[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

21 hours ago, Lurch said:

Johno I am a Bomber guy but enjoy looking at these so much if I had a money tree I'd buy a set for the coffee table just so I could admire your engineering. Respect.

Wow! Thanks for the compliment. 

[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

On 3/22/2021 at 6:30 PM, jl1 said:

Hey John,

     I broke the spherical nut on my Cateks earlier this season. (see the thread"Catek users please read")  I was going to invert the bolt and put nylock nut  on top as you did but you need to hold the bolt from turning.  Is that a allen socket machined in the end of the bolt?  If so great idea.  I was going to just grind the end of the bolt to put a wrench on it.  any interest in machining a few bolts for me??

Joe

Hi Joe. I machined my own sphere nuts and just installed a set screw which already had the female hex. Used red lock tight to secure them together. Worked very well. 

Just now, Johno212 said:

Hi Joe. I machined my own sphere nuts and just installed a set screw which already had the female hex. Used red lock tight to secure them together. Worked very well. 

Didn’t you say you broke an OS2 style nut?

On 3/22/2021 at 10:13 PM, rjnakata said:

Folks will have suggestions for improvements to fit their own personal needs, and raise CYA issues, but to me this is just incredible.  A man had a personal need and just up and built the solution... out of aluminum... with a CNC... from scratch. 

My hats off to you sir.

 

Thank you. I value peoples input but at the end of the day, I did what I saw needed doing. I very much appreciate your kind words. 

[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

On 3/21/2021 at 10:48 AM, Mr.E said:

I rode old WC for years. I don't remember direct contact- maybe the old CAT or Rhino's? I may be mistaken, but I thought the donut also provided a certain amount of compression on the system in addition to buffering the stress risers at the edge of the disc (both at the outer and inner diameter of the donut).

Curiouse if you have all of the liability and product coverage for these? 

I'd also be interested in bail versions if you go that far. I think reinforced nylon levers ala PHK would be a rad addition to these.  Pretty sure these are availabe as an OEM purchase.

 

The first Catek bindings had a ring that was really thick and left an air gap under the bolt area of the base plate. . I never understood this because it facilitated insert suck but you were, in fact, riding on the rubber. 
Catek changed this with the OS1 which basically has a thinner rubber ring and allowed the body of the bindings to contact the board. I believe there was less than 1 mm of air gap which again aided in a very small amount of insert suck until the 2 made contact. The rubber rings on the OS1 only did anything as the board bent into it. Once they added the Polycarbonate sub plate, I believe this ring did virtually nothing. After riding both I  feel no difference at all. 
As far insurances go I’m looking into it. 



 

On 3/21/2021 at 5:50 PM, daveo said:

Tribute reference gone begging......... Thought we had a connection, man. 

Wanna go do karate in the garage?

[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

On 3/20/2021 at 2:28 AM, slapos said:

Hi John o

Are you planning to make a standard bail one to fit mountain slope 951?

 

 

I need to look and see how difficult it’ll me to make a toe lever and toe and heel bails. Older Catek toe lever parts will swap but that redundant I suppose. 

On 3/20/2021 at 7:11 AM, daveo said:

Hey @Johno212, just curious if you think this might be... the best binding in the world? 

I would never make a claim like that....

For me, it gives me everything I want. 

[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

When Catek’s first came out and were directly mounted the the board, the rubber ring provided protection from creating a pinch point as the board flexed. Metal boards required a sub plate thus marking the ring redundant IMO. The bottom of my baseplate is only flat under the mounting screw locations and is saucer shaped out to the edge of the baseplate. This plus the Polycarbonate sub plate alleviate stress risers. 

[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

Catek revival project done. 
calling them Tribute Bindings  (Tenacious D ref intended )

All parts will swap onto OS1 platform. 
SS cups for adjustments screws so no dimpling issues. 
2 set screws to hold the toe bail up. 
adjustment ring with 2.5 degree increments of adjustment. 
Sphere nut replaced with Sphere bolt with Nyloc nut to prevent kingpin loosening. 

binding must be used in conjunction with the Polycarbonate plate which mounts to the board alone and prevents and corrects insert suck. 
if interested please contact me. 
Cheers. 
john
 

 

[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

[Catek users please read]

Not a bad idea.....

I’ve got a set I could reverse engineer. 
I’ll take a look. 

[Catek users please read]

On 1/31/2021 at 12:32 PM, teach said:

I asked because with that design, i'd think you'd want the kingpin threads through the flange. Otherwise it's a bit like scoring a sheet of glass, supporting just up to the score mark on one side and pushing on the other. But maybe they were and kingpin sheared as well?

You are exactly right, unfortunately, as you increase canting angles, you decrease the number of threads in the sphere nut. I’m correcting this problem with my redesign. 

[Catek users please read]

On 2/12/2021 at 5:08 PM, teach said:

I'd be interested to see more photos of the jig.

Any intention of making standard heel and toe bails? 

Do you make the spherical nuts, or do you have a source for them?

I made the Sphere nuts as I didn’t need a large quantity.  No plans on a toe lever version. 

On 2/18/2021 at 10:57 AM, Newmax said:

@jl1: welcome to the club. In Europe I know 4 guys (including me) who managed to kill the Kinpin-nut. Fortunately no-one was really hurt, but all had a shitty crash during riding, when the damn thing broke loose... In my eyes one of the few design failures of these bindings. We made a replacement kit here, were we built a M10 screw with the head formed like the kingpin/nut, and then use a standard nut at the top of the bindings. No issues for years now with that design.

 

Johno: do you plan to go into serial production later on?

 

Cheers Max

I would consider producing batches of bindings on a yearly basis to order. 

[Catek users please read]

I’d love to get my hands on a set of OS 2 bindings and make a retro kit for the kingpin issue. The OS2 spherical nut design was a huge design flaw IMO. OS1 was far better. I have 9 pairs of complete bindings at the anodizer as we speak. The bindings will come with polycarbonate sub plates that protect the board and eliminate binding suck!

I have modified the OS1 bindings to what I thought Catek should have done....sort of an OS1.5 if you will. Toe bail locking, SS adjustment screw cups with 2.5 degree angle jumps. Kingpin has a Nylok nut to prevent loosening. I’ll have a few pics soon. I have no intention  of making a standard toe lever version as I don’t want to make toe levers.

 

 

 

[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

Update...
 

[Please Help... if you are near Silverthorne and are able to lend one catek OS1 toe block. Please.]

I’m making some if you still have a need. 

[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

Toe bails done. 
 

[Catek users please read]

I am in the process of making the OS1 bindings from scratch. The spherical nut design is superior in my opinion. 
We all have to remember that metal fatigues and the repeated duty cycles on that nut will eventually cause failure.  Not a bad idea to replace hardware every couple of years.  I would also look at toe bail replacements on older bindings for the same reason. I will have both available very soon. 
I have all the parts digitized and am about to start cutting the aluminum parts. I just finished the toe bail bending fixtures today and am very pleased with their fit. They are a direct replica of the original. Updates to come soon. Questions welcome. 

[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

I’m thinking I would add either an aluminum feature or even a screw inserted on the side so the head acted as a stop. 
finished my toe bail bending fixtures today and I’m quite pleased. 
Updates to follow.  
I’m thinking about a slightly enlarged short plate for a single plate option. 
 

[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

Successful toe bail prototype. 
 

  

[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

In order to utilize the steel heel receiver from Bomber I’d need to create a spacer that provides clearance for the 2 rear canting screws. 
OR

I create a steel receiver that utilizes the Catek hole pattern and clears the canting screws

OR

I just reproduce the aluminum one. 
Thoughts?

What is the rub with the Aluminum heel anyway?

fit? I can adjust that

 

[CATEK Patent Expiring—Anything new?]

Hello all. 
I am a machinist located in SLC UT. 
I’ve  been riding Catek’s since the late 90’s. 
I’m thinking of reproducing the OS1’s in step in configuration only and looking to se if there’s any interest. 
I’ve reproduced all of the parts digitally and am about to start cutting a few pairs.