Metal plate vs G10

[A_B]

Looking to move my Animal bindings to a single plate.

 

Have a Radar universal metal plate and some funky white G10 I bought a while back.

 

Any thoughts on stiffness of each effecting ski flex?

 

I am a "heavier" skier, so a stiff ski is not necessarily a bad thing. My favorite all time ski was a 9100 240amp.

[ktm300]

I'm using a Chambon plate (Dennis that is) Miami Ski Nautiques sell them. It is a thin aluminum plate that has studs pressed into it to match HO pattern. It can be dual locked or VHB'd to the ski. Just use nuts to secure the boots. Works great. Of course if you have no intention of skiing on or trying skis without holes, may not be worth spending the money. The plate is thin enough that its effect on flex would be negligible.

[eleeski]

If you ever want to use duallock, go with the G10. For salt water the G10 might be better too.

Flex and weight of the finished binding setup should be similar for either material. The horseshoe plus the plate make it stiff overall. G10 tends to be thicker but softer (and less dense) so the end result is similar.

If you go crazy, lightening holes might be more effective in aluminum because with the thinner dimension of the aluminum you might feel the holes less.

Use whatever you like working with.

Eric

[A_B]

KTM,

 

So you leave the boots on the original plates and bolt the plates to the new plate?

 

I was thinking of bolting the boots to a new plate and not musing the separate plates.

[ktm300]

Yes AB that is correct. May not be for you but it does provide a lot of options for a ski w/o inserts. I am on a Goode. My front plate has slots not holes and the rear is a wileys with holes. Between the infinite adjustment of the front with slots and moving the Chambon plate with dual lock, I can put either the front or rear wherever I want. Also maintains the option to just mount the two individual plates to an inserted ski. On my daughters ski, I bought a G10 plate from Mike Erb and mounted her Wileys horseshoes directly to the G10 w/o the aluminum plates. That worked well also. If I need to move her feet apart as she grows, I'll just drill new holes in the plate.

[lkb]

KTM, I'm using the Chambon plate with VHB on my warp. I think it's a great option for skis that don't need to be drilled. I'm surprised more Goode owners don't use it. I think if the plate is velcroed instead of VHB it would be wise to cover every sq inch of it. I bet it would bend very easily if it ever did release in a fall.

[ktm300]

10-4 lkb. plate covered with 400, ski w/250.

[jdarwin]

The one advantage of G-10 over aluminum is bending vs breaking.  I've yet to see a G-10 plate break but I'm certain it could happen.  Aluminum will bend.  Getting the aluminum plate back to original shape (straight) is a pain.  Once bent, the tensile strength of aluminum is compromised as well.  The aluminum plate affects the release parameters of the dual lock.  One of the skiers on this site (Jones) can speak to the differences and why he uses G-10 over aluminum.

[scoke]

 

The Chambon plate is a great option for some skiers but not all. Once that thing is on there, ITS ON THERE. (I presume that is Dennis Chambon's design??)

 We had a Chambon plate on a Warp and tried getting it off to put dual lock and a set of powershells on it. We were standing there with a 3k-4k loaner ski,  two flat head screw drivers a hammer, a hacksaw, crowbar and had zero success. At that point, no way in hell we were going to get that plate off that ski let alone break that darn ski.

 

 

[Ed_Johnson]

Joe,

Just wanted to tell you, this summer, I not only broke a G-10 Plate, I shattered it. Hit 2 ball at 38, rebounded violently, flipped, and separated from the ski. These were fairly new Powershell 5's. The rear boot and plate were fine but the front plate totally shattered.

I have heard that some skiers have been cutting the G-10 Plate in half for better separation and to increase flex. Would like to here more about this.

Also. if you use waterfilled buoys, make sure they are tightly tethered. This one had a loose line but it is not visible from a distance since it sits level in the water from the weight. I have since replaced all the buoys with the Goode Bubble-buoys. No problem with several skiers having hit them.

Ski Well,  ED

[lkb]

I saw Wim removing a Chambon-like plate that he had VHB'd to his ski last winter. He got it off with a crowbar...it did look like he was about to break the ski though. It's definitely best to measure twice and vhb once. The reason I like it is because I was sick of velcro being my release system and I wanted to try a reflex on a ski that couldn't be drilled(warp).

[eleeski]

Ed, my trick bindings are highly stressed - cut into small plates with lots of badly placed holes. I have broken several G10 plates - none causing injury (but the plate is designed to come off the ski). When I used aluminum, the plates would bend (becoming unuseable) and break at a much higher rate. G10 is not perfect but I prefer it.

Eric

[Deanoski]

I have a g-10 plate that has been covered in carbon one sheet top and bottom.

Then I bolt the boots directly to the carbon/g-10 plate. it nice have the same spacing when you try new skis.  I have the the front fixed and the rest of the 8 inserts are sloted so the plate flexs.

 

I believe it also beefs up the tortional stiff of the ski having the Boots on a 1 piece plate.

 ski swap time winter for summer!

 

Deano

[KM]

I removed my G-10 plate that was attached to the ski with VHB tape.  First, I heated the plate with a hair dryer to soften the tape and adhesive.  Then I carefully wedged a sharpened wooden paint stick between the plate and ski to pry the plate off while still heating the plate.  Worked pretty good, but you must be patient.

I also think a strong Kevlar string or fishing line pulled tight would work to slice through the tape between the plate and ski with minimal damage to the ski.  This is similar to how they remove an automobile windshield.

 

 

[9400]

I hate to be the dummy here....but that never stopped me before. What is VHB tape? thanks

[KM]

VHB is a high strength double sided tape made by Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3M-Industrial/Adhesives/Product/Bonding-Tapes/VHB-Tape/

[clemsondave]

The only G10 plates Ive seen break have been Goode's. They use square corners on the holes. That creates a weak point. I've seen two break, both at the corners of the holes. I make my own plates and use round or oval holes, but IF I had a Goode plate, I'd take a file and round out those corners.

 

If you want to add stiffness, get a thicker G10 plate. It comes in several thicknesses.

[eleeski]

Clemson, be careful of too thick a G10 plate - it is quite heavy. Hopefully the stiffness of the ski is properly engineered so you don't have to add extra stiffness. The thicker plate will be stronger but do you really want a ski (or binding) to last forever at the expense of a sluggish heavy feel.

Another way of attaching a plate is with silicone adhesive. Silicone is straightforward to remove. A sharp putty knife slipped under the plate will cut the silicone so the plate comes off. And the silicone will stay on. I've seen skis delaminate when people just tried to rip the silicone attached bindings off. Silicone was very popular in the 80s.

Eric