Donek

I don't know of anyone using something like this. It is a bit overkill in that the total travel on these systems is somewhere around 1cm. We allow for a little over 1.5cm, but I think in general the most you will see is 8mm of travel. We have something similar on the dresser for our stone grinder, and I'm not very impressed with the wear. It experiences very small loads, yet seems to wear out long before I would expect it to. It is in a wet abrasive environment though.

I got an e-mail from johnasmo today and figured out the follow cam shake reduction. It's no masterpiece, but it should get better with practice. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxQFHgm7iDA?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxQFHgm7iDA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

We shot some video yesterday. We all took turns with the camera. I need help stabilizing the follow cam stuff though. You'll see Fin on his plate with one of the spring prototypes and Mark and I rode the Donek 4X4 Plate on some glass boards. I also got in a few runs on my Incline with Catek FRs and Deelux soft boots. Was a great application for soft boot carving. The chopped up snow at the end of the day had that freeride board skipping all over the place, but the plate was rock solid. We got some HD follow cam footage with a droid or iphone on the softies. Hopefully I'll get that footage soon. <object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esMsRwd--og?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esMsRwd--og?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>

That's tough. I spent some time looking for stainless metric weld nuts for the plat this summer and couldn't do it. I don't remember if I found a t-nut though. Not a common item in the US. I think the t-nuts in a deelux boot are just zinc plated. Could be wrong on that though.

I'm bringing something a bit more current than that white thing tomorrow. You should enjoy it a lot more.

Bruce and I trade stuff back and forth and yes I send a fair number of topsheets to him.

I can do it for you. Just send me an e-mail.

You're applying a moment or twisting force to the board when you put it on edge. The lifting force you generate will likely bend your plastic dramatically. You're relying on the plastic alone, without a solid shaft, to support this load. Watch my video on destructive testing. Do some carpet riding and look at it critically. I think you have something that is potentially very dangerous here. If you do put it on snow, go really slow and disassemble repeatedly. In destructive testing I was able to bend solid shafts at much lower forces than can be present with a great deal more support than you have here. Just remember that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, the snow pushing up on your edge has to be supported by an equal force/moment applied to the opposite side of the board.

You're applying a moment or twisting force to the board when you put it on edge. The lifting force you generate will likely bend your plastic dramatically. You're relying on the plastic alone, without a solid shaft, to support this load. Watch my video on destructive testing. Do some carpet riding and look at it critically. I think you have something that is potentially very dangerous here. If you do put it on snow, go really slow and disassemble repeatedly. In destructive testing I was able to bend solid shafts at much lower forces than can be present with a great deal more support than you have here.

Maybe I'm missing something. I guess I'd have to see more detail on this.

Is that lower slider plate aluminum or stainless. 1/8in aluminum will never support the loads.

I don't think you'll get adequate retention. Even if you did initially, the cyclical loading would wear the threads and they would eventually fail.

I love that you're using the bottom side of the board as a bearing surface. As a board designer, I should have thought of just using p-tex on the bottom, but I didn't. I wonder how the uUHMW to UHMW bearing surface will hold up. Very cool. Are you sure you have enough travel there?

They look close, but do not crash on the board. Unfortunately screws of this length are only available in 5mm increments. As a result, we can run a screw that protrudes past the bottom or have it be a bit short.

Refer to Fin's response here. It really is something you're going to want to experiment with.

I'm not 100% sure I understand the question. If you mean mount the plate with the slider in the rear instead of the front, you're welcome to try it that way. If you simply mean reversing sides the slider are on, you're likely to see a bit of interference between the slider and board when pushed all the way to the end. The original slider prototypes were the same front to back, but it was possible, no matter how unlikely) that the slider would hit the board when the board was bent so far that the slider travel maxed out. In testing, most freecarvers preferred a longer axle spacing. Some of the racers preferred to narrow it up a bit. If you find that you are easily overloading the shovel, I would do what you can to move the front axle towards the waist. If this means moving the plate, back, that's fine, it may involve narrowing the axle spacing as well.

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I have some skwals going to russia and I always make a guess on the width of the hole pattern. Do any of you care to let me know what your prefered stance width is?

I assume you mean UPM (universal Plate Mount). I'm not a big fan of adding holes to a board after it's been built. If you've watched the video on my site about how we make metal boards, you'll have seen the demonstration of how brittle titanal is. You may be able to add the inserts, but by tightening the screws into the new inserts, you'll generate stress concentrations that are likely to crack the metal laminates. I've seen one other board that had a UPM added to it after the fact (I think a SG) and it was broken. I had to point it out as most people don't see this stuff. The one time I added inserts to a board after lamination (in 1999 or 2000), I broke it. You severely compromise the integrity of the board when you drill into it in that manner. How hard do you ride? How hard do you push on your board? If it fails, what are the likely consequences? I tend to agree on this point.

Tough to tell from your photo, but the creasing looks like the metal has cracked under the topsheet. No amount of glue is going to put the metal back together. If it's just the core, you could drill a couple holes into the board and use a syringe to suck epoxy from one hole to another. Then press/clamp it. Unlikely you'll be able to make it hold though.

Sounds like a small axxess or maybe incline.

OK. You're welcome to e-mail as well. I also have skype now.

In the shop building boards. Sorry. I don't check this board very often.

I have a couple of 160 prototypes/blems I would like to sell. Give me a call.

give me a call and we'll work it out.