Slide plates home made

[ArdeFIN]

As I bought the GT2 pads and needed the PE plates to slide properly I thought now that Warrior is already selling these I could just make a little how-to-make-them-by-yourself description.

What you need:

2mm PE or other plastic sheet about 20cm x 40cm piece. PE is my preferred plastic type for hockey gear things and 2mm is thick enough but very easy to heat up and mold.

Exacto knife

Heat gun @ 300 celsius

Carton to make a template

Pieces of board, lumber, ply sheet for moulds, will help a lot 

Then we begin with some templating. I just cut a wide enough sheet of thin carton, cut it into close shape and then fit in, think of the plastic and how it can be bent to desired shape and cut a bit more. And doesn't need to say that the pad is needed in this phase also? It's possible that the plate has to be asymmetric for right and left pad as the knee block might be different shape in the corners and blocks attachment to pad can be what ever.

Here's the template on the plastic sheet that is cut from a bigger sheet "close to the measurements".

Draw a line with sharp pin, knife or what ever. Doesn't need to cut deep yet and the carton isn't helping to guide the blade, don't even try.

As the PE sheet gets very static charge it will attract the dust, which can be then used to highlight the drawings.

Cut a new sharp edge for the knife if possible and draw the first line, don't need to use extensive pressure here! Actually a lot easier to almost just slide the blade on the plastic.

Actually the lines in the picture above are after the first cut already.

Then repeat with slight pressure and follow the cut carefully. After four-five repeats the cut is already going through. Corners were easy so those are already cut out.

Don't try to cut from the other side and keep cutting from one side only, the knife follows the cut really easily when there is a little pressure on and the angle of the blade is big enough. Outside corners are easier as you can slip to outside from the cut and it doesn't affect the result. But if the plastic sheet is cut into the piece that is to be used then the game is pretty much over as it isn't really repairable! Ofcourse depending on the depth of the cut too. But it starts to crack pretty easily when cold and bent etc that happens when in use.

So take your time and cut carefully. Also be cautious to the blade, it cuts fingers super easily too!

And this is what I have after an hour of working, starting from gathering all the tools and materials to two cut pieces of plastic sheet.

There is also a mistake on the template that caused a bit of a headache during the molding... 

[ArdeFIN]

Then it was obviously time to heat things up.

I had most of wooden molds readily available from previous projects but some were created during this process.

First I made the easy ones, high side edges that keep the plate in place against the long edges of the block.

The roundness on the wood is about 5mm radius (pre-milled, not made by me) so pretty small but suits the 2mm plastic. For 3mm sheet I'd go for bigger radius to keep the bent corner smooth.

There is a very thin line to target the inside edge to. Inside is easier in my opinion as you don't have to account the thickness of sheet or anything but just bend the sheet to 90 degrees against the wood. More heat was applied to the outside and less to inside to make the outside softer and stretch that small length instead of getting the inside to wrap up.

That was easy, both sides to 90 degrees and cool down with cold tap water. The sheet can be re-heated and bent if the result wasn't what expexted and if the plastic wasn't melt it can be returned to pretty much beginning state. Sure the heating and cooling process does change the plastic so less times heated up is better here.

Then to the more difficult part which is the edge to the front face of the pad. This edge has to be shallow so that can't scrap the jenpro but still high enough so that it doesn't catch the roughness of the ice when sliding. Rounded would the proper term here.

After doing these I remembered that should've left this edge some 5mm longer than I did. The extra helps the bending a lot but is also waste material after as it is then cut off. So I saved that 5mm of plastic sheet and 15 minutes of extra trouble of setting the mould to make roundness I wanted. 

Wood here is specifically cut to make this edge. Took some minutes to cut and round the corners but saved a lot of time and effort and the result on the plate is very nice and I was also able to repeat the process on the second plate.

Then that headache mentioned. After bending the "rear" edge up I had the corners to do which are also rounded to bigger radius while bent up. I should've left some 10mm of sheet into the corners here to get the edge rounded and looking nice and properly done. Well I didn't so I had to cut the corner a bit and melt the plastic to stretch a bit of extra from there too. I will work though as that spot isn't really doing anything but the rounded edge to prevent catching the ice. Green line on the picture is to mimic the plastic I wasn't supposed to cut out.

I also made more rounded corners to the wood piece that I used to bend the front edge but that didn't work here either as the bend had to be drawn inwards a lot.

But after getting that sorted out these short corners were easy to do. This was actually the only place where I did carefully melt the plastic to stretch it but also to make it easier get the three dimensional rounded corner.

The edges are shallow on the corners but should be enough to slide around properly. Holes are already drilled and all the edges rounded and sharp edges dulled or cut.

The center of the plate is convex after heating the plate and that is in my opinion a desired thing as the edges are lift up more and the pressure is on the middle of plate as much as the 2mm plastic sheet does give any support here. But better than being concave.

[ArdeFIN]

Last but not least is the installing which after a lot of fitting and proven system was nothing really challenging.

A few tweaks that I made for these include that the knots are hidden inside the plastic. This is more of a visual thing than anything really important to do. Looks clean when the knots aren't there. 

Front lace (right in the picture) goes between the knee block and the pad. This is still the "old style" pad where knee block isn't heavily attached to the pad. Might be difficult to lace the plate this way in newer Bauer pads for instance.

The other lace goes over the block and is trapped behind the grey ridge that is only as wide as seen in the picture. 

Laces only keep the plate against the block and prevent it from moving back and forward while there are also those edges for that too.

The only knot left visible is the front below the block. It could be hidden too but would take a lot of effort for basically no reason. And could propably loosen the attachment which isn't really desired.

Different angle for the same thing. The plate is just that much out from the sliding surface of the pad that it takes most of my weight to the ice. I can still control my movements and speed by using my ankle pressure and ofcourse the skate blade.

Total time spent to make these plates was about 4 hours including all fitting and whatever hazzle there was with tools and materials. So it really isn't fast and in no way profitable to make these for sale. But if you have some hand skills other than catching pucks and own the few tools required then you should be able to do your own slide plates.

Any questions for how I made something here that I didn't tell please do ask. I'm not educated plastics worker so I may have some faults in my process too. If you know better and can give me advise I would appreciate a lot.

Thanks and happy sliding!

[dreadlocked1]

From my own experiences and time on GSBB, you gotta make these out of hmwpe or they'll shatter from a shot.  Let us know how they work out, they look fantastic.

[ser33]

as always fantastic work. I admire your patience, accuracy and attention to detail

[ArdeFIN]

On 8/10/2023 at 3:07 AM, dreadlocked1 said:

From my own experiences and time on GSBB, you gotta make these out of hmwpe or they'll shatter from a shot.  Let us know how they work out, they look fantastic.

Don't really know the exact type of PE these are but it's some of the most basic material I have available at local store.

For so far from 2019 I've made these mods and fixes I've always used this same PE and it has held up on anything thrown to it. I've used it to blocker plates, catcher plates, slide plates and what more.

And I do have similar plates on my GT pads except those are a whopping 4mm thick plate and I made similar 2mm plates to my G5 pads that I got rid of already.

So these should last. 

Edit: Should be PE HD. They advertise it for ice hockey rinks amongst many other purposes...

Edited August 11, 2023 by ArdeFIN

[dreadlocked1]

Sounds like you're good to go then!

[ArdeFIN]

Proven to work! But can't really what was the reason, fresh autumn ice or humidity or what. I had a slide of my life yesterday. As I thought I was accustomed to the slide these PE plates should give there was a lot more. I felt I was all over the crease and more. And without a lot of effort at all. 

I had my new-to-me GT2Pro pads for the first time on ice too but that can't explain all the slideability. Well a few more ice times and I'll know more. And maybe I'll have to take my old trusty GTs in between for once.

For the GT2 vs GT, I was all the same. And for the size, I'm better off with 34+1,5" but I wasn't a huge difference. On the down side I dropped of the block a few times that never has happened with my GT pads. But that was propably from the loose knee sling. The nylon part of it to be exact as the stretchy part of it was snug. And comparing to the G5, the GT2 was everything I missed while I used the G5. So I'd say that if Warrior doesn't have the option to make the leg channel narrow on G6 then I'm out of Warriors pads as a future choice. I need the leg channel to be narrow but not too snug fit.

Edit: Maybe this comparison text should be somewhere in those Warrior pad threads....

Edited August 14, 2023 by ArdeFIN