayon it on. So crayon wax on, spread it evenly with the Wax Wizzard, then melt it in with the indirect heat. It works really well for him with almost no wasted wax like when using an iron.

I am definitely going to move to an indirect heat method, just trying to decide whether to go with the heat gun method or IR light. Both seem to work in a similar fashion.

 

[Swiss Toni]

@Mark1975 that’s by far the best diy IR Waxer I’ve seen to date, it’s much better than mine. Chapeau! To make it easier to crayon the wax you could warm up the bases with the IR waxer, if there are any dry spots after melting the wax just crayon more wax onto the dry spots.

I am definitely going to move to an indirect heat method, just trying to decide whether to go with the heat gun method or IR light. Both seem to work in a similar fashion.

A heat gun uses convection heating, it heats the air which in turn heats the wax/ski base. Infrared radiation travels through the air without heating it, which is more efficient.



Heraeus Noblelight https://www.heraeus.com/en/hng/home_hng/home_noblelight.html has a lot of useful info, including a brochure on heating plastics https://apps.heraeus.com/Infrared_for_plastics_EN/mobile/index.html#p=1

 

[DanoT]

I am still fine tuning my contraption and workflow. So far the pros are - less mess and less wax. The cons are - a challenge to crayon wax evenly and works better on black base (Head) vs yellow base (Fischer)

When I worked as a Rental Tech at a ski shop, the Montana IR waxing machine that I had access to had the lamp positioned slightly farther away than @WhistlerGman's machine and usually slightly faster speed was used with 3 there and back round trip passes. After skis cooled they were brushed and buffed with a Montana power roller machine.

 

[hotwinter74]

I am still fine tuning my contraption and workflow. So far the pros are - less mess and less wax. The cons are - a challenge to crayon wax evenly and works better on black base (Head) vs yellow base (Fischer)

even application is totally up to your hand, brand auto IR waxers are same. And they have power, speed, number of heating pre-set base on their study. I guess you already have your own setup.

 

[hotwinter74]

I bought it last summer from AliExpress. It is a car paint IR dryer. In fact, we use many short wave IR equipments and we just adapted it as a waxer few years ago.
I waxed several skis about 10 times but I'm still afraid to use it. Iron, surface of the base is the hottest. IR waxer, I don't know. 1mm deep, 2mm deep? If I apply wrong, I can damage inside bonding and materials. That's why I'm using low temp. melting wax only. I can believe myself. Beside it takes more time than ironing.