Freehand mounting bindings (tele mostly)

[Telenater]

Any body found a really good way to make sure that bindings that you're mounting freehand are centered and straight on the skis?

I'd love to see a gage that you can use set the width between holes and then it centers those on the ski's top so all you have to do is get them in the right place lengthwise on the ski.

[Core Shot]

For tele, I center best I can, then drill and insert one front screw and then insert a boot into the binder.
twist the binding to center the heel, carefully remove the boot and mark and drill the remaining holes.
YMMV

[Dick Trickle]

It's a matter of measuring holes, center to center, subtracted from width of ski. Drill on the + you have where the lines cross. Split the difference between core center and balance point and align that with the toepiece center on the template you should have for mounting the bindings you bought. Make sure you use the right size bit and tape a stopper on it.

[Agent 00X]

I recently remounted/mounted 8 3 or 4 hole telemark bindings.

To lay out a black thread centerline I found 6 or so centerline points (edge to edge or sidewall to sidewall where the core is thicker) along the length of the ski tip to tail, with a 6" ruler with a T-stop/pocket clip and 1/32 and 1/64 inch divisions. Like this one:

http://store.yahoo.com/bradystools/ru6ipoststwc.html

To find a centerline point, instead of measuring ski width and dividing in half arithmetically, I used the ruler. For example. I set the T-stop at say 1" ,placed the ruler on the topsheet with T-stop on edge/sidewall and made a mark (0.5mm mechanical pencil) say at 3.5" from the right edge. Repeat for left edge to get a second mark. Used the ruler divisions to find the midpoint between the two marks to get a centerline point. If I had two T-stops on one ruler finding a centerline point (or hole centers) would have been simpler.

Then, since I had templates, sliped them under the thread. The thread isnt good enough to rely upon alone, moves around too much, etc so repeated checks of template position with the ruler. The thread helps check for centerline mark errors and helps to align the templates.

Without templates, I guess one could use a right angle tool and the ruler to locate the holes off the centerline.

One ski came out a few degrees duck stance but with a 95mm waist, I have not noticed while skiing it. 1cm forward or 1.5cm back of boot center was much more noticeable. In the past a similar crookedness on a 50mm waist ski was not OK for my taste.

[Core Shot]

One ski came out a few degrees duck stance but with a 95mm waist, I have not noticed while skiing it. 1cm forward or 1.5cm back of boot center was much more noticeable. In the past a similar crookedness on a 50mm waist ski was not OK for my taste.

Thats why I always mount one forward screw first (after all the measuring and attempts at centering the template or the binding holes), then put a boot in and see where the heel center ends up.
Re-center the heel, if required, and then mark and drill the remaining holes.

A minor error in the four binding holes can become a huge error in whether your heel is centered on the ski.

http://www.telemarktips.com/BindingMount.html
http://www.telemarktips.com/BindingMt2.html

[Telenater]

Given that these bindings have been mounted on several skis and the paper templates are MIA, Core Shot's idea seems the most practical.

I'm by no means a newby to mounting tele bindings, just wondering if someone had figured out a superior method. Thanks all.

[Randall 'Pink' Floyd]

Find center of riser plate and center of ski, and just place center on center?

[Lok]

Core Shot's approach was actually recommended in the mounting instructions on older Rottefella Riva bindings to increase accuracy if you only had the paper template. I think that's the way to go.

As almost all binding manufacturers, even Rottefella, now use the G3/K2 hole pattern, a G3 jig might not be such a bad investment? Especially if you can split the cost with a couple of buddies.

[hop]

I've mounted up UTB's (the binding in question unless I'm mistaken) freehand a dozen times or more and now all I do is find where I want to put them on the ski fore/aft (chord center/boot center/whatever), then eyeball center right/left, then take a precise ruler and measure how far off to the sidewall they are. Once I get the measurements from the front, back, front, and back (making sure I'm not moving the shim as I move the ruler) I put a dot in the center of the screw holes with a permanent marker. Once they're all dotted, I re-measure how far from each sidewall the dots are. If they're centered, the front two/mid two/aft two should be equal distance from the side of the ski. When I'm convinced I've got it dialed I punch and drill. Hasn't failed yet!

Remember, measure lots, drill once.

[ak_powder_monkey]

for xc my coach would find the balance point with his fingures then drew a line there then kinda just eyeballed the ffirst hole in the middle then drilled through the second hole in the binding.