PSA: Mount your own fucking skis.

[Ocean]

Have mounted two pairs of skis previously with no problems, but tried mounting a pair of lightweight K2 touring skis recently and ended up with two spinners. The skis have no reinforcing plate in the binding area, and the lightweight cores felt really soft.

Any tips for mounting in soft skis with no reinforcing plate?

I drilled with a 3.6mm bit and then tapped the holes, should I have missed out the tapping stage?

I'm also wondering if BF inserts are better than screws for soft ski cores as they would allow me to wait for the epoxy to infiltrate the wood and set before tightening down the bindings on the ski.

(I'm not looking for help with fixing the spinners as I'm going to pay Spyderjon to fit inserts before I do any more damage to the skis).

[NW_SKIER]

I've mounted a few soft skis and never had an issue so far. I always tap. Not sure where you went wrong there. Maybe you got a little overzealous with tightening them down?

[Ocean]

Thanks for reply. I could feel that there wasn't much resistance when I was inserting the screws, so I used less force for tightening them than I have on previous mounts.

[NW_SKIER]

Thanks for reply. I could feel that there wasn't much resistance when I was inserting the screws, so I used less force for tightening them than I have on previous mounts.

What size was your drill bit?

[Ocean]

What size was your drill bit?

3.6mm (Wintersteiger).

[dcpnz]

I always thought tapping is just to cut threads in metal sheet so I only do it if there's metal there.
Seems crushing and cutting the wood around a hole with a tap would reduce holding strength and could possibly contribute to a spinner.
But then again there's lots of folks around here who mount a ton more skis than I do.

[AlpiNord]

A 4.1mm tip drills through a metal or carbon top sheet at the same diameter of the shaft of an alpine screw. The tap cuts the core to ‘direct’ the threads of the screw. If not tapped, the threads of the screw will crush/cut the core. Tapping is cleaner and generally should provide more accurate threading. A hand driven screw couple wobble and widen the thread path into the core.

Binding Freedom inserts, nylon tap-ins or Heli coils are all options for repairing spinners.

[GeezerSteve]

Zeno's pullout tests (published on TTips) consistently found higher pullout strength for tapped holes vs. untapped. Tapping a wood core cuts, rather than crushes, the core, and provides a more precise male/female thread interface. IME, tapping results in fewer spinners, partly because when self-tapping with screw it's more difficult to find the point at which the screw is driven home and stopping there without overtightening. In other words, it's easier to overtighten and spin out when self-tapping in untapped hole vs. screwing into a tapped hole.

Re Oceanic's spinners: I've encountered soft cores in K2 skis, usually fixing them with ski helicoils, sometimes with nylon tap-in inserts that expand when screw is tightened. I mounted a pair of APs in which nearly every hole was in a soft spot -- lots of helicoils in those skis.

[Meadow Skipper]

Spinners happen. As above^ - helicoils or tap-ins.

[doebedoe]

Did my first nylon tap in (handly supplied with Alpinlord's Slightwright kit) this afternoon. Dead easy fix for the spinner I had while remounting the $20 beat-to-fuck Belafontes.



Question: anyone have a lead on where you can buy the low-head screws for speed radical mounts? Preferably with a Posi-head? I'd like to be able to carry a spare or two when out in the BC.

[NW_SKIER]

bindingfreedom.com

[doebedoe]

bindingfreedom.com

First place I looked. Great for insert screws.

But don't have the pan-head / lowhead 12A/B screw used on the heels of speed radicals. Closest is the x28mm version, and it isn't threaded all the way, so grinding to to the right length doesn't work. If it did -- I would've just ground down a few from my kit.

[AlpiNord]

http://www.slidewright.com/Bindings/binding_screws_lengths.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

EDIT: [B]Small head, pozi M5 x 10

[NW_SKIER]

http://www.slidewright.com/Bindings/binding_screws_lengths.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/QUOTE]
I was just just going to paste this in. Didn't realize he wasn't looking for insert screws at first.
http://www.slidewright.com/kuu-pan-h...-pdz2-bits.php

[doebedoe]

(Should have been the second place. )

How long do you need for a low head 12AB screw? Check out our KUU pan heads to grind down. If you can't find replacements, inserts and machine screws are a reasonable option.

Agreed and bingo. I'll measure today -- but I'm pretty sure those are exactly what I need.

[jackattack]

A couple of remounts.

191 Goats for me - reused original mount, no spinners.
158 Austrian Swiss Cheese for the wife

Mx88 had no less than 3 mounts when I got them, reused the existing toes to get -.4 from center by drilling new heels with plenty of room. I have $120 into these including the nib spx10. Trading for 90mm brakes with a mag.

Thanks to the collective for both of these setups.

[Norseman]

Nice

[Kopi_Red]

Bear paw Billy Goats with white pivots = 👍👍

[jackattack]

I know, right?

I'm gonna have to get one of these for when I stop in the lodge for a beer.

[Kopi_Red]

The windy hill is a pretty rough place so that locks not a bad idea. 😁

[NW_SKIER]

The windy hill is a pretty rough place so that locks not a bad idea. 😁

What's the over/under on days skied before he has a core shot there?

[Kopi_Red]

What's the over/under on days skied before he has a core shot there?

It depends. If he stays on piste those bases will last a lifetime but if he ventures off piste, I give it 4 days until a shark digs into the core.

Edit to add: Skis are tools not jewels. Even though Kai's Billy Goats are purdy.

[jackattack]

Haha. I'm light on my feet. Only core shot I've had at mission was when I let Aaron ride my qlabs.

[TAFKALVS]

I have never gotten a core shot at mission. Gotten way more at Stevens. At mission I'm always scared.

[2FUNKY]

Yeah, me neither.