ArdeFIN

Would those of you who have used one of this or similar design Vaughn chestys tell me at which areas have you got stingers in wearing these units? As getting a stinger on arm isn't really precise to understand the real weak spots in the design. What I've seen with this unit now is that I would expect to get some at the area of the elbow floaters which are really poor in design. There are always weak spots but are there any that repeatedly get/give the beating.

Got a bit over thrown of the gloves now and took the VE8 back on stage. I managed to get some of that webbing fabric, not the same as Vaughn using, but similar enough. So how would I get the forearms longer? Well there is a seam hidden under the elbow floaters so I took everything apart to see what's up. Luckily only the floaters are sewed in and only at one side while the other side is laced in. Interesting solution as what is the reason of lacing the other side? Taking it in use though with some elastic lace to make the floaters a bit more mobile. Not that there isn't enough mobility already but just to try it out. Ok then the seam. Opened the binding and there is a normal seam between forearm and bicep part. Undo that and add material in between and sew everything back together. I didn't cover the seams with binding but instead used some on the outer edges to make it look finished. Floater will hide the seam though binding might give some strength too. But this is not a high wear area nor it is subjected to huge forces except pucks hitting there, hopefully. So here's how it was at that time. Actually this is going back together already. The bicep protections pouch is sewed and I added a jenpro slice to the shoulder to make some adjustability there too. I also added 10mm thick LD foam to the whole area of the sleeve in between the fabric layers. I like the Browns structure better, there are no pouches for the protective parts but those are just in between the fabrics and sewed around to hold in place. Then some more sewing, adding the slice of webbing fabric and some more sewing. Here I added about 50mm of fabric and with 10mm on both edges used to sew the parts the added length is about 30mm. Closeup of the jenpro attachment. Many holes for adjusting the height also. In manufacturing way of thinking I don't understand the need nor the idea of the seam here covered with binding. Why is it needed? Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just cut a single part or atleast only add the small tab going to the back. But there is a lot on these I can't figure out why it is done the way it is.

Turned out to be a goalie? But isn't this a sort of religion too? Just had to throw this in... My recent gear pictures are in the mods topics.

If there is already one I wasn't able to find please guide me there and add this picture in also. I'll start weighting my golve stock to see what is heavy and who are light ones. Picture is obviously from FB / JT At Simmons, most of you have seen this already. The lightest blocker I've seen IRL is Stomp at 650g. My lightest catcher is about 950g, Simmons UL. (This might change after I get all of my gloves weighted)

You are referring to lock pliers? For opening the screws, you might try to tighten the nut instead of opening. Then the clued portion would come outwards from the nut and clear the threads. If you can makew the bolt tighten a bit and then open it might get opened after several repeats. Hindsight: using a thread lock instead rapid clue would be advisable and getting rid of those screws and replace them with some cord would be the best choice.

Not an expert on this but have to say, the welds are the weak spot when bending the wires on cage. But ofcourse it is also a matter of welding quality. I've tested some normal quick (spot)welded wire to wire joints and those will break with a very little wiggle put into. (I was using an old wire -made stand for a recycle material when I noticed that the welds were easy to get apart without any tools) For example Wall cages are made to last welding-wise but they do cost quite a lot for some meters of steel wire and a lot of work. The wires will still bend when enough energy is put on them. And I tend to think like TheGoalNet said, it's good to have some give on cage and leave some energy to it even when it gets bend badly and needs replacement.

That sure does look quite dry fiberglass from the image. But hard to say more without seeing under the wraps and so. And yes, when glassfiber is broken it looks dry on the wrecked area. But all in all leading my thoughts to dry fiberglass meaning very little resin + possibly incompatible adhesive on wrapping dealing with that resin.... Fiberglass mat itself is very stable material. It was a good slapshot that got there?

You sure have quite a job to do to achieve all the goals. But it is doable yes That yellow foam probably is Poron XRD which Bauer uses quite a lot on pro level gear. It's a little different from D3O, not getting that hard from impact. But idea is the same, absorb the impact energy. I'd rather use XRD under/behind the plastic layer but I'm not the guy behind this design. (If it even is XRD...)

The load index on a tire tells you how much one wheel can be loaded on. Two tires for an axle to compare to your cars axle masses. There is no need to overlay the load index, but going under the rated axle mass of a car would lead into legal trouble if an accident occurs due to different tires. Atleast for winter tyres we use here in the northern Europe, the load index is defined by tyre manufacturer to hold the load in all "normal" driving environments. So if the LI88 is enough for a cars mass, then the LI91 will go as well too. If the car would need LI91 from tire, LI88 would be illegal (atleast here) but problems might occur only when car is loaded to full load and driven hard and fast to give stress to the tire. In normal driving there might not be any problem ever. That all said, I wouldn't go for a smaller tyre (and check the load index too) if there wasn't a very good reason to do so. It'll be off from driving comfort (harder wheel from less sidewall height) and in cold it'll be even bigger difference (noticeable if you could compare to the original sized tire).

One more picture from the inside of the pocket. It might a bit more to how the laces go around each other and the spine. This webbing is incredibly fast when you get to the style and just do it because of the dual lace. It's so quick to route the 1 meter lace through there compared to the original style where you start the job with whole 2,5m of lace to pull through. Also the first lace is super fast to do, second one takes much longer to find all the right loops. But still quick. The second web to this pocket, after training with the first, took me about 10 minutes to complete. The first side though, it took some more time to remember how it went after all. Last time I did this one was with the Zero G glove in the summer.

Then we take the second lace and it gets a bit more tricky. Through the loop - under the earlier lace - hook with the earlier lace to make new loops and inside out at the spine. Then over and towards inside the earlier lace and then through the loop of the same lace that is going on at the moment! Open up the earlier lace so you find the upgoing lace and inwards through the loop and outwards again from the same lace loop. Then over the earlier lace, through the end loop and under the lace and up again. Leave a loop, open the earlier lace to find the other one of those (the downwards headed) and make a loop. Repeat and do the spine as in the above picture. Then again down in the same execution. Loop the last opening with the easiest way you can and there we are. This webbing is so easy to do with loose laces and then tighten one by one until the result is pleasing. Remember there are two different laces to be tightened which makes it easier but following the right lace is a bit difficult atleast on the turn arounds where it goes over one row. This webbing has a different kind of give than the original lacing where only one lace goes through the web. This feels more loose to touch and pull the pocket but still holds it's shape and loop size pretty well. Notice how the lace goes "over" in the same lines and under in the 90 degree lines through. Pity that the visual effect isn't very clear in the 2D image. I can't imagine how I would've explained this in any reasonable way with my slightly lacking english because I don't know if I could tell a Finnish person how to do this webbing without any pictures.

So the all famous Brians webbing. Well not that famous and what ever. But it's different from the others. Let's see how I copy this one, it's not the perfect copy but atleast looks pretty much identical. So we start by taking a lace of about 250cm for this Subzero. Lip of the T has two holes to make the starting point. In this Brians the holes are in the middle, usually those are right next to the binding. Won't affect the webbing though. So the picture tells it better than my writing. Equal length on both ends. Take the "top" lace and leave the other one alone. Through the first top hole and back down. You can take the rules here but this webbing is a system that has it's rules already so you can't actually change much to make it work. Nothing special so far, just go up, loop and come down. Now at the bottom end, jump over one loop. That is needed later. Then straight up and again skip one hole on the spine. Then a quick forward to where we are done with the first lace except for the end route which I didn't know at this point. (Up - skip one hole - inside out -) two times around itself - skip one lopp at the bottom and back up.

Not much left to say. Pocket made in Brians style or atleast close to it. A bit stiff operation on the glove and the nature is revealed when we get back on ice for a real test. Tennisball was easy to catch atleast so it's not too bad from the beginning. What this glove is, it's huge visually. The smaller palm area might do the trick here. I like this style, pocket is the place I want the puck to go. Goaliepro is a local dealer/retailer for Brians. But I wasn't able to figure out what in this glove was custom. Except for the text.

Not so much for today. It's getting into the shape, T is fitted in with plastic supports in. Boot is yet to be done but now that I know the setup is working well it is quickly done. Now it is going to get tight literally but hopefully not too much as there is quite a lot of tightening to be done to stuff all the padding in. And it's possible that it then transfers to operating the glove, now it's like butter, not my Simmons like butter, with good feeling in it. Would be desirable for it to stay that way. I actually did quite a lot of work for this little achievement of getting the T mounted. First I started with correcting the sewing done eyesterday. Nothing big once again but doing for myself it would've haunted me if I didn't do it. After that I noticed that I want to cut a a bit off from the pocket side of the T, some more sewing and cutting and then the T was ready for binding to sewed back on. That once again went ok'ish... Now with completed T part I was ready for the scary part of project, installing the T and see if it works at all and how well. So to begin I dismantled the laces so much that the T fitted in. Then checked for the hole positions for the thumb end. Fitting, close-open glove, re-fitting, ... Then punch some holes and lace the end in. Then notice that the lace is too short but there is reserve in the other end so pull that lace through the glove. Good. Now start fitting the fingerside. A few more fitting, open-close, re-fitting, ... It's good mark the holes and punch. Lace the whole thing back together to see if it still works. Notice here! It is a world of difference whether you close the glove with your hand in th glove or just push it together with both hands outside the glove! This same thing has to be noticed when working a new glove break in. Ok where was I, yes the glove is working. Now I'm only missing those plastic supports from the T. Measure and cut 2mm plastic sheet, clean edges and open the lacing from thumb end. Slide both plastics in from there and lace the T back together. Wrote this endline for you to get the idea that when I post a few pictures and short story of the project you think that I've done it in no time and just like that. I do make a lot of f**kups, mostly just the small ones luckily and they are repairable. Then it takes time and patience to redo those parts in the right way. Those are the ones I usually don't take any pictures of But the results usually pay me back. Not moneywise but mentally. Just for you to know that this hobby sucks some times.

Ooh my beloved Subzero! Here we go again! So finally the jenpro shipment is in and I've waited for so long that I almost run to garage to continue with this one. Using the old sheet as a model I drew the outline and cut it out with a few mm extra to make sure. Jenpro does shrink a bit mostly on where it is bent or sort of flattened. It'll return with a slight stretch but it's difficult to draw the outline while stretching the sheet by not too much. Then some sewing and while there I added a new leather inserts inside the lip and sew the ends together to make a flat and thin edge to catch those low flying puck too. And it just looks better to me that way than the original style with fat bulk. Inside the pocket view with only one hole punched yet to try it on: Outside view, notice the hole markings "1" and "x" that help me find the original positioning of the T. Similar markings were made all over the glove when taking it apart. Will help a lot when things are going back together as there are those odd shifts and positions that can be restored with these markings. And also help if a change is desired on something. There were more marked holes on the T but those are in the old sheet, still returnable though. I never did add any pictures about fixing the boot end of the T but you get the idea from these pictures. Small jenpro pads added on both sides and sewn together. Edges are under the binding as usual to make a clean look. And final picture from a tryout, T is still without plastics, boot not tied in at all and both lip ends just stuck there the best they go with lacing done a bit too far: The pocket looks huge I think, and the thumb end is too much inside the structure. The finger side is nice already but thumb side is a ballooning oddly. I might do an additional sew through the whole lip at the edge to make it tight, just for the visual effect. But first I have to punch the holes and fit it to the final position and see how it works then. And also make the plastic supports there, those might have some effect too. It's been a while since I was this much excited about a glove but I do like the feeling. Oh man!

Some research and invention done and here are some of the improvements to be tried on: First the bicep which is the most critical from popular opinions. Thickest outer layer moved under the plastic and inner foam to outside. This also gives a bit more soft coverage to edges but slighly narrows the area covered by the plastic sheet. Plastic sheet is shaped more flat towards the puck from full round. This should give some room for the added LD foam to the inside next to bicep. In the picture the foam is too wide, it only needs to cover the the area under the middle of the plastic sheet. Another picture of the planned setup to bicep area. Here's the 4mm foam in white too which I'm yet to decide. Then the forearm protection. Here's no reason to change the original setup of foams as the thicker is under the plastic. But I'd rather put the perforated foam under for some air circulation etc. I'll add a slice of 10 LD foam next to elbow so it won't thicken the wrist area and possibl yaffect the glove mobility. Plastic was rehaped from the elbow end only, again tried to achieve more flat top surface. I might need to redo that for both plastics to make that shape stay. Memory effect is strong in these plastics. I found from old spare parts stash a sternum pillow from Bauer Pro. It's very thin with only 5mm of material, but it's clean and nice materials and also easy to add that 10mm LD foam sheet inside. Then it'll do very well adding that airbag effect. Also there are velcroes for attachment and I just have to add some to the C/A. From the same stash I found spares of a Koho Revolution which gave some parts to my Brown earlier. Now I'll use the shoulder pads which are very close to the shape of the Vaughns own pads. The fabric on these is awkward but will be hidden pretty well. My first intention is to get the original ones off from where those are now and move them lower towards elbow. Then I'll add these a bit more towards head and under the floaters to give them a slight lift on outer side while I try to keep them down on the neck side. Bidnings are open because I took the plastic sheets out from these. And that's good as I don't think I would've had any need for those. Sad for me, while trying the unit on I noticed the hands are quite short, more like the M size warriors which is a disappointment as I really like the arms to be as long as possible. Remains to be seen if I can come up with something to improve on that issue. Making the arms detachable would give benefits but only if the elbow will work after that too as the problem is more on the forearm length than the whole sleeve being short.

I don't see any reason why that NHL spec C/A couldn't be mass produced? And that makes a heck lot of difference in costs. 10 units hand built is the same as prototype 10 units and then make the molds for the parts and start mass production. Sure the material costs are a bit higher for the NHL spec than normal pro, but not that much, no way. Designing a product is what costs money, a lot of it. And after all, look at the Supreme from Bauer. 2S is very much the same outlook as S27. So there is a lot of the same included regardless of level of the thing. The product line could be: NHL spec 1000$, Pro 600$, Advanced 400$, beginner 250$. All available for customers and pro players. Would profit the company from every level, and we could choose the unit that fits our level of play. And level of our wallet.

A bit of a long joyrney from Tampere especially on these times of Corona. We'll see if we get to play hockey before Christmas if this disease is spreading faster and faster again. Well you can sit down and watch television while getting used to your new armour and get ready for the games in the future.

Like that color scheme and graphics. Simple and a bit different somehow. I got myself into a situation where I had to buy myself a new mask, Bauer NME IX. New unused for half of the new price. Having my REY CK still in painting (for half a year now!) I thought I'd better get another for now. NME5 moves to the reserve -position. Remains to be seen if the REY will fit me well and which of the masks will take the regular position. Picture from web for those of you who haven't seen a Bauer mask

Good looking thing. Would be nice to see this IRL. It keeps me amazed why those big two Bauer and CCM build "NHL only" gear and sell regular customers something downgraded from that. Invest a lot of money to design something special for those few NHL guys (and maybe AHL etc) and then spend some more to design something completely else for regular customers. Like we don't face hefty slapshots or close range snapshots.

I like the idea of those doubled shoulder floaters and that chest and belly area paddig. Good job. I just might get some ideas from this to my own VE8 project.

Then the bicep protection. Outside foam 10mm And inside foam 8mm Missing the total thickness picture but that should account to 20mm. So it definitely is light but protection is lacking badly. The perforated foam would make the inside more breathable without giving out anything in protection. The foam outside the plastic softens the rebound but that's almost it. If this armour was to be used in ball game where there is a big surface hitting you it would work pretty well I think. But against a puck with such a small hitting surface the energy will come through. I'm planning to add a 10mm layer of soft LD foam and maybe layer that up against arm with a 4-6mm densier foam but not with an HD. That setup should create some airbag in between which should dampen the strike energy. I'll get some more pictures of the arms when I get to that phase.

Then the thickness of the materials. Plastic is the common PE and 2mm thick. Enough for the job. Profiled with a few waves for rigidity. For the fore arm part: Total 16mm Inside foam 8mm Perforated foam on the outside 6mm

Here's two pictures of the hand protection, first both parts from outside, forearm closer. The structure is simple and ... well ... just isn't enough. But it's light anyways so something is good. Forearm part from inside. I'd do this just the opposite way for the foams. The perfored one (and thicker on bicep) to inside and solid to the outside. Also I would thinner the outside even more and move the thickness to inside foam and add some extra there.

I've been looking for this opportunity for a long time and now I have it. A few months pickup used VE8 Pro non Carbon size SR large. I'll see this unit through in no full review but more in a technical viewpoint. And for Mods I'll do some modifications atleast for arms to improve the protection. Something else might be done too when get deeper into this one. First impressions for a quick try on and visual and finger point feeling through. Fits like a sweater, very soft and mobile. The shoulders appear bigger than in all the pictures I've looked at where this is like very slimmed in unit. New NHL spec is like this? The arms are the weak part for sure, just some HD foam and plasticcy like molded part to make the shape. This just can't work very good! Elbow floaters are interesting, technically I don't understand why the soft foam is on top and the HD foam/plastic is under that? I would do it just the opposite. The floaters are half detachable as one side is laced in. Nice for doing those mods. Chest as a whole, sternum and belly are "normal", not the thickest ones but atleast mediocre. Shoulders are a bit on the low side of protection, cups or plates almost are very thin and leave some open space that potentially can be hit by puck. Here I'll add some extra material in multilayer style, overlapping biceps and (underlapping) shouldercup/floater. Propably I will get some advice here from my Warrior GT which is very well done at this section. Shoulder floaters are thick but narrow and might get some rise from shoulder add-ons too. That is something yet to be designed better. One thing on the downside for this topic is that the unit is black base color, so it'll be a pain to get you pictures that tell something. Comments are welcome and conversation and suggestions.