emorris

I am not an engineer. But I had wanted to take Mechanical Engineering in College. My math background from high school was terrible. And when my then fiancee told me that she would not marry me if I did not have a college degree, I thought, "What can I take that has little math"?. I ended up with a degree in Psychology focusing on Human Factors. Fast forward 20 years. I own a business, and work with engineers and designers and architects. What I have found is that I sometimes wish that my math were better and that I had my engineering degree. But I love designing. I have Solidworks running on my laptop almost all the time. But the most important skill I have is communication. Being able to communicate whet I have in my head and to be able to understand what someone else sees is what makes it all work. I have an "engineer" who works for me who by training is just a "draftsman" but he has been working for 60 years plus (he is over 80 years old). His knowledge base is incredible. But its not the actual formulas that he keeps in his head. He just knows where to look for the formulas he needs. Its a pleasure and an honor to work with him. For me college was learning several things; how to research information, how to interpret information and how to communicate that information. I am sure that had I gotten my degree in Mechanical Engineering, I might be better able to understand Poisson's Ratio for metallurgical properties. But today I can have the software do that for me. I think that the odds of my learning the specific book knowledge that I would use 20 years later were pretty slim. I'm not saying don't bother with math or any course work. Just that I could not tell where the future would take me or what would interest me 20 years on. I only discovered my love for and ability to design when I was 38 years old. In my opinion, get as well rounded an education as possible and be open to the opportunities presented to you.

I measured 26.3 or something. I bought 26 MP and they were big. I am getting 25 soon. BTW, I wear 8 to 8.5 street shoes, and 9.5 Burton Softies. The sizing system as stated above is very variable. Mondo Point is exact. Go down at least one size and see a boot fitter. Forget about street shoe sizing.

I think that there should be a softboot carving section. I started in soft boots. I saw a hard boot rider, found this forum and started reading all I could. Then I tried some of the things I read like the norm. That feeling really made me want to take the next step. I feel that a more welcoming forum could help offset the barriers of entry to the sport. It is hard enough to find equipment, and expensive. One less barrier would be great for the industry. It could be a way to ease the transition for more people. The small size of the market in my opinion stifles innovation and progress. Look at the recent discussion of the costs involved to tool up to make a boot. http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=29684 How could any manufacturer justify a complete new boot with a market this size? And when was the last really completely new boot released? I feel that anything that can be done to enlarge the number of carvers is a boon to all of us. More choices, new products, eventually power prices.

Wish I were there. I keep trying to get my foot into the boot, but it still hurts. Have fun all!

For those of us who are sidelined with broken bodies, or otherwise could not make it, where are the pictures and videos? C'mon, have a heart!

That really sucks. You live not too far from me. I went to Rothman Institute in Philadelphia. In the meantime keep it elevated as much as possible. That really keeps the swelling down. Did you get specific exercises or were you just making it up? My doc has me in this boot for another four weeks before starting PT. I really tried to do that. Brought the heel and cable with me but the doc refused.

You mean like this? The Catek FR2 allowed me to compensate for the huge mass around the heel area with 10+ degrees of heel lift.

in the Wii where all the players reside? Edit it for length, and put that music behind it!

Scooby, The upper two buckles were snug, but my calves are thin and the buckles were snug mostly from the plastic, not because they were really holding my calf that tightly. After the break, I could not put any weight on it unless I really tightened them up as far as I could. AND the boots are one size too big! I had just put a 1/8" (3mm) shim under the heel of the liner and added boot fitting foam behind the Achilles tendon on either side to get better heal hold. But the upper calf was loose. I am getting the filler pieces from Tognar to address the looseness. As well as looking for MP25 boots. The odd thing was that after Ski Patrol looked at the ankle, wrapped it up in bandages and packed it with snow, they pushed me to my car in a wheel chair. It was a strange scene to be hopping over to the drivers seat and waving thanks to the guy with the wheel chair. Flea, did the doctor do anything other than an x-ray to determine that you had torn ligaments? Or was that an observation from the surgery? I guess I am lucky that I just needed a cast, but I wonder if there is any damage to the ligaments. I do know that the doctor was looking at the amount of space around the Talus and liked what he saw when the cast went on as well as came off. I hope that means no torn ligaments. Well, I'm off to drive to work now. Only 7 miles. We shall see how that goes.

It looks like the area where you have all the different people on my kids Wii. When you pick one to edit, you grab them by their head and the arms and legs flail around. The other version with the music is really cool.

Both boots were too loose, but the right ankle broke. I ride regular, so my back foot. It was the 9too late) tight boot that allowed me to walk. It was a toe side to heel side transition when the nose stuffed. I wonder of there is any correlation to regular/goofy, right or left ankle fractures?

Thanks for all the replies. This is a really great group! If it were just about the carving that would be cool, but it really is a community. Scooby, You nailed it. I think that I buried the nose of the board on a transition and the board did a 180 under me. The upper two buckles were not as tight as they should have been. I really cranked them down tight so I could walk the 200 feet over to the group of ski patrollers hanging out. I have been doing lots of dairy. I'm vegetarian so lots of nuts and beans too. Andy, That sounds like my break exactly. It is just at the end of the bone about one inch up from the end. It goes about 3/4 of the way through the bone and is roughly in line with the face that sits on the Talus. I noticed that as soon as I put weight on it it was incredibly tight. I could move it without pain without weight, but the weight on it was different. When they took the x-ray, they had me put the foot flat on the platform and the calf back as far as possible against the film holder (or whatever its called). But as I waited for the doctor to come in, I just put the foot on the floor and slowly tried stretching in that direction. It is already much looser. Zoom, I can bear weight, but not with any real movement. I can get from the bed to the bathroom (and my bathroom is only 5 steps away from the bed. Really odd house). I just do as much as I can tolerate. That just seems right. I don't want to rush it (actually I do) but I don't want to just sit and do nothing. The doctor has yet to prescribe PT, so while I wait I feel like I should just try moving it and see if I can gently get some range of motion back. I imagine that it will loosen up and get a bit better day by day. Steve, it is a total pain. Not so much the physical pain after the broken bone. That seemed to o away after a week or two. It is the lack of mobility. I live alone in downtown Philly. I couldn't drive anywhere. I had to get picked up for work and dropped off after. Food shopping required thought and planning. I will try driving tomorrow. I did drive myself to the ER and two hours home after. I should be OK. Freedom. And If I have to go way north I will do my best to get one or two more days in this year. Again, thanks for to all for the great feedback and experience. Eric

Buell, I read that as well. So I do try to avoid it. I never asked the orthopedist about it since I read the web page. But the ER doc prescribed an 800 mg version. I never filled it.

At least for tonight. I really try to stay off the meds much as possible.

I guess I am resigned to take it slow. But, like you said, I want to avoid long term problems.

is the lower end of the Tibia that wraps around the Talus. The inside ankle bump. Steve, glad to hear that you saw the doctor! Sucks that it's broken too. Buell, it sounds like you are right about the sprain. Now all kinds of different places hurt. Not the same pain, but not comfortable with weight on it. I will call him tomorrow to ask about the sprain. I wonder how much can be seen with just an x-ray? I guess I'll just have to wait for the boarding. I want this back to as close to 100% as possible. But at least I did get to WASH it!!! No more stink foot!! Now => :D

I just had my cast removed today after four weeks. I had broken my right medial malleolus. The doctor had originally said four weeks in a hard cast and then two in a boot followed by PT. Now he says four weeks in the boot followed by PT. The doctor looked at today's x-rays and said that it has healed really well. In the cast there was virtually no pain. So I was expecting to be stiff, but nothing else. Wow, was it stiff! It does not feel so nice. :( After almost six hours, I can move it a bit more than immediately after the cast came off, but my question is: How long will this take to get back to close to normal? I have not tried to put it into the snowboard boot yet. I would like to get some peoples experience. Thanks. Eric

but they are too big for me. I'm out.

The size is shown in the lower shell by the cant adjuster.

If the lower shell is 25, I'll take them. Let me know.

I have been manufacturing in China for 15 years. In my opinion, unless you have a dedicated factory to produce these, there would be quality issues. It's not that you cannot get quality from China. I do; but I have a captive plant. But that drives costs up. As does the cost of flying back and forth. A typical arrangement is outsourcing to a factory that does OEM manufacturing. The small volume is not a good fit to get this made in China. Most OEM factories in China are looking for volumes in the 10's of thousands. Producing in the hundreds can't compete with an order for 50,000 of anything. The tooling costs, set up time and quality requirements for such a low volume product just won't let this work. In my opinion, this low volume product can really only be made in North America or Europe. We will just have to accept higher prices for what we want. Now, if carving went mainstream...

Scuff, thanks so much!!!:1luvu:

:AR15firinNBC

Where is it? Did I miss something on NBC? Or are they just not showing PGS?

Another name for 3D printing is Rapid Prototyping or RP. The time involved, plus the cost of the materials and machine time would make RP parts prohibitively expensive. And I don't think that the materials that can be printed are suitable for the stresses a boot would see. I manufacture door hardware and often use RPs to show clients what a finished part will look like or how it will feel in the hand. Sometimes I just want to see the part. Looking at a computer screen somehow does not give a true feel for size or proportion. We also use the RP to make rubber molds used to make wax models for lost wax casting. The RP machine is a truly amazing machine. bjvircks, your estimates for tooling cost is probably in the ball park. I make most of my products by hot forging brass. The forging dies are generally smaller and run about $10,000 to $15,000 for a die to make a 10" x 2.5" wide escutcheon plate. One area where computers have changed tihngs is CAD software for designing and CAM to translate that design into G code. Now a CNC macine just cuts the design into the die steel. Years ago it was much more involved. Plastic injection molds are quite complicated, especially for the shapes needed for the boot lower. There are probably 30 or more molds needed for a pair of boots. Don't forget that you need left and right for many of the parts. Some parts carry all the way across the whole size range, others several shell sizes and some specific to the shell size. The next issue a manufacturer has is production volume. The time required to switch from one part to another, adjust the machine, and heat the mold is considerable. One would want to see minimum runs of 500 parts per mold. The larger a production run, the lower the cost. They probably make one production run per year and no more. So, unless the number of hard boots purchased every year sees a dramatic increase, we probably won't see dramatic changes. Colors, buckles and other parts that can be used on ski boots are the likely changes. Also, if they are able to modify the current mold by removing metal and making an area thicker, that might allow a change. Sorry for the voluminous post.