Welding vs dripping Napalm aka Flaming, Smoky Ptex Candles
After deeply napalming my fingers for the last time, I've tossed the flaming/smoky/carbon dripping ptex, and now repair bases with welding wire/rod with a soldering/welding iron. Welds last considerable longer than ptex, if not indefinitely and are actually easier, quicker, safer and more controllable.
Our Pro Fix Base Repair Kit includes a well made, low temp iron designed for welding materials onto sintered and other ski and snowboard bases. Another reason for lower temperatures, beside avoidance of base damage, is to stay below vaporization temperatures of toxic fluoro waxes. Regardless of this design intent, our recommendation is to not do any base work in the presence of fluoros, period. So make sure your bases and work area are devoid of these and other harmful materials and use adequate ventilation for this and all ski and snowboard maintenance tasks, including waxing. Masks are not considered good ventilation and should be considered a placebo and ineffective. We are providing these techniques and recommendations as an assistance and accept no responsibility for this or other maintenance and repair tasks and risks taken on by those willing and able to carefully keep their gear in top shape and prolong useful life.
|
Base Core Shot, Gouge & Patch Weld Repair
(click on image to enlarge)
|
|
|
|
Base Repair Steps:
1) Rough up with light sanding & clean base area around repairs with cleaner and wipe off debris with lint free towel. Especially remove flouros!
2) Heat up welding/soldering iron. While iron is heating, use low heat on repair area with heat gun, hair dryer or wax iron with Teflon sheet.
3) Pull the ribbon, rod/string or stick along the gouge or scratch while pushing or pulling welding/soldering iron keep the tip in contact with the repair material to melt and direct/push it into the gouge or scratch. There are several ways to do this versus pulling the material and do what is easiest. Keep iron moving and go over area to assure good spread and contact.
4) Fill the gouge, nick or scratch to above the base level and let cool and harden. Alternatively, for deep gouges, filling half or so, let cool and harden, then continue filling to above base level. For ptex dripping it's recommended to fill 1/32" (+/-) at a time, but with the heat of the tip, layers already in place melt while trying to add subsequent thin layers. Trying to fill with thin layers, with cooling in between may be worth experimenting with by melting some welding material on back of tip and then smearing into gouge, rather than creating puddles (similar to the patching described above.)
5) Remove excess as described above. Repeat as necessary.
6) Follow repairs with base restructuring to match surrounding base or structure whole base.
7) Clean and wax.
Further Discussion:
Welding rod/string and Bonder Sticks are similar to the welding ribbon that comes in our Pro Fix Base Repair Kit. The string, ribbon and sticks are basically different shapes of the same material. The string is designed for smearing machines, the sticks for welding guns and the ribbon for hand welding with soldering iron. I like the rod/string as it is small diameter and coils into a round tin, where I also keep metal grip and a small panzer file. Others may prefer the ribbon or sticks. In any case, welding thin layers (1/32"-1/16") versus deep pools of material, will last longer. Let each layer cool and contract before applying the next layer.
Small and shallow scratches running the direction of the ski or snowboard are probably insignificant in regards to there affect on sliding performance, and may in effect be considered a form of base structuring and helpful. They are certainly not the priority, whereas gouges and deep scratches against the ski or snowboard length will affect performance and should be repaired.
The metal grip should be thought of as 'primer' as in painting to be an intermediate material between metal or core materials and the final base material. Ptex or welding rod/wire does not bond well to dissimilar materials like metals, fiberglass, and wood (core and edge materials). The metal grip's heat-actuated adhesive does and is designed for gouges and holes at edges and core shots. It is similar to the base material which can be ptexed or welded over (or not). It is a good thing to have around if you accidentally drill through when mounting bindings or for the inserts. It is more pliable than welds and needs to be cut with a panzer/body file versus scraping to avoid tear-out. The panzer is easy & works great with multiple little passes under fingertips on all base repair materials
My favorite used to be a small piece of surform planer, but find repeated light strokes with the small panzer file, followed by flat filing and/or sanding, quick and effective. This is typically followed by some structuring which can hide slight, inconsequential imperfections.
Coming from a carpentry background and familiar with modifying a variety of other materials, I see ski and snowboard bases as similar to working with wood in terms of sanding, chiseling, rasping/filing, planing scraping & cutting and have used a variety of tools with good success.
If you are tentative about welding and cutting materials. Practice on a gouged piece of wood or plywood. Softwoods like pine are more sensitive than ski bases and harder woods like maple, oak or birch would be more similar. If you can weld without burning the wood, you're ready to try it on ski or snowboard bases. Try older boards first.
If you have comments, questions or other tips, please contact us as your feedback is invaluable.
