ArdeFIN

7 hours ago, ser33 said:

I've been looking for Vapor 1X pads for over a year for the same reason. will there be a topic on restoration? look forward to

1X are usually destroyed (skin atleast!) as they are used a lot more than these SR level pads. 

Propably not going to do any major restoration on these as there really isn't a lot to do. Some velcroes were worn and I already replaced those. Opening the whole pad isn't what I'm looking forward to, atleast not in the near future. But maybe at some point.

Tomorrow I'll give these a try without plastic slideplates. A bit afraid of that but if there is not enough speed then I'll just make some plates. It seems really easy to add the plates to these knee blocks.

On 4/3/2024 at 11:47 PM, fever9990 said:

I finally got my wife to come out and take some pictures.

This picture has some meme potential in it but I just can't figure out what. 

New to me Vapor X900 pads. I've been looking for some Bauer Vapor pads to try them out but they always seem to be badly broken (surprise?) or overly pricey. And the offerings have been really limited as Supreme has been much more available.

There are some things to sort out before trying these on ice. Like adding toe straps and the bridge that previous(?) owner has cut off for some reason. Some strappping needs to be fixed and velcro replaced. 

And a bit of cleaning with magic eraser. In the picture right pad has already been operated.

1. It's annoying that C/A is marketed by the whole body length of a person and also wingspan/wrist to wrist/something else to add. But actually to get a proper fit you should use measures like neck-waist and wrist to arm pit to get some real fitting. And for the body part you should also select model between tuck and un-tuck. Sure that would be impossible to fill in with less than dozen of different size combinations or separate body and arm parts. There is a small reference to pads, some manufacturers still list persons height as a measure to select correct pad size while most are already using mainly the ATK/FTK to fit pads.

2. Adjusting C/A but especially arms is a lot more than just let some more length from the shoulder or pull all of the loose off there. It sure does help to hit elbow better or open up/cover wrist better but this is once again fitting yourself to something there is. And again it would reguire a lot of engineering to add some extra adjustments to cover arms better atleast.

I don't know if can write it out what I'm trying to tell you but I've struggled with these fit issues when I made my C/A projects. Not many of them but a few.

Hmm, traps?? 3mm is the basic material as it is rigid enough for thumb and finger plastics. 2mm goes usually for the lip of the T and for the break fill-in slice. 2mm is good for blocker boards too. I've bought 1mm PE too for blocker boards that are still useable but could use a little extra in front of them.

6 minutes ago, jerd31 said:

Flyers managed to smuggle 6’8” Ivan Fedotov out of a Russian gulag and got him to Vorhees Nj, which is arguably worse than being trapped in Russia.  They sent Sandstrom down to the AHL so looks like Fedotov will at least be on the bench right off the bat.  
 

Interesting he’s wearing a Wall mask. 
 

Bauer pads, True gloves, Vaughn pants, CCM C/A (or Vaughn, quessing from the right shoulder floater shape?), Wall mask 

Don't know, but would imagine that more than few KHL goalies use Wall mask.

A few unicorn candidates came to my mind today while fixing the Reactor 9000 blocker. That model is considered very good blocker and actually quite rare too. Now you can get it through Bauer custom. I'll be comparing R9000 and Vapor 1X soon.

The other one from gloves is of course Koho/RBK/CCM/Lefevre/True 580 catcher. That was very rare piece even when you could get it through custom, and only now it is really coming into the market. I'm waiting if it will replace the 600 or 590 in the stores.

1 hour ago, UCLALabrat said:

Theres a lot about the materials and construction that may look superficial but have a huge impact (pun intended) on the performance of the pad (density, foam type, construction/gluing techniques) and improve its ability to absorb and transfer energy back to the puck.

Sure the foam absorbs energy but the design itself can dictate how the energy is dissipated, whether into the leg or back into the puck. Id be very skeptical of any claims regarding the skin material improving rebound control.

Not the skin itself, but the foam attached to the skin. And in Bauer case it is there for good and cannot be removed without force.

That said, they don't apply the same foam on catcher skin material for obvious reasons.

But Bauer isn't the only one doing this and I still believe strongly that it is the whole pad that does the superior rebounds.

Even between Curv and PE plastic sheet there is difference and that added to a sophisticated foam+skin, but also foam under the sheet, makes it happen.

I've made a small test comparing a few different Poron foams and some very basic foams, camping mattress and what ever. Test was simple as foam on a rigid plywood sheet and I dropped a puck to the foam from 50cm height and took a video to see how high the puck bounces.

Well as you might quess most of the Porons I have are energy absorbing and the puck didn't even jump up. While some random foams bounced the puck back up to 100mm height. That's a lot of energy returned.

Puck dropped to the plywood bounced to 15mm of height. 

It might have something to do with the top foam under the front skin of the pad not being energy absorbing but more so energy rebounding. 

Tried to look for some info on energy return of the modern foams and it seems that they reach 70% or even more. 

Speaking of foams I just refurbished a Vapor 1X blocker that had some 5mm thick foam attached to the back of the front face (Cortech) material. Remains to be seen how good the rebound fly will be with that one. I can compare it to a Reactor 9000 with more standard foam setup. Sure the 1X has Curv too while Reactor has old fashion (replaced) 3mm plastic plate. Curv could be more springy and rebouncing plate from the feel of it. 

I've since left all of my "other" combos to storage and only used my CCM HPG12A pants with GT2Pro C/A untucked.

It just works so brilliant and plenty protective and massive presentation. Though I can't say I had any problems with my previous X2Pro pants and GT2 chesty tucked and I could go back to that setup anyday.

People actually laugh at me when I dress up in the locker room when they first see my skinny torso and then with all gear on I'm not so skinny anymore. Cheater and what ever they say 

Cannot give any input for the Bauers but for HPG12A I'm able. I have size L for my 5'10 (180cm) and I'm on the nearly too big and of them. Saying I would really comfortably use size M. I would assume that you fit into size S and M would be too long.

For the waist I don't tuck but could easily do so. HPG12A is really barrel shaped and sized so you should have enough room there. My waist is around 32" and the waist size doesn't usually change between pant sizing until XL/XXL. 

But to size you specifically and perfectly for some gear would need exact measurements and a reference table for the gear too. For pants you should measure thigh length etc as we are very differently built and that affects the fit a lot. So being a 5'5 or 6'0 and 150 or 250lbs gives only guidelines.

All that said the best way to fit is to try the gear on, and for pants you should go to a shop with your pads and C/A to try your setup and make it fit. Sure enough the unused gear in the shop rarely fits right away and needs some breaking-in period too.

Why don't the suspenders do their work? 

I have the same pants and they are literally barrel like and I have to crank the only belt to keep them slim enough. Suspenders required to keep them up and I have the back clip on them high up close to my neck and also I run them crossed in front. No problems that way. 

Doesn't really take out the massive appearance but hey, design of those pants is from the era of covering as much of net as possible and rules allowed a lot.

Do you tuck your C/A? That might also be a reason here. I don't tuck so the C/A doesn't push my pants down.

And a final question that came to my mind, is it only the "looks" that you are thinking or do the pants hinder your movements with not staying up?

On 3/14/2024 at 12:11 AM, RedX said:

I am thinking on looking up Dave Wilcox or someone to reskin it in the summer if that were even possible. 

Reskinning should be an easy job as the foams have a gap between them to sew the parts together. 

For reference I remember reading that Kovas neck protector has so difficult seam that only Topi (the owner) knew how to get it done. Maybe they have improved the design or taught all their workers how to do it nowadays  

On 12/17/2021 at 7:57 PM, ArdeFIN said:

On 3/11/2024 at 3:09 AM, RichMan said:

@ArdeFIN time for an update brother

I'll come back here when I have something to tell about the durability of the materials on this Warrior RX3Pro.

Lucky that I said the above. Nothing to tell so far. The fabric on top is still feeling super thin but even with my beard is like steel wire and usually keep it short and then super abrasive there is no real damage to the material. Yes you can tell the wear from fade of colors and so on.

I have only gotten one shot to the throat with Warrior, got a bit scared but that was it. Not a real hard shot but from close distance.

The foam feels really brittle when it is very cold but I have been patient and let it warm up before wearing it so no problems. I haven't really bent the foam so I don't know if it would ever break even when cold and stiff.

I might want the collar an inch taller and the rounded edges to the collar foam too but other than that it does the job.

On 3/8/2024 at 11:51 PM, RichMan said:

Are you in a smaller size pants? What I mean is, for myself, If untucked, I would go medium so my c/a can still offer a bit of wrap near the ribs and not catch at the front. Otherwise I'd be in XL and just tuck.

Nope, size L all the way. And that is, atleast Warrior is the same size on waist but the length changes between sizes...

Don't know the sizing idea of the HPG12A model, but I chose the size L because I previously had size M Premier pants that were a bit too short.

I've used both of these tactics but don't like the INT socks to go down to my ankles. And actually the SR socks cut to the length of my Warrior knee pads are better fit than INT socks without cutting.

But for easier setup, and if you want a cut protection from socks, the INT size is the way to go. SR makes a better fit but also a lot more effort. 

This comment goes with my thin shins/calves and Warrior knee pads. 

Don't you want above knee curve and not below knee to close the five hole if Butterfly is narrow?

I couldn't close my five with my R/GT pads before I sent them to Kova Repairs to add some above knee curve and then it started to work for me. Now only half of the shot go in anymore. Or something like that, can't really keep up on counting them 

On 3/4/2024 at 11:20 PM, wigalicous said:

@ArdeFIN I recently picked up a pair of old Reebok HPG pro pants from which I can tell are quite similar to the CCM HPG12 pants. Are these pants designed for the chesty to be untucked? I have previously tucked my P1 into my bauer pants but I haven't quite been able to dial in my comfort level of tucking my chestie into the Reebok pants. I feel the chestie moves up when I go down into my butterfly and it interferes with my mask and my ability to see pucks in close on the ice when I am trying to cover it. I also moved from a P1 to a Warrior G2 pro chestie so maybe it is the chestie and not the pants that is the issue. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks. 

My HPG12 being so new are really stiff on the waist area but that could also be partly because I have only used these in non-tuck setup. But for that stiffness I couldn't imagine myself to fit things in while tucking my C/A. Mainly as the waist area is so barrel shaped and stiff in all directions it would hold the shape while going down and the required space is only found upwards. 

That said if I could open the waist area enough it could still be possible that the pants could rise up over the stomach area of the C/A and work without dramas. But I'm really happy how my R/GT2 and HPG12 setup is working untucked so I don't see any reason to even try it out.

You mean there is rust in the edges of the hole? As fiberglass isn't going to corrode to rust. But the rust being very strong and filling in material when it's generating (Stuck screws and what else) it can seem that there is rust in the fiberglass. It's not going to harm anything just scrape off what you easily can and leave the rest of it.

With Bauer masks atleast they use the ellipse shaped nuts that have to fit tight to the hole to hold the nut from turning around when you tighten the screws.

You only need to drill out the head of the screw and not all the way through to the nut. After you get the head off you the nut out from behind and the button part will fall out too. Just did this with a Bauer 960.

I don't thing you will have enough luck that the WD40 or similar will release the screw. It is just too much corroded (rust between threads inside) and stuck because of that.

This doesn't look really comfy or properly working for knee pads?

17 hours ago, coopaloop1234 said:

I'm nothing but a big hater for Lefebvre gear, mainly gloves, but even my ccm premier 2.9 catcher (senior, offshore) glove was easy enough to break in correctly and to have very little issue bringing it into a game. 

I saying that, it was still one of the worst gloves I've had for break in time and effort needed, but, it was still pretty benign in the overall picture 

I made a dig-into for Premier 2.9 and I hate the CCM/LeFebvre gloves even more and mostly because they are so stiff. Difficult to close and even more so when you try to open wide. I don't like to hit the T to something (blocker?) to open my glove. That is why I make my gloves soft enough to operate with hand inside only. Not all of them have become fantastic and I've gotten rid of them later on as I don't like to use them so why hold them either.

I still argue that most of the build problems with overseas gear are from the layers designed awfully wrong and when the holes are so much off from where them should be there is no gear builder anywhere who can make it work well without modifying something. I have shown my findings in the mod projects and how I've added new holes to the "right" places to make everything work better. Brian's for some reason isn't really good in having the holes lined up properly. It isn't the most difficult job in new glove design.

Yes, letting in so much lace that you can do the lacing as planned helps somewhat, but then the glove isn't properly built and that will lead to other problems later on when the glove gets used.

Warrior glove design is really good in that overseas aspect and I can't really see any need to lace the gloves as they are done by others who all copy the same basic design. Though recent models are laced so that the inner laces don't come through the face but I don't know if that benefits anything to the operating of the glove. Vaughn (and Simmons and who else copied or was it Vaughn who copied) had similar "Warrior" type of design in their V3 7000 glove. That glove is really smooth and soft and protective. And that glove is really easy to add extra protective layer(s) without sacrificing to the stiffness.

The parts used to build a catcher are actually punched wrong to start with, hole alignment between layers can be nearly an inch off. And as far as I know they don't do any holes with hand tools so it's not "custom" problem.

On 1/20/2024 at 4:56 AM, xmikex32 said:

.... Only thing that threw me off is how long the pocket is instead of open if that makes sense. I feel like opening my Mach up covered more area but when I open this glove it’s not as much area covered…if that makes sense and I have broken it in yet so I might be jumping the gun. 
 

 

 

This is what always annoys me about the 580 gloves, they just don't open wide. Not pancake but just open.

I think it mostly is because of the T edge (lip), which is really short. This is from the glove being quite big in other parts which takes off some length from the perimeter 45 inches.

Can you take an approx measure of the perimeter length Bauer has come up to? As Bauer usually is nearly an inch from the limit.

That cuff edge doesn't look like quality custom product but also doesn't really matter catching pucks though.

13 hours ago, dreadlocked1 said:

@ArdeFIN I saw you did some surgery with a com unit.  Looking forward to rereading that thread for the work on the arms you did.  The short arms on mine are nice but I have a gap near the forearms I'm looking to possibly add a piece of knee guard or something to fill the gap.  

Near forearms? Not saying it isn't possible but from what I experienced with my unit I had more trouble with the bicep area being open and the elbow floater hanging a bit low too so that the forearms were well protected. And actually that made some problem with my gloves too.