FKS BENDING

no_steeze

no_steeze

Active member
decided i would combine these threads, the one from tgr and invader 7's thread to make a mega fks bending thread. all credit goes to them, all i did was copy and paste. okay, the only way to make my life easy is for you to click on the pictures, they will show up as not found but if you simply click, it saves me having to upload them to ns

What you'll need:Look P18's or Rossi FKS185's; a Posi-drive screw driver; a large bladed flat screw driver; an old skipole, bike seat, or pipe; a metric ruler; and a vise.
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First step is to remove thesemi-circle piece on the top of the bindings behind the brake pad. Shownhere:
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Second step is to turn thebinding over and use your screw driver to bend the small metal tab at the frontof the binding up and out of the way. Don't go over board here because you'llneed to bend it back when everything gets put back together.
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Once that is done, insert theblade of the screw driver beneath the metal plate at the back of the binding.Do not torque it upwards as that will break a small plastic tab that isimportant to holding the binding heel together. Simply slide the screw drivertowards the front of the binding and the metal plate should pop off.
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With the metal plate off, youcan begin taking apart the binding.

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Remove the brakespring, the brake, and finally take apart the turntable assembly.
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Now you can begin bending.Place the brake into your vise and using your ski pole bend the brakestraight.
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Once both arms of the brakeare straight measure the new width you want for your brakes. I'm bendinghere for ~100mm, so I measure from the center line of the brake 45mm toeach side and mark with a paint pen.
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The reason you measure 5mmshort of your ultimate width is due to the radius of the bend which is approximately5mm. Shown here:

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Reassemble the turntable andinsert your new wide brake.
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Place the spring into thebottom of the heel assembly with the looped end up near the brake pad.Pushing the two open ends of the spring and hooking them into the front of theturntable will make reassembly a little easier. Another trick is to use a viseand squish the spring to make it easier to work with (be careful doing this asa loaded spring will mess you up if it ejects from the vise).
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Now it gets hard. You need toslide the metal plate back onto the heel. Before doing this make sure it'sbasically flat and not all torqued out-of-shape from when you removed it. Thereare four points of contact. One at the back of the binding, two in the middle,and one at the front (the metal tab you bent at the start of the process). Allthese must be aligned for it to reassemble properly. Take your time doing this.Don't hurt yourself and don't destroy your bindings.
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Once you get the metal plateto slide back on, bend the metal tab back into place and make sure the openends of thebrake spring are seated in the proper position. Replace thesemi-circle piece and screw the heel screws back in. You're done.
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So that was the TGR one, full credit given to slim on TGR

here's invader 7's approach:

heres what you need to do first.



Leave all the screws in until later. You need to do this first.

1. Number 1 is showing the first tab. If you look where its circled, it sort of bends down to hook into the frame. You will need to stick a flat head screw driver in where the "X" is. You will only insert the screwdriver a centimeter at most, and pry it up only a little. It wont break, but be gentle. You should see the area that I circled isnt hooked on anymore.

Now, remove all 4 screws.

2. Number 2 in the picture is showing the second and third tab. Dont worry about these, you dont need to do anything to them, but it will come into play later.

3. Number 3 is showing the third and 4th tabs. The 4th tab is the last one you will need to worry about. Where you see the "X", you will need to pop the metal baseplate over this tab. This is where you move to number 4.

4. Take a long, flat head screw driver, and stick it under the metal baseplate the way the arrow is pointing in number 4. your going to push forward lightly, and this is going to make the metal baseplate pop off. Cover the binding with a blanket or a pillow, because its gonna go flying, as there is a spring under it. Its best to have a second pair of hands for this part, someone to hold the binding as you pop it off. Dont force it, you could warp the baseplate. Once this is off, you can remove the brakes. Ill get more pics from you then.

Also, once you have them taken apart, be careful with them. They are pretty fickle when not mounted, so just set them somewhere safe until your done bending.

Take your time! Its not hard at all, but very time consuming. You just need to be patient.

once youve made it that far its time for the actual bending.

javascript:ViewImage('http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/7661/fksbend1au6.jpg');

I Was bending for 86mm waist.
Put the part of the brake (just the metal tubing) into a vice. the heelpad you step on will swivel out of the way. Ive made a box around the area you want in the vice. Tighten the vice ALOT.

Next, the part that is circled, your going to want to use a broken ski pole or a seatpost to put over it, and use that as leverage to bend the brake arm straight out, like you see as a dashed line.

next, measure out 86mm by dividing it by 1/2, then minus 5mm from that. That is how far your going to need to bend each brake out from the centre. So, from in the middle of the space between the brakes, you will bend them 38mm from there. simply re-bend them using your broken ski pole or seat post to a similar angle they already are

After there bent to the desired witdth to put them back together
2 sets of hands are best. Put the brake back in, and get the baseplate back on, it might be warped so make sure its perfectly flat.

Once the baseplate is back on, use some vicegrips to squish the spring and a screwdriver to cram it back into the binding between the brake arms.

Once again, credit to lyndon. im just passing along the information.
 
yeah so no credit to me here
also with the pictures, i'm sorry, just click on them and you have them, it's too much of a bitch for me to upload them all to ns, they work you just have to click
 
also, i've found the best way for getting the spring back in is to reassemble the whole binding aside from the spring and semi circular plate and then take a flathead and position the spring where it seems like it would need to go and just tap the top of the flathead with a rubber mallet or hammer until the spring shoots into place. do it side by side, so tap the left side until one of the arms of the spring tucks under the plastic and then tap the right side, take your time, and you don't have to hit it hard at all, just a series of small gentle taps and it will be fine. once it snaps into place, have someone else hold the brake arms in so you can stick the semi circle plate on and once it's screwed in, they can let go, you can also do this yourself but it makes it way easier to have someone else do it
 
i can do it pretty much first try using the ski pole i use to bend the brakes. its the same process that you do but instead of taking a flat head and doing it side by side i put the pole on the spring(mine just fits around both ends, might be different for you) and 2 or three hits and it goes straight in.
 
yeah i use a bike seatpost so it's too big for that method, i'm planning on cutting down an old pole though
 
well, im probably going to be bending some fks brakes pretty soon and it would be really helpful if someone made a video of themselves bending the brakes and posted it in here. if one isnt made, i will try to make a video of my attempt and then talk about where i experienced troubles and how i think it could be fixed or any other things i can think of
 
also, just to point out, you need a pretty heavy duty vice for this, i bought a shitty clamp vice and it does not do the trick, you need a big ass one that's bolted in a table or something and has narrow arms to be able to hold the brake right
 
Regarding the tools, if you are going out to buy them - remember to get a #3 Pozidrive..they come in different sizes, generally binding screws are designed for the #3. That particular size can be quite hard to come by as well (well where i'm from anyway)
 
also, yet another tip, the vice needs to be really, really, really tight, use your seatpost or ski pole to really crank the vice down, otherwise the brake will slide around and pop out of the vice and most likely break
 
this thread made me happy. i just bought a pair of fks on a retro pair of dynastars in my stores annual consignment sale and ill need to bend the brakes. now i dont have to search for the thread on how to do it.

quick question tho, how wide can you go? im thinking about putting them on make bacons...
 
bacons are no problem, you can even do bacons where you bend the brakes out about 45 degrees and then down. try to avoid going out the full 90 when you can, the brakes are more likely to break that way. i've seen them bent to like 135 and just as long as there's enough to hold the ski you can go as fat as you want
take your time, be patient and gentle, and don't hurt yourself
 
you need to take the brake out and put it in a vice to bend it. if you use the marshal method of just bending them while they're on the ski you'll rip the brake arm out of the metal housing and have to unmount your skis in order to get it back in, i've done it, don't try. the only good way to bend fks is to take them apart and put the brake in a vice
 
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