PSA: Mount your own fucking skis.

[stec06]

Started prepping the wife's skis... first time doing an alpine mount, but it seems pretty easy once you find the centerline (also messing around with a cheap pair of O1s).

[singlecross]

Installing inserts freehand with a cordless drill always keeps me honest.

[Pinned]

Ghost Chants (posted above with shitty mount job) got all the holes plugged and filled with epoxy. Cured overnight and ground everything flat. Need to re-drill the heels / toes still.

Picked up those Commander 98s from iriponsnow - drilled and tapped the heel holes for inserts, plugged the old toe holes and re-drilled for my BSL with inserts.

Wildcats also got re-drilled with inserts. Still waiting on a few screws from Binding Freedom to get the bindings on.

Thanks to everyone in this thread who has contributed tons of good info - it's helped me get my whole quiver mounted up myself.

[stec06]

'bout to mount these up:

[XXX-er]

In case the toes are an off shape make sure the heels land dead center on the ski top, and check with a couple of different boots,

I did that by mounting/ pivoting around 1 screw instead of drilling all the holes at once and then having the heel be off to the sides

[2FUNKY]

'bout to mount these up:

Nice. Loved my Goliaths. Such a killer ski.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

So I'm installing some Warden 13's and these little raised platforms (circled) have me confused. They look like they're attached to the base plates? Do they break off when tightening the screws which allows the base plate to sit against the top sheet?

I'm not finding any info in Solomon tech documents. Should I stop installing bindings and just drink beer?

[gregorys]

I'm not sure if those are demo bindings or not - but in any case those same pads/posts are on the demo heel. I've mounted several pairs. They appear to allow fore-aft movement - perhaps to account for ski flex? I dunno.

Just screw them down.
They work fine.
(Though I don't recall them sticking out as far as the ones you show, but it's also been a long time since I last mounted some Wardens - so perhaps I just don't remember well.)

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Regular bindings. I just dug out some Warden demos, and they have the same plastic piece but it's loose. I'm thinking the little platforms break loose when torqued down.

[waxoff]

Yep, you'll hear them snap as you tighten the screws.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Sweet!

[Toddball]

Swiss-cheesed my own gosh-darned skis this weekend. Can confirm that Salomon/Atomic MTN bindings play well with the 22 Designs hole pattern. The toe pin location relative to the mount pattern is the same between the MTN and the Lynx, to within a few millimeters.

[Bobcat Sig]

BRING IT!!

[Spyderjon]

Hope you treat your skis better than your granite plate

[HAB]

Last mount of the pre-season for me (I think). Unless I impulse buy something else.

[Doremite]

'bout to mount these up:

Awesome.

[dschane]

Damn, telemarking must be growing. Sweet Lynx (best binding evah) and nice work on the inserts.

[FlimFlamvanHam]

Quoting myself here - same skis but new questions. Pulled the toe off to plug the holes and re-mount it back 2cm and found that one ski seemed to be mounted OK, one mounted absolutely abhorrently. I am surprised the toe didn't rip out...which I guess confirms that these probably only had 1 day on them like the seller claimed. No epoxy or wood glue in anything.

I want to pull the heels off to check that the mounts for those aren't somehow screwed up also - safe to remount into the same holes there?

For the toe that's OK I went ahead and plugged the holes with plastic plugs and epoxy. For the toe that's a mess I am planning on putting a plug + epoxy into the holes and injecting epoxy with a syringe into the extra holes. I'll still have more than 1cm from any other hole with the remount. Seem like an OK plan?

And yes, all of the wood shavings in the picture were just trapped under the binding.

Your plan is fine to plug those toe holes. Wow. That toe mount is junk. Normally I think epoxy is overkill for mounts and plugs but it's the best way of easily patching that mess.

I always hate reusing holes on skis without metal but I too would be curious to see how the heel is mounted after seeing that toe. Just stating the obvious, but when remounting in same hole you will be using less torque to finish than on a new mount. Like I say, obvious, but on a metal ski it doesn't seem to matter as much in my experience. I've been careful with no metal and still got the odd spinner.

[Pinned]

Your plan is fine to plug those toe holes. Wow. That toe mount is junk. Normally I think epoxy is overkill for mounts and plugs but it's the best way of easily patching that mess.

I always hate reusing holes on skis without metal but I too would be curious to see how the heel is mounted after seeing that toe. Just stating the obvious, but when remounting in same hole you will be using less torque to finish than on a new mount. Like I say, obvious, but on a metal ski it doesn't seem to matter as much in my experience. I've been careful with no metal and still got the odd spinner.

I pulled the heels off - the heel on this ski was a mess but the other ski was fine all around. I plugged everything and filled the extra holes with epoxy. Going to re-mount entirely to avoid any issue with previous mount. I don't like the idea of re-using holes either, especially these ones hah.

[dgilligan02]

In my opinion, these are the real tools of the trade — dies. When I plug a hole I use hardwood dowels and a die. I recut the hole w/ a sharp tap, then I inject epoxy into the bottom w/ a syringe (the syringes for dogs are good. Next just screw the wooden plug in. As far as I can tell, it is literally just like new. The pics below are plugged normal and insert holes. I view that ski as brand new for mounting purposes.

I messed up an insert mount by 2mm last year and chose to plug and mount on top of the dowel. Several DIN12 ejects later, everything is rock solid.

Been trying to create some threads on dowels like above for hole filling, as need to go on top with new mount. Tried couple different dowels, fluted and non. Tried couple different dies. No luck, the die just keeps grinding everything and I end up with no threads. Why do I suck so much here?

Need to use dowel super close to finished size so relieving minimal material? Need a really hardwood dowel?

Thanks.

[gregorys]

Been trying to create some threads on dowels like above for hole filling, as need to go on top with new mount. Tried couple different dowels, fluted and non. Tried couple different dies. No luck, the die just keeps grinding everything and I end up with no threads. Why do I suck so much here?

Need to use dowel super close to finished size so relieving minimal material? Need a really hardwood dowel?

Thanks.

IMO, that's _way_ too OCD. LOL
Epoxy is quite good at gap filling. So, I believe that simple Bamboo skewers is more than sufficient.

Though to be fair, my test cases (3, 4, 5, I dunno - but multiple), where new screw holes touch, or are very close to the old ones are all on super beefy skis with metal. So if you do it on something wimpy you might die. But, IMO, epoxy and a bamboo skewer is IMO, as good as threaded dowel. (But are there die that match the 12AB tap for ski screws? I don't think it's that one up there - though I could totally be wrong. And if the die doesn't match the thread pattern or you don't get them to mate up exactly - then it's no better than the skewer.)

[Edited to add: Perhaps that's to match a KQ/BF insert? Can't recall their size/thread-pattern.]

[dgilligan02]

[Edited to add: Perhaps that's to match a KQ/BF insert? Can't recall their size/thread-pattern.]

Bingo. Filling insert hole(s).

[HAB]

You're going to have a hard time cutting wood with a die. I also wouldn't be surprised if the result of doing it was actually worse than just putting in a straight dowel. Male machine screw threads in wood aren't going to be strong at all, and you're not going to get great epoxy fill in the threads without a little gap.

Just use a 1/4'' hardwood dowel for insert holes. I've done that a bunch of times and it's solid. I wouldn't drill another mount into the middle of it (nor would I in your theoretical tapped dowel), but it'll work great if you're drilling somewhere else.

[Fred Pabst]

November 1 mount.



Half way there. Always start with the toes!


Finished product. The 99's were mounted on the rec line. Which incidentally are not 99mm in the 189 size but 101mm. Fanboy of the kore series. They definitely have a unique feel for a light ski. Cheers.

[XXX-er]

You're going to have a hard time cutting wood with a die. I also wouldn't be surprised if the result of doing it was actually worse than just putting in a straight dowel. Male machine screw threads in wood aren't going to be strong at all, and you're not going to get great epoxy fill in the threads without a little gap.

Just use a 1/4'' hardwood dowel for insert holes. I've done that a bunch of times and it's solid. I wouldn't drill another mount into the middle of it (nor would I in your theoretical tapped dowel), but it'll work great if you're drilling somewhere else.

what he sez, cuz its entirely un-necessary and I also agree over lapping holes might work but its not best practises so just move the hole 1 cm if you can cuz nobody can feel the difference 1 cm makes