PSA: Mount your own fucking skis.

[3PinGrin]

So many beaters
So little time

That's Mr. Beatah to you!

[nyskirat]

Successful second mount outside of one spinner in an insert hole.

I read a thread on here that said to fix strip screws, the best solution was to rip out the threads of fiberglass cloth, mix it with JB Weld, and put it in the stripped hole. Then, put a screw tightly in the insert and screw it into the ski like you had just tapped the hole. Let it sit over night. The fiberglass cloth threads make an amazing filler.

Anyone comment on this effectiveness?

[XXX-er]

It works great but I use slow set not JB

[pfluffenmeister]

That's a pretty thorough list, shit happens even in the most controlled of environments.
Wrong direction on twins has not happened yet, ski tips go left on the bench.
The serial number and size will be legible on the sidewall and the mounting info underfoot, will also be easily read.
However if the twins are symetric, we ask if they want to flop them.
It looks badass

Extra points for skiing everything switch!




(... to the road)

[OldMil]

If you look at the BF stepped bit you'd see it's not much of a step. I have no idea how it happened tbh, I went to add some more depth to a hole and well, when I went to tap I wasn't getting that resistance until I noticed I had drilled through.

nyskirat, i feel your pain as I too drilled right through a ski with the BF stepped bit for inserts. It was the 1st hole I drilled with my Jigarex and I did not feel any resistance when the step hit the topsheet and just kept going. I did not go all the way through the base but the bit tip did poke a hole through. I filled the hole with epoxy and steel wool and p-tex'd the base but have not attempted to re-drill the hole yet and install the insert. I hope it will hold.

Anyone ragging on nyskirat for this mistake has never seen/used the BF stepped insert bit because if you had, you would not be running your internet mouth.

[lordf]

Finnaly mounted my own fucking skis.

Bros with inserts and S914s, Chetlers with inserts and peak 14s, kastles with SPX 15 rocker flex.

[lordf]

nyskirat, i feel your pain as I too drilled right through a ski with the BF stepped bit for inserts. It was the 1st hole I drilled with my Jigarex and I did not feel any resistance when the step hit the topsheet and just kept going. I did not go all the way through the base but the bit tip did poke a hole through. I filled the hole with epoxy and steel wool and p-tex'd the base but have not attempted to re-drill the hole yet and install the insert. I hope it will hold.

Anyone ragging on nyskirat for this mistake has never seen/used the BF stepped insert bit because if you had, you would not be running your internet mouth.

I decided against it and used a normal alpine then a drill with a collar on to open it up. I'm also not impressed with the install tool. A couple of wide washers on a machine screw works even better I found.

[nyskirat]

nyskirat, i feel your pain as I too drilled right through a ski with the BF stepped bit for inserts. It was the 1st hole I drilled with my Jigarex and I did not feel any resistance when the step hit the topsheet and just kept going. I did not go all the way through the base but the bit tip did poke a hole through. I filled the hole with epoxy and steel wool and p-tex'd the base but have not attempted to re-drill the hole yet and install the insert. I hope it will hold.

I had a shop fill the hole with a combination of a dowel, epoxy, ptex, and probably some other things. Looks good now, but remounted the binding in a different area obviously to play it safe.

Now I feel foolish for messing up a tap. 33/34 done correctly :|

[OldMil]

Also, I should add that there is nothing wrong with the design of the BF stepped insert bit. They are bound by the diameter of the jig guide bushings and the diameter of the inserts. There just isn't enough difference in those 2 diameters to allow for much of a step. However, it would be wise of them to include a warning that caution should be taken to not drill with to much pressure as the step can easily be overwhelmed.

[XXX-er]

maybe you wana use a drill stop

[Timberridge]

maybe you wana use a drill stop

there are probably some folks who should not mount their own skis, and instead take them to buttah

[skifishbum]

Damn shop rats are taking over a DIY thread. Again. Just can't sit back and enjoy the carnage, eh?

i'm just stoked to be an enabler of positive addictions

including my own

[BCMtnHound]

^^^ that's awesome! But in the spirit of the thread, where's the pic of the grom with drill in hand and pozi drive at the ready

Got my BF bit, tap and a bag of inserts a couple weeks ago. Drilled and tapped a few inserts while enjoying a tumbler of whiskey last night. Didn't get to the epoxy, but everything is vertical and lined up. If anything, the stepped bit seemed to be a bit shallow; I thought the inserts could have gone a half turn deeper into the ski. Despite the minimal step on the bit, it would have taken more than a couple glasses of whiskey to not notice overdrilling the hole.

[nyskirat]

Those who have used the JBWeld w/ Fiberglass combo for fixing a spinner (insert), what exactly did you do? Any words of wisdom?

[Flounder]

Those who have used the JBWeld w/ Fiberglass combo for fixing a spinner, what exactly did you do? Any words of wisdom?

No idea if this is correct but it worked for me. I pulled apart the threads of the fiberglass and cut them into short pieces, less than 1/8". My goal was lots of tiny fibers to mix into the JB weld. It only takes a bit of fiberglass to get enough. Mixed the fibers with the JB Weld, put in the hole using a toothpick, hand tightened the screw until snug, and let sit for a couple of days. Done it a couple of times and it worked great.

[nyskirat]

No idea if this is correct but it worked for me. I pulled apart the threads of the fiberglass and cut them into short pieces, less than 1/8". My goal was lots of tiny fibers to mix into the JB weld. It only takes a bit of fiberglass to get enough. Mixed the fibers with the JB Weld, put in the hole using a toothpick, hand tightened the screw until snug, and let sit for a couple of days. Done it a couple of times and it worked great.

Was this for a screw or insert?

[XXX-er]

I have done the same thing with binding screws except I make the FG strands 1/2 inch long MY reasoning being 1/2" is about how deep the hole I am trying to fix is but if shorter strands work ...they work

make sure the FG is well wetted out with resin but don't make the mix too resin rich, cram the hole with as much of the mix as you can, run the screw in till its just about to spin, leave it to cure for a couple of days and you should be able to crank the screw hard as you can

I have never done inserts but I don't see any reason why it wouldnt work on an insert ?

[dschane]

A few pages back, I guessed wrong. After drilling through my ski with the 1/4" bit, I filled it similarly to nyskirat's shop, and moved the mount (I didn't re-use the hole).

I personally the insert installation tool is the bomb. But when I sometimes use too much epoxy, I need the screw with two nuts to get the insert all the way in.

The short story below is the local shop fucked this one up:

[nyskirat]

^Brutal.
So I guess my final (hopefully) question is that do I just coat the sides of the hole and screw it in or fill it completely, screw it in, and then clean away the excess?

[John_B]

The short story below is the local shop fucked this one up:

WTF happened? All inserts backed out when you tried to unscrew them?

[dschane]

WTF happened? All inserts backed out when you tried to unscrew them?

The long story is that, last season, the kid who was using them put his tip down getting off the chair. Fortunately, the only injury was to the ski as the binding pulled out and broke a little. The father of said child felt bad and insisted on taking care of it.

It turns out the ski shop enlarged the holes and fucked up putting 4 helicoils in the ski. My kid was skiing them this year (maybe 15 days on them) and at the end of the day, walked out of his ski. We finished the run and were done for the day --- no fall, no impact. Just came right out.

I filled the holes with epoxy and moved the mount forward 1 cm. I have no idea why the shop didn't just do that and why 4 helicoils didn't hold, other than poor installation.

[nyskirat]

Well, I had to drill the hole a little deeper, drilled a little deeper than I wanted BUT didnt go through the ski this time. Gave me some room to add some threads near the bottom

Filled in the extra space with some JBWeld+Fiber Glass. We will see how this works in the end.

Not all of the inserts are flush with the topsheet, but don't foresee any issues with the few (1-2mm) of insert above topsheet

[JRainey]

I've had a shop in Chile install heli coils like pound in nylon inserts, with similar effects.

[dschane]

I've had a shop in Chile install heli coils like pound in nylon inserts, with similar effects.

Right, they may not have tapped the holes. They were mashed good following the pullout, so it was hard to tell.

[bojangles]

Serious Jong moment here. Test mounting a pair of Wardens, following instructions you mount the heel base plate then slide heel unit back until worm screw engages and then adjust back to set fwd pressure correctly. Base plate sits flush on the ski, when moving the heel unit back the worm screw catches on the base plate and won't let it reach the adjustment plate. See the contact area on the picture, feels like going apeman and jamming it back there is a bad idea. Never had sollys/atomics before so I'm guessing it's the same for the STH2s etc. what's wrong, besides no beerz in picture