Anyone wear slide plates?

[soulpatch]

Well I live in Exton now.

I was playing a lot up at Marple but havent been there in about 3 months now. Currently I play in Downingtown at United Sports.

Now that I found Ice I might be in West Chester more.......

[Marauder31]

Hey guys here is a quick summation of my slideplate experience.

I purchased the needed materials from McMasterCarr online and they arrived promptly. I think it took 2 days for everything to show up at my door. Cost = $20 with shipping for a 2"X 2" sheet. I also needed nylon cord which I got from Eastern Mountain Sports. I think that was $13 for a 50 yard roll.

I used cardboard from a shoe box to make templates on the pads. After cutting them out I traced them onto the plastic sheet. then I proceeded to cut them out using tin snips. Be careful when cutting and make the pieces slightly larger than needed. You can always trim them down later. the other thing I should mention
is that one side of the plastic is smoother Than the other. You must make sure that you keep this in mind when laying out the templates as you are going to want the shinier side to be contacting the floor.

After all the plates were cut I trimmed and smoothed all the edges with sandpaper. I then lined them up with the pad and traced where the holes
needed to be punched for the straps and for the tie down points. I used a drill to punch out each hole and a soldering iron to help melt out the slots for the boot and knee straps to go through.

Then the most tedious part. I have to admit I had some reservations about taking a soldering iron to a $800 pair of goal pads and burning holes into them. But it was the only way. I first heated the soldering iron and did a test burn on a old Vaughn glove I had laying around. I wanted to see how the clarino would
react. It burns through very easy. I marked each pad to match the location of each corresponding hole in the plates. Then I proceeded. I should note that if you do use this method it should be done in a well ventilated area. The off
gassing from the heated clarino is noxious. After burning all the holes I was ready to lace them up. I purchased a lace pusher from Dicks Sporting Goods (baseball glove repair tool) to help in this effort. After the were laced up I slid the boot straps through and redid the knee straps. The last thing I did was heat mold the bottom plate so that it followed the contours of the binding. This leaves a much cleaner look and protects the binding. It also keeps that area from ever catching the surface.

I have used these plates for well over 100 hours of playing time and they are holding up great. To see the difference I removed the plates to play ice hockey and kept them off for my next roller game. What a mistake! I have really become accustomed to the added distance I get out of my butterfly slides. I found all kinds of mobility problems having my pads stuck to the floor. I probably won't ever go back to pads without the plates.

http://s48.photobucket.com/albums/f246/Hattsek31/

To sum up this experience.

I have used slide plates on a previous pair of Battram pads I had before. Since I play roller hockey almost exclusively I
felt that this was the best way to go. Since installing them I have found it easier to get around the crease

Pros: Additional sliding ability (not as good as ice but better than straight up clarino) They were cheap to fabricate and are easy to maintain and have held up extremely well.

Cons: Installation has permanently altered my pads. (I don't see myself selling them anyway so this is not a n issue) They come off easy but do take about an hour to reattach.

I have noticed a lot of conversation recently regarding this issue. If anyone has any other questions or would like more pics fire away.

Hope this helps.

Seth

[Fish]

Uh...... That is pretty much the most awesome thing I have ever seen, Marauder. Very well done.

[NJDev803]

hey marauder31, thanks for the pm reply as well as this post...it certainly helps!!

i still have a few questions/concerns though

1 - I too am kinda skeptical about burning holes through my Mission Elites Especially since theyre brand new and i will also use them for ice! Do you think there will be any noticeable negative effects on the pads when i do not have the plates on? And does ths soldering iron burn through cleanly, or does it leave burn marks? Will i have to worry about the holes opening up and the material ripping?


2 - Since the Elites have over-sized calf wings, do you think it will be necessary to cover the whole wing with plastic? In the pics, the whole Smith calf-wing isn't covered, but then again its probably flexible and conforms to your calf, so it doesnt touch the ground The calf wings on the Missions are pretty stiff so i might have to cover the whole wing

[soulpatch]

You can leave your plates on for ice. I do with my battrams. Too much of a pain to take them off and put them back on. I havent really seen any ill effects of doing so.

[Marauder31]

Thanks Fish, I appreciate the feedback although I do owe most of the credit to guys like Scott Battram, soulpatch, and others who gave me good ideas and help with this project.

Hey Dev, I can't really speak for the Elites as I have no real experience with them. I had a chance to check them out briefly and here are my thoughts.

1 - I could be wrong but I didn't notice any kind of medial roll along the inside edge of the pad. This would make attachment difficult as there is nothing to anchor the plate to the front of the pad. You could try anchoring directly to the the calf wing, but my reservation would be that this is constructed entirely of a cordura nylon type material. I would question the structural ability of this material (and punching holes in it would only weaken it).

The soldering iron does burn through the clarino cleanly and looks almost as if I used a punch. It did leave a dark burn around the edge of the hole that shows up well on the white clarino. (you don't notice it when the plates are tied on, but if you looked closely when I am on the ice you can easily see them). If you would like, I can take pics of this. I am not sure how the soldering iron would react with the cordura type material. The best bet would be finding a scrap piece and trying a test burn like I did with the Clarino prior to the start of my project.

2 - The design of the Elites makes it hard to answer this question. With my pads the calf protection is like that of the fist generation Velocities. The Elites are way more agressive in the fact that the wedge extends from the face of the pad straight back and creates a 3D effect. When I designed the plates for my pads I was really only interested in covering the parts that regularly made contact with the floor, thus I didn't need to worry about the calf wedge. For the Elites The whole wedge is designed to slide or make contact with the surface.

With that said I have a few comments:
I believe that Mission designed these calfs with net coverage and stability in the the butterfly in mind. They probly used the cordura type material in hopes it would slide better. Unfrotunately the surface area of the wedge works against that creating more friction. If I were to build them I would try covering the whole wing first and then cutting them down until I found a happy medium.

Lastly, I think the major hurdle is finding a way to attach and anchor the plates to the front of the pad. Perhaps other board members that have more experience with Mission pads could chime in. If I get a chance to take a closer look at them I will let you know what I think.

Hope this info helps,
Seth

[soulpatch]

I think you hit it Marauder - It all comes down to the inner binding of the pad. You ened something to attach the plates to. Withouth that small roll you are left with velcro or glue basically.

I would be hesitant with the missions. Putting on plates that big would be an issue. I have had my plates catch once in a blue moon when doing an akward move. I have also had a stick get caught in my knee plate. With a plate that big to cover the calf wedge you are making a sicnificant portion of your pad more stiff and I dont think this is the route you would want to go.

Though it hs been a while since i looked at missions up close so I would need a closer look to think about it.

Any input Justin??????






Mar. - You should come out and play ice with us one night. Me, Soritong, and sometimes a few others play up at Flyers Skate Zone on Friday nights. 9-10:45 or so is open hockey. Good times.

[Huntster]

Great job Marauder!

I am thinking of doing something similar but attaching the plates to my pad covers rather than the pad itself.

Did you find you had enough material or too much?

[NJDev803]

I looked at my pads a little more to find some options for attaching the plates, and I got some pics so you can see what i'm talking about

The Elites actually do have a 'medial roll', but only by the calf wing and toe, so i could lace the plates through that leather if i wanted to





My only option that i thought of so far to attach the plates to the knee wing is to lace if through the slack cordura. You probably have no idea what im talking about, but where the knee wing is attached to the leg pad, there is no padding inside of it, so i could easily poke a hole through it and lace the plates. I wouldnt even need to burn through - i could get through it with a needle (although thats not big enough to accomidate a lace)...it was hard to get a pic of it, but here it is anyway so you can try and see:





I could also attach the paltes to the calf-wing the same way as the knee-wing because there is also that small bit of cordura that i could sew through...Im talking about the nylon flap directly below the leather roll (but above where the padding inside the nylon is):


and i different look at it:


Whew, ok...so hopefully you guys all know what im talking about...at least enough to let me know if you think its a good idea to sew the plates in through the nylon, or through the leather on the calf and toe

Thanks

[Huntster]

Sounds like it would work to me.

[Marauder31]

Huntster - Thanks, I had plenty of material the 2x2 foot sheet left enough extra to make another half of a set.

Dev - Excellent Pictures!! I think you can definately do it.

[Boss302]

Marauder31,

What type of plastic and what thickness did you order from McMaster-Carr? I see several types listed on the web site.

I am having trouble finding plastic that is somewhat flexible like Battram uses. I recently ordered some 1/16" ABS plastic online and I think it is too hard and brittle to use.

Nice plate job on your Smiths BTW!

[Marauder31]

Hey Boss,

I selected a Ultra Hi Molecular Weight Polyethylene Plastic 1/16" thick.

It is the same stuff that Battram uses.

Thanks.
Seth

[Huntster]

Originally Posted by Marauder31

Huntster - Thanks, I had plenty of material the 2x2 foot sheet left enough extra to make another half of a set.

Dev - Excellent Pictures!! I think you can definately do it.

Do you think a 2 x 1 would be enough?

[Marauder31]

Huntster -

I think you might be cutting it a little bit to close if you go with 2x1. I guess most of it depends on the size of your pads and how well you lay out the patterns on the sheet before cutting. There would also be no room for error.