Vaughn 7500 blocker

[ArdeFIN]

All the "big" gloves are done for now so I digged into my boxes and found this good old Vaughn blocker that was waiting for repairs to pair up with the 7500 catcher that I did earlier. I didn't find topic about that so obviously I never did one. But I should have a few pictures to tell the tale about that glove too.

So the glove is dismantled already and some repairs done. Most of these are done because of normal wear and tear. The plates have been refurbished in some time with new palm and some re-enforcements. 

Thumb area is the first to do, as usual the paddle had done some damage and the shape the thumb protector was a bit off. These came out pretty nice so it seems that training really does improve skills. 

One from the outside. the cut for stick was increased towards the "7500" logo for a full 10mm and the HD padding was cut even more there to soften the area a bit.

Smaller thumb protector add-on was cut from top to get a leveled surface there instead of peak.It's a bit shallow now (and useless) so I might need to raise it for some 10mm.

The plastic plate was straightened and cut to fit in the new shape. It also needed some additional cutting from the wrist end because it didn't match the pocket it should go into. Now it's tightly in there as it was to be from the factory. I should have those cutted pieces so I can take a picture of them. It's kind of funny that a such plastic sheet is off shaped while the target shape is so simple and these gloves have been made atleast some hundreds?

One from inside. Black velcro there is for the air pillow and it's original, that's good job it is made detachable.

Last one is about the inner thumb protector. I just got it into parts to see what's in there. The fabric inside was loose like there was an inch of extra material. Actually not that much but I'll try to add some 10mm of jenpro to outside and at the same time do the re-enforced binding there too. The plastic here is also shaped way off of what it should be. But luckily it's almost only extra material that I can cut away and make it fit better. The small tab pointing down is very much curled in and that needs to be straightened too. It's wearing through the fabric in a near future if not.

I'm yet to decide about the palm. I'm tempted to make the Warrior palm setup once again but I only have one G5 palm at the moment and it's in the CCM waiting to get tested. As mentioned earlier the palm of the glove was in good condition as it had been changed before I got the glove. But that palm is so small and short fingered that I can't use it pleasantly.

[ArdeFIN]

Decided to include the Warrior option in the thumb anyway. It'll only need a slice of velcro to hide the hook side and implement of some cord to attach the thumb, if I don't go the Warrior route here.

The extended jenpro re-enforcement is about the same line as the inner fabric, but it looks to be extended a lot. It remains to be seen how it fits in with all other parts or will it be too extended, It'll need some rethinking to move it inwards. Hopefully it will flare inwards and leave enough space for stick.

One picture from above, the binding was a disaster once again. And as can be seen from the line of holes, there was some space to spare from the original stiching of the binding.

One picture from lower angle, see the extension on the bottom too. This is first time for me to try this sort of modification and it's a bit of struggle to make it do at all. Hopefully it is working when everything is back together.

The original jenpro is so shaped into that it'll take some time to mold into the new shape. Overall the target is pretty much achieved, how well did I get it done is to be seen.

What I'm seeing from the pictures it might be that I need to shift the edge inwards a lot more. Comparing to the Eflex3 there is a lot more room for the stick.

[ArdeFIN]

Then one picture where both of the thumb protectors are together as they are supposed to. The airpillow is missing from between but it won't change how the edges align with each other.

The picture of the material that was cut out.

Left most is the top of the flap. From top is the plastic, edge of the foam, jenpro on the outside, and more of the foam. The foam was originally sewn inside the binding but that's a hard task for my machine so I decided to cut the foam of a bit more. It didn't make any noticeable difference to the result.

[ArdeFIN]

First you try it and see how it goes, then you fix it. Or try atleast.

10mm cut from the vertical edge including foam inside. Just a slight touch to the horizontal line to make it line nicely. Now it looks pretty much what I was trying to achieve in the first try. The triangle jenpro is not cut, for your reference to the earlier pictures.

The same from inside. I did sew the mid "break" line all the way through but that's mostly visual effect. The foams inside were originally cut in two.

Last one to visualize the alignment to the outer panel, now the paddle should fit clear in there and save the jenpro a bit longer. And also enable the paddle to work more freely.

Dang Ho*or camera is not very co-operative anymore, focusing all over the place except the target.

[ser33]

excellent work as always. I own the same blocker. I also had to do a lot with it, but I went further and modernized it based on current trends, primarily bauer vapor 2x pro

[ArdeFIN]

Thanks.

A little bit forward again, actually involved quite a lot of sewing for so modest progress.

Added the velcro for palm attachment.

Moved the wrist strap loop end 10mm towards wrist and installed it into the seam instead of flat surface. Now it's more on line with the strap itself. Finished the seam with palm attachment sidepanel which originally was more forward and upside down. Now I have a bit more surface for the strap holes.

And fixed that hole at the end of side panel. Noted this earlier already but Vaughn uses their special white jenpro which isn't easily available. I've salvaged small slices from the T parts I've fixed earlier.

The side panel was sewn a bit off of the intended line marked by those holes. Same thing with the finger protectors. Looks to be more of a guidelines than actual "put it here" marks. 

Next in the todo list are fingerprotectors which are quite unique compared to what all of the manufacturers use today. But nothing bad in the design though and they should become very useable.

[ArdeFIN]

Todays achievements:

 

The glove isn't washed yet so it is really that dirty and will be atleast a bit better after wash.

I went with Warriors style to attach the fingers to protectors, through and velcro because the dark grey flaps gave some trouble. 

To bottom I added about 15mm of jenpro to attach the flaps to blocker itself and adding some 15mm of height to cover the longer fingers of the Warrior palm. And my hand.

Next I'll add the same flap to the blocker and punch some holes to tie things up. Then some more sewing with sideplates and then to the washing and it should be done!

[ArdeFIN]

Today it began to get back together.

First some holes to finger protector:

Then added a similar piece of jenpro to the base of the blocker, moved it some 10mm forward to give room for bigger palm and longer fingers:

And the side plate which is on the picture above too:

The far edge on the right was a bit of a difficulty to sew with my machine as it is so thinspace inside and I'm trying to go without more undoing of the edge and binding. I managed it quite well though and only thing I would fix is that the whole side plate is sewn few millimeter off from the original line so there is a bit of a loose space inside now. But it looks ok and if there is no big problem when plates are stuffed in I'll leave it as it is now.

Now it's only the inner plate/thumb protector and index finger protector and then sew in the edge. Not a long journey anymore.

I was thinking about skipping the washing as the palm is clean, but I'll do it to clean up all the old fabric. It'll do some good for those getting the dirt and grease and all off from there. Back to soft and flexible again.

[ArdeFIN]

When something gets into your mind it'll annoy you forever. So I had to fix sewing there while I had a chance.

Now the sew goes in nice straight line and is like it should.

From inside it looks like this.

Between the sideplates. The pillow is missing here but that's only a pillow in white nylon.

Then I was going to insert the plating when I realised those aren't repaired yet. The top 1mm PE plate has gotten quite a lot of puck beating and needs to be warmed and flattened in press. Also the bottom soft foam was ripped off from glue and that was re-glued obviously.

Partial picture of the layers here. White layers are hard foamed plastic, the grey in between is quite the same as camping mattress. Black layers are softish HD foam. 1mm PE sheet not included in this picture, it's not glued in but goes freely which I think is good for durability and the sheet can be renewed easily if necessary.

The package is labeled "V4" on top which implies it's a renewed setup instead of original. The cuttings on the edges are quite rough, home made feeling. Doesn't really matter if it works though.

[johncho]

Seeing how you simply made it accept Warrior palm inserts is really interesting to me, and then I guess afterwards you have the luxury of replacing the palm/washing the palm more easily. I have an CCM blocker with a completely destroyed palm that smells like the devil and I'm very tempted to try this. But I'm uncertain of its difficulty, and I don't have access to a sewing machine nor do I know how to use one (only a speedy stitcher).

[ArdeFIN]

There's some more involved than just Warrior palm but you sure get the big picture of it for CCM. 

I think the biggest thing to solve for doing this mod with Speedy stitcher is the thumb attachment. Backhand velcro sheets are easy to do and finger protectors should go pretty easy with speedy too, atleast if you do the Warrior style and go through the protectors with those velcros like I did with this Vaughn.