Official Ski/Binding Maintenance Thread

I have them beveled at 1degree base 3 edge. Would that change it?

I don't think I'll get a grind if I would have to re do the edges.

My other question still stands, any way to structure wothou a grind?
 
A brass brush will give you some structure... depends what you're after though. You really need a base grind to get that proper vinyl-record type base that's good in really wet snow, but a good solid brushing should give you enough for good glide in drier snow.
 
so what do you all use to cut the bevel edge? I use this thing:

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...and it takes nothing off. Is it because I need to take off a layer of base?
 
do you gummi stone your entire edge or just the part you want to be dulled? for example, if you use some park and some all-mountain, would you want to gummi stone the whole thing?
 
just finished mounting my bindings by myself. and it can be a pain in the ass!

i first measured wrong and the toe piece was off alignment, then i completely re-did it, and the track didnt have room for adjustment, then i had to redo it one more time and finally got it right. then i had to drill holes 3 times over because of bit issues. i did the first shot w/ a 3.5mm going 9mm deep, and i couldn't get the screws all the way in, then i made it 11mm long, and it was too narrow. finally i used a 5/32 bit at 11mm deep and got them in. i used 24hr. marine grade epoxy, so they should hold strong as hell too! thanks to the poster of the vid!

heres a pic:

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I just mounted up my one lifes with a pair of px 15's. Absolutely no issues at all. I thought it was super easy, wasn't concerned or nervous at all. The hardest part was cutting golf tees to put in the old holes.
 
so just bought a pair of domains, they've got factory wax on em. Is there anything else I could use to prepare my bases than yellow svix wax? If I understood well the best thing to do would be a couple of hot scrapings and then normal waxing?
 
Depends who you talk to and what your local snow is like... factory wax is OK for a day or so but mostly just to keep the bases and edges nice while the ski is in the shop.

I'd do a normal hot wax and just use a bit more than usual to make sure you really saturate the bases. Then scrape. Heaps. It's not like they're race skis, if the wax job is a bit shitty it's not going to ruin your day.
 
This is not important, just a question to all you guys out there who have mounted Pivot/FKS bindings with a jig..plus a short summary of my thoughts..

Yesterday I mounted my new Moment Bibby Pro's (190) with a pair of Look Pivot 18's. [the stoke is high] At first I wanted to mount them straight on the line..but I also want to get a pair of Atomic Tracker tour bindings next year.. So I decided to put my bindings on inserts so next year I can swap between my Pivots and tour bindings..and use the last also on other skis.. But what to do with the mounting point? Do I want my tour bindings a full cm (or more) back from the sweetspot? Not really, but do I want to mount my Pivots in front of the sweetspot? Feels odd..but since the line is -6 because of the rocker,camber,sidecut etc, half a cm in front of the line would be -0.5cm behind the center of the camber, I measured this out..and thougth that would be fine and fun.. But than I thought NO! Just go with the line! So yesterday I decided to mount them on the line, and mount some tourbindings a cm back next year. So I went to my shop where I can use their tools to mount my skis. (I've mounted bindings a couple of times, even some at home without a jig)

Took all the time I wanted, got the jig set up for my shoe size, lined the jig up on the ski and measured and looked 500 times if it was right before I drilled the holes. There is a pretty clear mark on the jig to pin point the line..as you might know..

So after checking etc etc I drilled, get the dust out, glue in the holes, screws in etc.. Same thing with the other ski, everything went well and they match up perfectly, to the mm, so I was really happy about that.. Moment puts nice mounting marks on the sidewall that is 100% correct so that helped quite a bit (topsheet is off maybe 1.5mm?)

Now here is the thing.. I just put my boots in the bindings just for fun and looked at the mark on the bottom of the boots, this should be right above the line where you wanted them to be mounted..but its not, its just a few mm in front of the line, I didnt measure it, but maybe half a cm..

Now I didnt freak out or anything, but I just dont get it.. What went wrong? I measured and looked, wel not 500 times, but a lot and really took my time placing the jig..

Or is it a touch of God? Does he know my first choise was the better one and made it happen?

Did this happen to anyone else? The only thing I can thing of is that there is something with the jig..or that the line on my boots is off..

Long story short/question:

Did anyone ever had any problems mounting Pivot/FKS bindings with a jig; mount went forward half a cm, jig didnt move, tripple checked everything etc..

Now for some stoke pictures:

qzgpon.jpg
 
Check your forward pressure - have you set up those bindings before?

If you have WAY too much forward pressure on the 18 DIN ones, when you clip the boot in the toe piece will tilt forwards (there's the vertical release people say doesn't exist....)
 
Yes I have, several pairs.. The forward pressure is correct at both skis.. I know what you mean though, but thats not it this time..

Again, its not really a problem, I just like to know before I mount more skis in the future..
 
You need to set the FKS jig 5mm smaller than your boot when mounting if you want it all to work out perfectly. Read the Rossi manual.
 
most skis come with shipping wax. You should always do a few layers of hot wax before bringing them out onto the hill though. The wax that comes on the skis is just there to drive out moisture and dirt in the shipping process.
 
anyone have tips on keeping your brakes out of the way when you are waxing/ scraping your skis down, and i dont want to invest in 100$ clamps or anything I just use a workbench with a wall to push against, thanks
 
Rings of inner-tube. You just have to find the right tube for the size of your brakes. I.e. you may need a thin ring of motorcycle tube to get around your pow fatties but a piece of decent downhill mountainbike tube should work for most skis.
 
as long as you can find brakes that fit or bend brakes to make them fit, yes you can mount any binding ...

 
This, with the caveat that some (particularly carving skis) have bindings that only fit into a bespoke rail system that is built into the ski.
 
What do you need for basic edge sharpening? I'm going to killington this weekend and am probably not gonna be riding with kids who do park, so it would be nice to have some edge grip.

All I can think of is one of these holder/guide things and the file, then I'd just gummy stone the underfoot area down when I need to. And of course I'd gummy stone before sharpening to get rid of al the rail damage.

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Does having sharp tips and tails with dull underfoot actually grip and not ski funny?
 
I think it will ski rather oddly indeed. Traditionally you tune a ski and then de-tune the tip and tail with a gummy stone to prevent hooking. You could, I guess, go for a bit of a hybrid tune... tune the whole ski, detune only directly under the boot for sliding rails, then detune the tip and tail for maybe 10-12"... which will leave you maybe 3' total of sharp edge, basically 18" in front of and behind the binding.
 
Ah never though of it being hooky. Maybe I'll just tune the whole thing, then detune the whole thing after this weekend.
 
It's wax that's designed to be applied quickly and without heat... you literally just rub the wax into the base. It's not as effective as a hot wax and doesn't last as long, but if it's a spring afternoon and you keep knuckling that 50fter because the in-run is getting sticky it can be a really good quick fix. Likewise if you've just got some fresh snow and it feels like the cat-track is made of carpet because you haven't waxed for a couple of weeks.
 
probably already been answered somewhere in this thread, but is it bad to remount your skis with a new pair of bindings in the same place as the first bindings?
 
Depends... if they have the same mounting pattern, and you're careful, no problem at all.

If they have a different mounting pattern, you ideally need to have 10mm between the old holes and the new ones. The old ones should be filled with epoxy or properly plugged. If you can't get 10mm you considerably increase the chances of the binding pulling out, and you might be better off changing the mounting position 5-10mm in either direction to get better placement.
 
any one know how much to spend for a good vice? should i get a ski vice (swix or other ski brands) or can i go to my local department store and get one there? +k for responses!
 
you can make/buy/ghetto rig a vice for really cheap/free

If you are going to be tuning a lot, a legit vice will be a super nice investment, and they last forever
 
it doesnt really matter, I have nice fancy swix vises in my basement. but at the shop I work at we drilled wood into the benches and use them. we do tons of skis and they work fine.
 
Right now I'm up in the air between which bindings I should get for the season. I think it's really going to come down to a maintenance perspective as I will be mounting whichever binding I choose on several skis with several different waist sizes with binding freedom inserts. The bindings will be swapped several times ski to ski.

I've boiled down my search to the Salomon STH12 Driver and the Look Pivot 14. Can anyone give me some insight as to how easy one or the other, or both bindings were to swap between skis? And if you could also give me a general idea of how easy/hard the Pivot 14 is to mount in comparison to the STH12 (Which I currently own now) Thanks!

 
If i were you i would go with the sth12's for sure. If you plan on switching them on different skis with different waist widths and a brake change is needed the sth's will be much easier. In order to change the brakes on pivots you need to take the whole heel piece apart and reassemble it again with a new brake. with sth's its just one screw and you can swop them out.
 
Yeah. I've lucked out and havent had to replace my STH12 brakes yet, but they've been in the vice several times and on and off the ski lots. How available are new brakes from Salomon? I will definatley have to pick up some pivot 14's some time though. I don't want to miss out on something that I might really like :D
 
Please Help-

A couple of years ago was my first year skiing and I did not know much about tuning. So I used a file rather than a gummy stone to dull my edges underfoot. I think a dulled them more than would be recommended. Could I fix this if I just sharpened them with a file and bevel guide and then detuned them properly with the gummy stone?

Thanks
 
Depends how crazy you got on them in the first place - it might be worth taking them to a shop and getting the base and side edge angle properly done.
 
Deburr them just about every day if you're hitting a lot of rails. Those little burrs getting caught on the rail is what makes your edge rip out rather than just cracking all over the place.
 
just back from my skishop, my own tech wasn't there (sunday) so i mounted my salomon sth drivers myself, little problem though, on one ski i wanted to mount at -2 but somehow i flipped my ski the wrong way and drilled 9 holes at +2 :/

i filled the holes with wood glue and hammered in plastic plugs, then trimmed them to size with a sharp chisel and drilled 9 new holes at -2.

distance between closest holes is at the toepiece where 2 holes come within a cm of the new one, so normally i'd say this is no problem and the ski is still as good as new but i wanted some feedback from you guys ...

so sparknotes, 2 sets of holes in one ski, 1 set of holes filled with woodglue and plastic plugs, come within 1 cm of the new ones (closest)

the ski is reinforced with a metal mounting plate inside so i was wondering if i'm good to go ?
 
you should be fine, I remount skis at 1cm apart all the time. it is considered the minimum but I havent had any problems in my personal gear or stuff I have done for people.

 
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