Bauer 2S Professor Strap Design

[Mroy31]

So I picked up a couple of the magnetic buckles on the SLR RRC strap and have 2 projects in mind for them. The first was to use them on my SLR chesty for quick attach/release, but I think that I sweat too much and those buckles might see a lot of moisture, don't want them to rust out without careful attention. 

The other idea I had was this one. I wasn't able to get the actual RRC strap itself as well, so I Wil have to fashion my own or custom order those. I'm ok with that, my real problem is how to attach the straps to the pads. 

I wish I had a better look at the set Jimmy Howard had in the summer, wasn't sure if Bauer attached those during production, or if an equipment manager did it later on. If Bauer didn't have such ridiculous leg channel walls, this would be easy, but here we are. 

The leg channel walls are like multiple layers of fabric, foam padding, honeycomb foam, mesh. So it's probably not a great idea to just speedy stitch the strap right on there. My current idea is to actually sandwich some Jenpro patches with the speedy stitched, and have the inside patches be like the mushroom strap attachments that the boot strap uses. Then I could try different kinds of straps and if it just doesn't work then it's not like any permanent damage was done. 

I don't really like the idea of attaching them to the laces on the back of the pad. It doesn't feel very consistent in terms of responsiveness and I just cringe at what would happen if one got a little too much friction and broke. Maybe irrational fear, but that's where I stand on that

Picture below of where I'm thinking of putting them in blue. The outside one could also go on the outside edge like the old 1S leather strap options, but that's a little high.  Design feedback or ideas are welcome

[Chenner29]

Here's my experience with the Professor strap:

You want something with minimal elastic. 
Too much elastic and the pad just floats off your leg.  It defeats the purpose of having the strap there in the first place.
Leather strap is probably best, but that would be challenging given the leg channel that you're working with.

IMO the buckle side should be slightly lower than the strap side to accommodate for knee pads/pad rotation.

Based on your pad, you could probably stitch it into the nylon binding, see my red line:

[Mroy31]

I was hoping to do something like that, the binding is pretty flat against the pad though, so still trying to make that work. 

I was thinking a leather strap as well, with a bit of elastic where the buckle attaches for just a bit of give. 

[Mroy31]

@Chenner29 so I'd like to attach the straps to the binding you mentioned, but it is flat against the pad, so any suggestions how to still make that work?

Other options are highlighted here. There are some seams part way through the leg channel wall I could piggy back on. Basically where the 2 pieces are attached to have the plastic ring where the CRS strap goes. The outside binding would be easy to use but oriented about 90 degrees the wrong way. The patch in green or the outside binding might work for the buckle end.

[Chenner29]

4 hours ago, Mroy31 said:

@Chenner29 so I'd like to attach the straps to the binding you mentioned, but it is flat against the pad, so any suggestions how to still make that work?

Other options are highlighted here. There are some seams part way through the leg channel wall I could piggy back on. Basically where the 2 pieces are attached to have the plastic ring where the CRS strap goes. The outside binding would be easy to use but oriented about 90 degrees the wrong way. The patch in green or the outside binding might work for the buckle end.

Try to get it as close to the binding as you can.  In between the blue box you drew and the binding should be good.  Those are low wear areas.
You want the strap perpendicular to the pad, so other areas like the top of the calf wrap won't work.

[Mroy31]

22 hours ago, Chenner29 said:

Try to get it as close to the binding as you can.  In between the blue box you drew and the binding should be good.  Those are low wear areas.
You want the strap perpendicular to the pad, so other areas like the top of the calf wrap won't work.

Yeah, the outer binding would be easier to attach to, but the orientation is way less than ideal.

I think I may go back to your initial suggestion, a curved needle should let me attach it to the binding still.  Might not be able to use the speedy stitcher, but we'll see.  I should at least be able to go in through the binding and out from underneath it with a curved needle..  Might still use the mushroom tab method just for the ease of swapping designs out if I want to tweak it.

[Mroy31]

@Chenner29 Decided to go with your suggestion of attaching to the binding.  Worked with Sara and PAW and we settled on basically a clone of the RRC strap.  One end will be squared off without binding so it can be sewn right to the leg channel binding.  Holes to thread a short strap through the Professor strap pad, then sew some nylon webbing on the outside leg channel binding for the other end of the buckle.

Couple of weeks out, will post when they come in.

[Chenner29]

37 minutes ago, Mroy31 said:

@Chenner29 Decided to go with your suggestion of attaching to the binding.  Worked with Sara and PAW and we settled on basically a clone of the RRC strap.  One end will be squared off without binding so it can be sewn right to the leg channel binding.  Holes to thread a short strap through the Professor strap pad, then sew some nylon webbing on the outside leg channel binding for the other end of the buckle.

Couple of weeks out, will post when they come in.

Awesome, I think you will like it.

What material is being made to put against the binding?

I think a jenpro pocket for a leather strap would be best, very little give with those.

Make sure you get some allowance on the outside portion.  If it's too close to the pad/leg, it will make strapping pads on kind of awkward

[Mroy31]

At this point the plan is to stitch the Nash/Jenpro material right into the leg channel binding.

The strap Sara is making will be Nash on the leg side, then Jenpro on the outside. 

My original idea (now the backup) was to stitch a jenpro mushroom pocket to the binding so I could swap out different designs if I wanted to. This strap design should allow for either though. 

First try will be mimicking how Vaughns RRC strap is, with a length of elastic through the strap, but the strap itself fixed to the pad. Might play around with that elastic component, don't want TOO much give. 

Backup plan will be mushroom strap pocket with leather strap through the professor strap. That will require some MacGyver'ing to get the buckle on the end of the leather strap. The magnets are a design component I am not budging on

[Chenner29]

OK good, nash and jenpro have a pretty good ability to hold a seam.

I've worked with nylon straps (similar to the nylon used in pant belts) and seatbelt straps. 
Both of these tend to shear and fray at the edges unless you fold them over (but that would make it really hard to stitch into the binding)
You don't want to stitch those in as they will inevitably come loose if you put enough strain on the fibers.

IMO you can have a little bit of elastic to get some give (maybe 2-3 inches). 
If you go with a full elastic strap, it will eventually lose its properties and become useless. 
Or the weight of the pad will just pull it to the point where it's useless anyway.

[Mroy31]

And here I thought that side would be the easy part, haha. Maybe I'll use nylon web through the professor strap instead of elastic like Vaughn does, then some elastic on the other side so there's only a small amount of stretch. 

More to think over. Thanks! 

[Mroy31]

Ok, here are some pics of the setup, haven't attached anything yet, but I've got all the pieces. Just want to be super sure how I'm going to do the actual attaching. Wish I still had my 1S set to practice on, but oh well. 

Outside part is a Jenpro tab that I folded back through the fid lock clip and speedy stitched to itself. Inside strap is a pad that Sara at PAW made for me. Small bit of miscommunication that ended up with binding all the way around, but I trimmed that back so I could stitch directly to the nash/Jenpro of the strap. 

The last thing I'm back and forth on is whether to stitch right to the binding, which would require a curved needle and a bit of blind fiddling to get through and out the bottom, or try to speedy stitch the strap to the leg channel wall right near the binding. Maybe a strip of Jenpro on the other side for the stitch to hold stronger to? 

[Mroy31]

Did the thing tonight. 

Went with plan B, which I was a little more comfortable with the stitch type and material. Speedy stitcher through the base of the leg channel wall with a strip of Jenpro to reinforce the opposite side. 

Just couldn't comfortably get a curved needle through the binding material. I trust this heavier waxed thread than the nylon thread I was going to use. 

Just need to try them on with knee pads so I can dial in the length of the nylon straps. Actually pulled the top thigh straps off my old TotalONEs because I needed more length than those black straps in the previous post. 

[Max27]

1 minute ago, Mroy31 said:

Did the thing tonight. 

Went with plan B, which I was a little more comfortable with the stitch type and material. Speedy stitcher through the base of the leg channel wall with a strip of Jenpro to reinforce the opposite side. 

Just couldn't comfortably get a curved needle through the binding material. I trust this heavier waxed thread than the nylon thread I was going to use. 

Just need to try them on with knee pads so I can dial in the length of the nylon straps. Actually pulled the top thigh straps off my old TotalONEs because I needed more length than those black straps in the previous post. 

i remember howard had a RRC style strap in his 2s pads when he demoed them

[Mroy31]

Yeah, that was partly what pushed me to want to do this. Loved the RRC on the SLRs I demo'd, and the CRS strap just doesn't sit quite high enough. 

[gotc]

Great job with the mod! Just wondering, where did you get the padded sleeve part that goes on the nylon strap? I'm exploring this with my 2S set (finding I fall off the block some times) and I have a leather strap, but want that part to go on for more support in that area.

 

[Mroy31]

@gotc Thanks! I got them made by Sara at PAW http://www.protectiveathleticwear.com

[Mroy31]

To wrap up the thread, here they are strapped on. They fit and feel great. Now I just need to shake my paranoia of the stitches coming out because I did them myself haha

[Mroy31]

Update. Since it was so difficult to get into the leg channel where I attached the straps, the stitches loosened slightly and I think the combination of that and the nylon webbing put a lot of stress on the stitches. One or two of them popped but the straps didn't really come loose or affect the fit. 

2 things I did to address that. 

1. Switch to elastic straps. It's way easier to put them on, especially when they are so snug, and it puts less stress on the stitches because there is more give in the straps. 

2. At the suggestion of @TheGoalNet I reached out to Kenesky to see if they would be able to secure the straps better than I did.

That second thing turned into a bit of an adventure. I know that with their custom sets and the popularity of their new c/a units (and their own professor strap attachment) that mods like this aren't their core business, but I got a reply from Mike at Kenesky that they'd be willing to do it. 

I live about an hour from the shop and I'm not playing this summer so I had tons of time. Drove in one day to check out the shop and drop off my pads. Talked with a guy there (I think his name was Dave?) about what I wanted done and he said he'd either fit them onto their stitching machine or do it manually with stronger thread. He said it would be a week or two since they had some sets they needed to turn around quickly, so that was fine, I didn't need them soon anyway, and was willing to wait. 

3 weeks go by, no contact. I email Mike, he says Dave was off that day but would get on them the next day. A week later and no word, emailed and Mike said they'd be done that day. I had a morning the next week I could get back to pick them up and he said that would work. 

That day was today. I got to the shop and Dave asked how he could help, I pointed to my pads and said I was there to pick them up. He said that Mike hadn't had a chance to stitch them up yet and was surprised that I was told to come pick them up that day. He offered for me to come back that afternoon and they'd be done for sure, but when I told him I was in from an hour out of town he said he'd get right to work. 

20 minutes later, some finagling with the pads and the machine and another set of hands helping him out and they were done. Dave said it would be no charge which was really nice even though I still offered to pay (although we never talked price...), so I was really just out the gas to get there and back a couple times. 

Ultimately it's not their core business, and these aren't even any of their products, so I don't really take it as a reflection of Kenesky. Probably just a miscommunication between guys at the shop and taking on what looked like a pretty small project. But, the communication with me was definitely lacking and I seemed pretty in line with the couple of c/a stories from other users here. 

I was also expecting some heavier thread but it was 20 minutes of work and I'm pretty confident in the combination of my stitches and theirs. 

Here's where one of my stitches had loosened, now reinforced. 

Other side

The other end with just the buckle (outside of leg channel), no issues with stitching there but reinforced anyway. 

[TheGoalNet]

On 8/27/2019 at 8:22 PM, Mroy31 said:

Update. Since it was so difficult to get into the leg channel where I attached the straps, the stitches loosened slightly and I think the combination of that and the nylon webbing put a lot of stress on the stitches. One or two of them popped but the straps didn't really come loose or affect the fit. 

2 things I did to address that. 

1. Switch to elastic straps. It's way easier to put them on, especially when they are so snug, and it puts less stress on the stitches because there is more give in the straps. 

2. At the suggestion of @TheGoalNet I reached out to Kenesky to see if they would be able to secure the straps better than I did.

That second thing turned into a bit of an adventure. I know that with their custom sets and the popularity of their new c/a units (and their own professor strap attachment) that mods like this aren't their core business, but I got a reply from Mike at Kenesky that they'd be willing to do it. 

I live about an hour from the shop and I'm not playing this summer so I had tons of time. Drove in one day to check out the shop and drop off my pads. Talked with a guy there (I think his name was Dave?) about what I wanted done and he said he'd either fit them onto their stitching machine or do it manually with stronger thread. He said it would be a week or two since they had some sets they needed to turn around quickly, so that was fine, I didn't need them soon anyway, and was willing to wait. 

3 weeks go by, no contact. I email Mike, he says Dave was off that day but would get on them the next day. A week later and no word, emailed and Mike said they'd be done that day. I had a morning the next week I could get back to pick them up and he said that would work. 

That day was today. I got to the shop and Dave asked how he could help, I pointed to my pads and said I was there to pick them up. He said that Mike hadn't had a chance to stitch them up yet and was surprised that I was told to come pick them up that day. He offered for me to come back that afternoon and they'd be done for sure, but when I told him I was in from an hour out of town he said he'd get right to work. 

20 minutes later, some finagling with the pads and the machine and another set of hands helping him out and they were done. Dave said it would be no charge which was really nice even though I still offered to pay (although we never talked price...), so I was really just out the gas to get there and back a couple times. 

Ultimately it's not their core business, and these aren't even any of their products, so I don't really take it as a reflection of Kenesky. Probably just a miscommunication between guys at the shop and taking on what looked like a pretty small project. But, the communication with me was definitely lacking and I seemed pretty in line with the couple of c/a stories from other users here. 

I was also expecting some heavier thread but it was 20 minutes of work and I'm pretty confident in the combination of my stitches and theirs. 

Here's where one of my stitches had loosened, now reinforced. 

Other side

The other end with just the buckle (outside of leg channel), no issues with stitching there but reinforced anyway. 

Have you used them yet? Does it feel better?

[Mroy31]

21 minutes ago, TheGoalNet said:

Have you used them yet? Does it feel better?

I haven't skated since March, not sure when I'll get back on the ice yet.  I'm having to re-learn how to squat/lunge/be a goalie etc. while using all my leg muscles and not just the ones in the front/inside as if I'm skating on my toes the whole time.  So that's been fun.

They never really felt different, it was just that I noticed the stitches pulling a bit when I was unpacking one day, so I'm not anticipating a huge change in feel.  I was actually a little surprised that the thread wasn't a little heavier in terms of strength, but it was like a 20min "sorry we dropped the ball" operation.  I think if I had gone with elastic straps in the first place then I wouldn't have had as much give in the stitches.

[#16]

@Mroy31 what is the length of the leather/nash piece?