I've been one to decry slide plates as unnecessary in previous posts. After starting to really feel some pain in my hips and knees, however, that was largely due to the friction on the floor, I decided to make some slide plates. I contacted avatarkava (a member on this BB) because he had already made his own lace-in slide plates. After admiring his handiwork, I felt I should give it a go.
The product avatarkava used came from
www.mcmaster.com and it's listed as part number 8752K421 - Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene 1/16" thick, 24"x24". I actually purchased the 2'x3' (24"x36") sheet just in case I screwed up, which wouldn't surprise me. This material is a thermoplastic, meaning it can be reformed and reshaped once heated.
McMaster is apparently located in New Jersey, or they have a warehouse there. Either way, the sheet came way faster than I expected. I left for a tournament two Fridays ago, which is when it arrived, so I had no chance to work with it. After coming back last Sunday, I started getting my plan ready.
A trip to Home Depot resulted in my owning a nice new heat gun and 4' of industrial strength velcro, which can also be found at A.C. Moore
The plan I came up with involved putting plates onto the pads, but doing no real physical modification to the pads themselves. Should I decide to play ice, I wanted to be able to remove the plates with minimal work. Thus, I decided to use the velcro.
The first thing I did was make a template of each of the following parts of the pad:
- Boot
- Gusset
- Knee
- Knee wing
To do this, I took an 8.5"x11" piece of computer paper and traced the desired part of the pad. I then cut out my rough template and laid it out on the pad. After eyeballing which parts looked acceptable and which needed modification, I lightly re-traced the stencil onto another piece of paper. I then drew a heavy outline around the traced shape while making the desired changes in a freehand manner. So, now I have a flimsy piece of paper with my shape on it.
To fix this, I again cut out the shape from the paper and scanned it into Photoshop. I labeled each piece and printed it out on heavy paper and then cut it out one last time. This was how each piece was created.
These templates were then transferred to the plastic sheet with a Sharpie. Using a utility knife, each piece was cut out from the plastic. Please note that this step was very tricky, as you can seriously hurt yourself if you're not very careful, patient, and smart about your work. If you're younger and you're even thinking of doing this, find a capable adult and let him or her help you. Essentially, the knife will start to move very easily if you cut with the blade on an angle.
The next step was to lay the plastic on the pad and see how it lays. This is most pivotal on the boot, as the key to making it work here is a nice, close fit to the contour of the boot area. I used a set of work gloves to handle the plastic, as the heat gun was operating at ~1000ºF.
To get the plastic molded, I heated it and molded it by hand. After finding the right shape, I put the plastic into a bath of cold water. If I didn't do this, the plastic would lose its shape and just flatten out once again. Having never worked with this material before and never done anything like this in general, it was something of a learning experience.
One easy way to tell if the plastic was overheated was if it became clear. Being that ultra high molecular weight polyethylene is a thermoplastic, its turning clear indicated that the large polymer chains were getting enough energy to slide along each other (if I'm wrong, I apologize; I'm trying to remember polymers
). As they do this, the initial irregular arrangement that led to the semitransparent appearance becomes more regular, which allows more light to go through. Anyway, the key is to heat the plastic past its glass transition temperature, but below its melting point. This is pretty hard to do, though, unless you have an isothermal oven. Thus, it's easier to just eyeball it and make sure it doesn't get clear
Coming back to reality, I found the water bath method to be very easy and effective, as it quickly cooled the plastic and let the plastic keep its new form. This was most essential around the boot, as the gusset, knee, and knee wing are relatively flat.
After forming all of the plastic pieces, I got to work on picking the velcro sizes and shapes. I decided to try and keep it as minimal as possible. I also wanted to make sure that my natural movement in the pad wouldn't break the velcro free of the pad or weaken its hold to the "leather," so I torqued and bent the pad as much as I could and found what were reasonable anchor points. Generally, the boot was again the toughest, as it bulges and flexes a lot. The knee wing was the easiest part, as it simply required that there be velcro
Having used velcro on pads before, I knew that it wouldn't hold very well by itself. I brushed the pad a little with my hand and then turned the female half of the velcro glue side up. I used the heat gun at its lowest setting (~750ºF) to heat the glue for about ten seconds. I also quickly heated the pad, and then I slapped the velcro onto it. To properly align everything, I simply put the male velcro on the now-anchored female velcro and removed the backing. This left the glue on the male side exposed and I heated this similarly to the female side. Note that I did shorten the time here, as the velcro can melt. About 5-7 seconds should work. I then quickly aligned the plastic and pushed it onto the velcro and the piece was done.
This was repeated for all of the pieces and then the pad was placed with the inner leg on a hardwood floor. I was hoping that some slight pressure over time would help ensure that the velcro stuck.
I've used this setup once so far for a PIHA game against the York Typhoon. The change was instantaneously noticeable. When I would kick out for a save (I don't play a very butterfly-based style), my pad just felt like it was effortlessly moving. Sliding across for centering passes and one-timers felt much less painful, but more importantly, I was able to close my five hole much better. I don't know if it was just the teams, but I felt really good out there and got my first pro shutout (8-0)
All in all, I can't comment on the durability, as I've only used the setup once. I'll be taking the pads to practice tomorrow and Thursday, so that's likely when I'll really see how well they stand up. The good thing is that if one piece breaks or it just stops working, I can remove the other pieces and work on a new solution when I get home.
I'm pretty pleased with my work, especially for a first attempt. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. Also, if you have 34" Velocities and want my templates, I can gladly oblige
As per usual, pics to follow...
Also, please excuse my horrible grammar and verb transitions from past to present and back again
If you want to read more about ultra high molecular weight polyethylene or thermoplastics, these Wikis can help (although they may not be entirely reliable):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoplastic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyneema
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