Official Ski/Binding Maintenance Thread

well today i made some progress, first off i'm just gonna say it is not as easy as it looks in aoe's video haha, it takes a lot of trial and error and jesters are especially easy bindings to do this with
i got some plexi sheets and marked the holes on them, then i clamped the toepiece on the plexi and drilled the first hole. my plan was to screw in each binding screw as i drilled so once i had 2 screws in i would no longer need to clamp it down and the holes would be very accurate. screwed the first screw in and it felt tight but i went slow, next screw put a massive crack through the plexi
i was using a 4,3 bit, it was too small, i'm gonna try a 4,7 next timei was able to salvage the plexi but now i don't have any room for error
so on the new plexi i have the holes marked and the midsole line for the jig, my dilemma now is that the fks heelpiece won't clamp to the the jig without shooting out and sliding everywhere so i need a way to drill those holes without just winging it because pen marks aren't accurate enough. i'm stumped
 
Lol, I never said it was easy! Glad you're making progress tho.

Yeah the larger drill bit is pretty esential for drilling the jig otherwise it will crack. Just be sure you remember to go back to a 3.5mm ish bit for the skis.

As for the heal piece, thats's one of the most crucial steps. You really need to clamp it to the jig to at least dot a market. Remember though, measure the distance between the rear holes and go half that amount from the center line. then just line it up through the heel piece holes. Anyway, you've seen the vid, i'm sure you'll find a way haha.
 
just finished the plexiglass jig, flawless, this was my 3rd piece of plexi, so that means i broke 2 pieces trying to make the jig
first piece of advice...buy a lot of plexiglass
next piece of advice...tape the plexiglass where you're drilling, it lowers the chances of cracking
final piece for the jig...when you're drilling, drill in very short easy bursts and don't rush anything, just be incredibly slow and careful
 
here're some pics of progress so far, sorry for shitty pics, my basement has terrible lighting
plexiglass jig
_MG_4265.jpg

jig top view, shows heel pattern
_MG_4269.jpg

jig side view clamped to skis
_MG_4264.jpg

the whole setup including most of the tools
_MG_4263.jpg
 
i mounted the toepiece on my delamed bacon and everything was even and measured right, i get my 4.1mm bit tomorrow so i should be making the final holes tomorrow afternoon
 
Good job, glad it worked out. The method is sound it just takes some skill and a lot of patience. Nice pics too
 
word skill and patience are a big part of it, not claiming but this definitely takes a good amount of shop skill and you need the exact tools, digital calipers especially
also just a tip, measure the distances from each of the holes to the edge of your ski and write them down so you can have them exactly the same on your 2nd ski
 
Do you guys store your skis with the binding open or closed, or does it not matter. I've heard that it does, and it's sad that I have to think about storing my skis anyway.
 
Whichever really, i'm trying to figure out whether it's better to store your skis with the bindings closed, whether it be from just pulling the heel up (no boot) or putting your boot in and leaving i there or just leaving them open all summer. Runonsentencesrule.
 
wouldn't be smart to leave the boot in because it puts tension on the binding the whole summer and eventually weakens the spring i think, as for popping it closed i could see it putting less tension on them but i haven't heard of people doing this so i'm not sure
 
i dont see that being a good thing. with the boot in, as alex said, it would put preasure on the spring. but with it just clicked up, wouldnt it put breasure on the heel piece spring? i wouldnt do it. ive never heard of anyone doing it, and i just asked my race coach and he said he wouldnt
 
back when i used to race i was told the longer the wax stayed on the bases the better so the wax would have longer to set. does this hurt the base in anyway or what? and why is scrapeing right after you wax beneficial? (totally butchered beneficial i think)
 
the only time you should scrape right after waxing is if you are cleaning your bases. other then that, always let your skis sit for at least an hour in doors. and ya the longer the wax xits the better it is absorbed
 
with the amount of threads i see on what waxing tools should i buy, i figured i would just post a list of imo the best. from irons to brushes to wax

Iron: for an iron, as i said in my video in the OP, dont buy the $5 iron from goodwill. you want a good iron that will have a good heating range(100º-150ºC). as you saw in my video i use a swix, swix is well know as "the best" when it comes to tuning, but for park/pow skis, i find that a toko iron is better. they are wider then swix so they take less passes on fat skis. i recommend the T8 800W CH seen here

http://www.toko.ch/en/productDetail/5547180_v/T8+800W+CH.html

Brushes: there are 2 types of brushes, hand and roto. hand brushes are the most common. you are going to want a blue nylon to use first, then a white nylon. i swear by swix for brushes. you will see rectangular and oval brushes, this is just preference, i find the rectangular give a better grip. these are the 2 brushes you will want

http://www.swixsport.com/eway/default.aspx?pid=278&trg=MainPage_6117&MainContent_6179=6117:0:24,2742&MainPage_6117=6138:39847::0:6118:4:::0:0

http://www.swixsport.com/eway/default.aspx?pid=278&trg=MainPage_6117&MainContent_6179=6117:0:24,2742&MainPage_6117=6138:39853::0:6144:15:::0:0

you may also want a bronze brush for cleaning, as they pull out the most wax from your bases. Roto brushes are a brush that is fitted on a mount that is put onto a drill, these are a great tool when you need to wax quickly, but most real waxers tend to stay away from them as you cant get as good of pressure with them. here is the swix list of roto tools

http://www.swixsport.com/eway/default.aspx?pid=278&trg=MainContent_6179&MainContent_6179=6117:0:24,3118&MainPage_6117=6138:39853::0:6144:15:::0:0

Wax: for wax, there is only 1 brand i trust. SWIX! for most of you, you will only need to stick with the ch waxes. but if you are racing or want extra speed in comps, think about using an LF wax. and if any of you feel the need to spend $100+ on a bar of HF, for the love of god, if you like your skis, DO NOT DRIP IT ON TO YOUR BASES, touch the par the your iron away from you skis and rub the hot end on your bases. the high floral count will destroy your bases. and after using HF you NEED to clean your bases. but for most of you who will be in comps, just toss a can of F4 into your pocket and rub it on before your run and use a waxing cork to rub that in. please see my video for the explanation of the different colors of wax

if you have any questions ever fell free to pm me, im here to help.
 
that was my first iron i used for 2 seasons when i first started tuning years ago, yes, its a good iron for a good price!
 
i have a question about bending brakes on my STH16.

the brakes on my STH16 are 110mm and i need them to fit my 115mm waist on my bacons

do you bend the brakes the same way as in the OP video?

do i need to bend them all the way straight then back down? or can i get away with just angeling them a little?
 
salomon brakes actually tend to run a little wider so they should fit no problem, if not, put them in a vice and just tweak them out ever so slightly, you don't need to bend up and then down again, you just need to tweak them out
 
thanks just what i needed to know and unfortunantly they dont fit around my bacons so looks like just a little tweak should do it
 
you may also need tome heat to tweak them, solly breaks are pretty sturdy. just old a lighter at the bend for a min or so
 
they're tough but super thick so the metal won't break easily, i've found i've never had to use heat for all different types of brake bending
i've bent sollys from 90 to 125 and they're damn bitchy but they're sturdy. for what he's doing he just needs a vice and a pipe and he needs to tweak them the slightest amount
 
well might try a little heat to make it easier and it wont hurt at all unless i touch it haha but ill try it without first

thanks guys would give karma but already 10/10 so......
 
Do you get plugs at a hardware store or like a ski shop? Sorry but I have a slight case of the downs about ski maintenance
 
if not then buy them online, i know tognar sells themand wood glue is fine for them, just something to keep the water output the plugs on, hammer them in with a rubber mallet, chop the tops off with a chisel, and then sand them down and wipe off the excess glue
 
I just bought some armadas with the race bases. How am I supposed to maintain them. Somebody told me to put a base layer of wax on now to soak into the sintered bases, and put other waxes on later. What type of wax should I use?
 
Use a basic all temp wax and use it often. Dakine makes really good all temp wax, and dominator makes a big box of stuff called Zoom which is perfect everyday wax and you can get it with or without graphite depending on where you ski. Dont bother with expensive waxes or brands like swix, holmenkol, or toko unless you really want to be temperature specific and spend more money.

For those bases, and waxing often, id suggest

(all temp box)

http://dakine.com/ski/accessories/wax/nitrous-cake-wax-large/

and/or

(basic zoom or graphite zoom)

http://www.dominatorwax.com/newzoom.html
 
Its mainly used for black bases,which are said to be faster than normal bases because they have a higher graphite content in them. Graphite helps more in wet snow cases to repel suction, and aids in repelling static cling in dry snow conditions. Graphite Zoom in the link i posted is essentially a high quality, basic hydrocarbon all temp wax, but with graphite additive to help restore and condition a black base. You can use it on any bases and it will do the same thing, but its original purpose was to keep black bases conditioned with graphite which a normal wax cant.
 
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