Re mounting skis yourself?

soup

soup

Active member
before you go "never do it yourself" and all that bogus shit I just want to say this:

I have searched the internet and newschoolers extensively before making this thread.

I am very curious to see how you mount a ski.

Its more of a learning experience than anything Im just tired of shops fucking up mounting my skis.

Only be using the skis for like a day or two early season and jib missions.

the ski is complete shit so if I fuck up its no loss.

Just want a simple fix to a mounting job gone wrong that I never fixed for two seasons.

so after saying that I am interested in how you go about mounting a ski. as far as I can tell it wont be too hard its just the depth of the holes, where the holes go, and getting the right fit that I am concerned about. I know that shops use a jig? but am not completely sure what this is.

I am an experienced skier so any tech lingo you throw down I should be able to figure out. This is more of a test than a permanent fix I am not using these skis for this season.

So what I am working with here. I have a pair of salomon spk, from about 3-4 seasons back (whenever ski porn came out). the bindings on them are rossignol scratch 140. I do not have a jig though I know it is not completely nesecary when mounting becuase my ep pros were not mounted with a jig but a hand drawn jig I think? I have drills and drill bits and all that so any tools I should have.

anyone with knowledge on the subject please post in this thread and I may be pming you for some tips and shit. also there may be a web page I overlooked with a step by step thing on how to do it and if someone posts it itd be sick.

thanks a lot hope this thread goes far.

 
Usually the Jig will help you find where to drill the holes with the right ski boot lenght and it will make sure that your holes are all aligned on the ski. What you need to do is drill holes that are slightly smaller than the screws from the bindings.

After, you need to fill up the holes with glue to prevent water from enterring the core of the ski and it ads strenght to the bindgins at the same time.

Then you just screw the bindings directly on the ski.

That's the jist of it....
 
that really is it eh.

k some specific questions then i think it was a little too broad.

1. how deep into the skis should I be drilling or is that dependant on the length of the screws?

2. when marking where I want to mount, do I use the centre mark on the boot or line up the bindings as well?

3. which piece should I mount first the toe or heel piece?

that should be all I need. just remember I am compitent when it comes to building and using power tools and things so im not really going at this like im a stupid white suburban kid using his daddy's power tools for the first time I know my shit.

 
The reason a jig helps is that it makes sure you drill the holes in the right place, centered, vertical, and to the right depth. You use it along with a drill bit with a collar that hits the jig to make the correct depth. Your best bet is finding the pattern to your bindings online, and printing out a paper jig. This will give you the right pattern(verify it with your binging holes), but then it is up to you to get it centered, drill the right depth, and drill vertically. Really though, it's not that hard. Measure to get the jig in the right place, and tape it down. Then you can tape a bunch of layers around the drill bit you are going to use to make a collar on it so you drill the correct depth. You can find this by looking at your screws/bindings. Then finally add some wood glue to the holes and screw in the screws, just make sure not to overtighten them and strip the holes.

Basically just take your time, and you should be fine. You sound like you're relatively competant, and you are just doing your crap skis, so I think it would be a good expierence.
 
thanks man that helped a lot. I was also thinking going back to what I learned in kindergarten and just taking crayon to paper and rubbing it on like I used to do with leaves and shit. thanks a lot man totally confident in doing this now.
 
O I totally forgot, do you have an old ski that the bindings came off? If you have had your same boots, and the bindings were on a ski, you can use those holes to make your own template. Then transfer it onto the new ski
 
thats what I did. I have an old pair of kastle racing skis that I made jigs out of for Vist, as well as a Rossi-Look. Then I just stole a drill bit from my shop at work that I can drill with haha.
 
yea went into a shop today to see what a a jig looks like and how it works and shit. the guy gave me a great idea where you just simply take a piece of paper, put it over the old holes, poke them through with a pencil, and voila a homemade jig.
 
What i did was hit craigslist up for some 20 dollar skis, then just picked up some old binding out of the closet, pretty sure it was Salomon C609 or some shit, old and crappy, then just printed off the jig patters and practiced mounting those old bindings before attempting new ones. If you cool with some people at a shop they should be able to at least tell you if you did it right, take them in and have them look real quick. If your real cool you can get the jigs for the night or just hop behind the counter and do it yourself with their shit. After mounting the crappy stuff twice i mounted my own at the shop in town and my boy just watched over my shoulder. It really wasnt hard at all. Everythings pretty much layed out for you with all the jigs, and din charts, and stuff. Id go for it, Good luck dude!

Steve
 
although i do not condone mounting skis without a jig, heres what i would do:
first, mark where you want to mount on the ski. this line should be aligned with mid boot mark once mounted. Next you need to mark the center line on the ski (width wise) using a caliper and masking tape.
You will need to know how far apart to mount your bindings for your bsl. you can get this by measuring the hole pattern on another pair of skis mounted with the same binding, for the same bsl (measure from the outside of the back toe hole to the edge of the front heel hole) or off of a jig at your shop (set to your bsl in the same fashion, just be sure to use the right hole pattern).
Next, get the measurements for your toe and heel pattern directly off the bindings and line everything up on the ski. Use a center punch to mark where you are drilling the holes, then measure the indents to make sure your measurements are correct.
Use a drill bit with a 3.5-3.6mm diameter. you only want to drill between 9-9.5mm deep, so mark your bit with tape so you dont drill to deep. This is an industry standard (minus a few exceptions like volant). Be sure to drill straight up and down, otherwise your bindings will end up off-center. Also, be VERY careful, salomon uses a foam core in the spk which is very easy to drill. let the drill do the work, it will take a second to get through the topsheet, but the core will go quickly. after drilling, flip the skis base up and hit the base with your hand to remove drillings from the holes.
Pull off all the tape and add a LITTLE wood glue to each hole (only enough to lubricate the screw, too much glue can cause your bases to dimple). Screw your bindings down by HAND, i cant stress this enough. Its best to use a #3 pozidrive, but a #3 philips will do just fine. On these bindings, it doesnt matter whether you screw the heel or toe down first. Screw down evenly in a cris-cross pattern. Use the sensitive touch of your hand to determine when the screws are tight (again, because of the foam core, its really easy to strip screws).
Step back and admire your work. Measure the outside of your bindings to see if you centered them correctly. put your boot in and make sure your center line aligns with your mount line. Set your forward pressure and din and your ready to go.

Also, if your skis already have drill holes in them, they need to be plugged. Some people like to use golf tees, but i prefer plastic plugs (your local shop should be able to spare a few). use plenty of glue and a rubber mallet to hammer them into the old holes. use a chisel or surform tool to clean off any excess.
 
Its a lot easier than you think it is, once youve got them all squared up and what not.

The past couple of years my dad mounted mine, and he dosent know the right way really he just gaver. Seemed to work good
 
so all in all it was super easy to mount my skis. the best part was that they were already mounted before for the same boot so it was just a matter of where to mount them.

I made a jig by taping two pieces of paper together, then wrapping it around the ski. then just poked holes through it where the old holes were and moved it back. it was simple.

I may have fucked up screwing them in though there was a lot of screwing in, taking it back out kinda things going on but im pretty confident itll last the two days that I will use it. forgot to glue some of the holes too. and also may have over tourqued the screws in some places a bit much but fuck it they'll be aight.

I think that without those holes though it would have been a fucking pain and would probably not have done it. but to anyone looking to mount their skis just read what skisquaw_420 or whatever his name is wrote and you'll be golden.

 
yo good thread mad karma to skisquaw and the others who posted help. this is good because the shop i got my bindings mounted at put them at like the farthest back setting possible and it's annoying as hell.
 
it should also be noted that when remounting an old pair of bindings, it is a VERY good idea to have the bindings tested out by a shop to make sure they still release properly. it is amazing how fast a good binding can go bad.
 
well i was going to add advice but it seems that you've already done it...good for you. you learn as you go, and better to learn on a shitty pair then ur brand new ones. gets easier as you go...

and k-rob, you shoulda told the shop specifically where you wanted them mounted, and made sure that they wrote the info down. shops will mount skis at the company's recommended spot unless you say differently. if you did tell them and you have a copy of something that's got it written down or w/e and they still did it wrong, well then you should do something about it.
 
i told them where i wanted it when i handed it to them, but it wasn't in writing so there wasn't really much i could do about it...never again haha
 
I'm gonna bump this, i'm interested in mounting some fks or pivots on a pair of shitty urbans just to avoid a trip to my shop and i'd also really like to know how to do it
say i have access to an fks jig and width isn't an issue...how would i go about doing this?i have a lot of tools and i would consider myself quite mechanically adept. i know how to put the bindings in and everything but it's the drilling process and what bits to use etc
i would be drilling into either a bluehouse mr or armada ar6, neither of which have metal in them to my knowledge, so i would be using a 3.5mm by 9.5 mm bit correct? i was thinking about getting a bit here http://www.slidewright.com/proddetail.php?prod=SVSDone question is that if the jig has a stop for the bit and is raised off the ski a bit, will the drill bit not go deep enough if i buy one of the ones listed above?
so from what i've seen techs do at my shop, the way i would approach this would be1. draw line on ski2. setup jig lined up for my bsl3. drill using a stop, just drill straight down and back out4. knock out core materials from the hole5. throw a little epoxy or wood glue in6. put the bindings in
so is it that simple? would someone with expertise on this weigh in with a nice and detailed description of how to do this with a jig and steps to take?thanks
 
o and fwiw i have a destroyed bacon lying around that i can practice on, so don't tell me i'm gonna ruin my skis
 
Yeah, I also posted the vid in the binding/ski maintenance stickied thread. Any other specific questions you can pm me.
 
Another good tip for making a collar is instead of using tape, just take a ballpoint pen and cut it to the length of the drill bit that should be covered, that way you have no worries of drilling deeper than neccesary.
 
TGR has a ton of threads on this. They even have cutouts for specific bindings and what not to help you get the alignment correct. I would head over there and do some searching.
 
look on wildsnow.com or tgr for paper jigs and instructions for different bindings, It makes life so much easier and ensure you do the right thing casue some specific bindings have different things you have to do (I just mounted some dynafits and that was a bitch haha)
 
step 1 clean bong

step 2 put fresh water in the bong

fresh herb in the bowl

ignite herbs with appropriate fire producin tool

/images/flash_video_placeholder.png

repeat till safe

find skis to be mounted

base side down

DUDE I FORGOT GIVE MW A MOMENT

 
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