There ought to be removable threaded plugs for binding screw holes.

[1000-oaks]

I'm thinking little aluminum plugs, with binding screw threads on the outside and a blind hex hole center. Folks could apply silicone and thread them in, then back them out with an Allen key if they ever wanted to reuse the holes.

Good idea or pointless?


I thought of this because I'm thinking about moving my bindings back a bit.

[mtbakerskier]

I'm thinking little aluminum plugs, with binding screw threads on the outside and a blind hex hole center. Folks could apply silicone and thread them in, then back them out with an Allen key if they ever wanted to reuse the holes.

Good idea or pointless?


I thought of this because I'm thinking about moving my bindings back a bit.

Bad idea, sionce everytime you back a screw out, and re-instal you are slightly deforming the screw hole, and thus makin a pull out more likely.

[arem86]

I've remounted heel pieces with the same pattern when I snapped some shitty Salomon bindings...I epoxied them and have yet to have a problem, but in general it's frowned upon.
What raelly needs to happen, is binding manufacturers need to get together and standardize a hole pattern so they can build skis with threaded inserts, those are much stronger and would allow you to move bindings in minutes with a screwdriver. Snowboarders have it right.

[laseranimal]

What raelly needs to happen, is binding manufacturers need to get together and standardize a hole pattern so they can build skis with threaded inserts, those are much stronger and would allow you to move bindings in minutes with a screwdriver. Snowboarders have it right.

hahahhahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahaha

but then they couldn't offer "systems" which we all know are FAR superior to any "flat" ski


theres no financial incentive for binding companies to do this, lets face it their in the market to sell THEIR binding, not anybody else's, standardizing mounting patterns simply allows the consumer more choices and thats not good for anybody(except the consumer).

Interestingly enough, once you DO go to standardized patterns there becomes a lot of pressure for everyone to switch. For example I don't care how good a hammerhead tele binding is, I'm not buying it because I don't want to drill another set of holes in my skis. I can choose to run Cobras, Targas, O3's etc and not have to re-drill

[arem86]

hahahhahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahaha

but then they couldn't offer "systems" which we all know are FAR superior to any "flat" ski


theres no financial incentive for binding companies to do this, lets face it their in the market to sell THEIR binding, not anybody else's, standardizing mounting patterns simply allows the consumer more choices and thats not good for anybody(except the consumer).

Interestingly enough, once you DO go to standardized patterns there becomes a lot of pressure for everyone to switch. For example I don't care how good a hammerhead tele binding is, I'm not buying it because I don't want to drill another set of holes in my skis. I can choose to run Cobras, Targas, O3's etc and not have to re-drill

Yeah, but just just look at the new Hippy Stinx, threaded inserts for DIY mounting, now obviously tele bindings don't have to adjusted for DIN or anything, and I don't know if K2 has a financial incentive to do the inserts (maybe owning the companys that the inserts are for? No idea, I don't tele much) but it's a great idea. So was the Reactor, it was just too heavy and broke too easily, I think K2 might put more R&D into it though, now that they own LINE...so it could make another appearance in the future.

[cantunamunch]

Good idea.

They already exist- socket drive set screws.

$.12 ea at your local ACE Hardware/Servistar.

Get the stainless ones, not the black metal.

http://www.boltdepot.com/product.asp...8&cm=6&cd=1208

Ok, $.20 ea, whatever.

[bossass]

The threaded plug thing is pointless. Plastic plugs are cheap, and if they ever need to come out, you just drill into the center of the plug with a really small drill bit (about half as wide as the plug itself) and they pop right out. Sometimes some plastic stays on the outside of the hole, but my thought is this will just give the new screw something more to bite on. Also, the plastic ones seal out water well w/out epoxy or glue. Metal would be especially bad for plugs. I like to use a planer thingy or a that flat thingy for wood carving to flatten out all the material and excess plug so the ski is flat. This could be problematic with a metal plug.

I don't think it's frowned upon to reuse holes. It all depends on the ski. You basically just need to try it and see how the screws bite. I remounted some Axioms using the same holes. When I took that second set of binders out I nearly gave myself a hernia getting a couple of the screws to let go from the metal topsheet. I'll bet you could go in the same holes on that ski 4 or 5 times pretty safely.

Standardizing and inserts would be cool, but are they gonna have inserts for fritschis, naxos, look p18, Solly (five hole heel), and maybe Dukes? No way to standardize all those. Heli coils are stupid easy to self install if you have the little kit. Problem solved.

[corn dog]

The other problem with standardized holes is that, unless you mount some kind of demo or railflex binding, you're stuck with one or a limited number of positions for bsl.
Apparently the hippies don't care much about this, but their bindings are broken anyway

Oops, I guess the demo and railflex bindings give you limited number of positions too. Anyways that wasn't really the point

[laseranimal]

Standardizing and inserts would be cool, but are they gonna have inserts for fritschis, naxos, look p18, Solly (five hole heel), and maybe Dukes? No way to standardize all those.

you don't need inserts for all, just all the binding companies to agree on one standard pattern

I didn't think about corn dogs point though

[cantunamunch]

laseranimal, standard pattern = eventual death of new design. If he's bent on this HeliCoils are easy, epoxying wood-grade metal threaded inserts is easy; in all cases he'd drill the holes for whatever binding he's got himself.

I'll buy bossass's point about sealing and cosmetics. I could make a structural integrity argument either pro or con but the pro side is only for cap & foam skis so I'm not going to bother.

[ptavv]

I've remounted bindings with the same hole patterns into skis with no ill effects before.

And I'm not easy on my gear.

[crashnburn'd]

but then they couldn't offer "systems" which we all know are FAR superior to any "flat" ski

This is 100% not true. A standard hole pattern does not mean a standard binding design. Channels and plates could still be used to dictate what bindings are used and how a ski would flex.

[1000-oaks]

Bad idea, sionce everytime you back a screw out, and re-instal you are slightly deforming the screw hole, and thus makin a pull out more likely.

I don't know about that, seems to me if you turn the new screw backwards while lightly pushing down until you feel the screw "drop" into the original thread lead, you woudn't cross-thread or deform the original hole. If the new screw went into the threads made by the first screw, nothing should get deformed.

[1000-oaks]

Good idea.

They already exist- socket drive set screws.

$.12 ea at your local ACE Hardware/Servistar.

Get the stainless ones, not the black metal.

http://www.boltdepot.com/product.asp...8&cm=6&cd=1208

Ok, $.20 ea, whatever.

Those have a much finer thread, AFIK, which would trash the theads made by the original binding screw.

[SponsoredByDuctTape]

I kind of agree with what mtbakerskier is saying. Essentially 1000-oaks' idea would be akin to inserting heli-coils, using them, then backing them out and putting them back in again, right? This would eventually lead to a loose hole for the heli-coil/insert thing, with a chance of the heli/insert pulling out.

What you could do is take your jig and drill a set of holes at boot sole center, another set at +1 and another set at -1 (or whatever distance you wanted). Then pop in some plastic heli-coils as bossass suggested. The only problem is that you still have to get the used heli-coils out and new ones in after you use them once (maybe twice). Then you're back to mtbakerskier's problem that the more you use a set of holes, the looser they get. It might be worth a try on some beater skis.