Slide plates for inline?

[Taipan]

Scott, I've asked this a couple times through e-mail, but you guys must have too many coming in. Is it possible to order the plastic plates you put on your inline pads? I want to get a couple sets.

[Scott Battram]

We have replied to those emails, check your spam folders if you have them.



We do sell these to customers, however it will be up to you to figure out how to affix them to your pads!

[Taipan]

Spam is empty, oh well. Thanks Scott, I will put in an order sometime soon.

[bosskland]

Scott, what's the going rate for those?

[Law Goalie]

There are at least two really good guides for methods of attaching slide-plates, each with a different approach. I think they're both on goalieboard.com - I'll look them up once I'm home for the evening.

[Scott Battram]

I think we charge 35 or 40 bucks for the plates, I can do them with holes or without so the user can set them up the best way they see fit.

[Law Goalie]

Here's the first and probably most detailed example of attachment:


Before I made my slide plates, I did a lot of searches and reading of old threads about slide plates, what they’re made of, how to make them, their advantages, etc.

Why Use Slide plates?
Protect your pads from wear while playing on concrete or other abrasive surfaces.
Also to give you a little bit of slide on your movements while playing on sport court

What are they made of?
I found that other people have made them of Lexan (which apparently shatters), ABS plastic, Teflon (which is pretty expensive), and Delrin (a cheaper form of Teflon). Finally, I settled on UHMW (Ultra High Molecular Weight) Polyethylene. 1/16” thick is sufficient. However I ordered a 2’ x 2’ piece 1/8” thick, simply because that came in black (which matches my pads) and the 16” thick only comes in ‘natural’ (white). I ordered the plastic and most of my supplies from www.mcmaster.com.

What you’ll need to make them:
-2’ x 2’ x 1/8” or 1/6” thick polyethylene
-Some poster board or a light cardboard to make your templates
-A drill and a 3/16” drill bit
-Tinsnips, a powerful rotary tool, or a jigsaw to cut the polyethylene
-3 (1/8”) mm diamond braided nylon cord
- a lighter to burn the ends of the nylon cord is also useful
-Clarino/jenpro/leather/vinyl to make medial rolls (if you don’t already have them)
-A leather punch or a soldering iron to punch or burn holes in the medial rolls
-A leather awl to stick the medial rolls in (again, if you don’t already have them)
-A utility knife
-An oven (or a heat gun) to mold the slide plates

How to make them:
Before you do anything, you should take a look at your pads and figure out how they’re going to be attached. The easiest method is to poke, punch, or burn (with a soldering iron, etc.) holes into the medial rolls of your pads and lace them in using nylon cord (typically 2.75-3mm thick in goalie equipment). Make an even number of holes if you want the knots at both the top and the bottom to be on the same side.

I ran into problems here because well, my leg pads (Heaton Helite Z II 2005 Seniors) don’t HAVE medial rolls. So, I was left with a few options: glue or Velcro the plates to the inside gussets of my pads, or what I decided on. I was going to make medial rolls. I cut some clarino into strips 1 ½” wide and folded them over. I used netminder_32’s advice and glued the folded clarino on top of itself to keep it from shifting while sewing. I just used a regular old glue stick since the stitching is the real actual binding material.
I stitched them into the side of the face of my pads using a leather sewing awl. I was a bit apprehensive about this because I’m not very good with a needle and thread, but once I figured out how the awl worked, things went pretty well. The directions on the awl say to pull a length of thread through that’s about twice the length of the seam that you intend to sew. I suggest that if you’re not very good with an awl or if you haven’t used one before, pull two and one half times or even three times the length through. If you have any slack, you can always cut it and use it on a small repair job some other time, but if you run out of slack, then you’ll have to cut and tie the thread and start from where you left off.

No Medial Rolls:
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f218/c0nquistad0rian/Equipment%20pics/P1010012.jpg

Medial Rolls:
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f218/c0nquistad0rian/Equipment%20pics/P1010013.jpg

(Sorry for the awkward angles on these pics)

Once I had my medial rolls completed, I cut some poster board into the shapes that I wanted my plates to be. I cut them fairly large to make sure that they’d be big enough. You can always trim the plates down later if they’re a bit too big. I placed each shape onto the sheet of Polyethylene to make sure that everything would fit. I even had enough left to make some puck foils (pictured on the left), which I ended up ruining when I was testing my cutting ability in the plastic. Remember that on the polyethylene, there’s one side that’s more polished and smooth and one side that’s rougher. Make sure make the templates opposite of one another so that the smooth side ends up on the outside of each leg pad. Note how I have my templates marked “L” and “R.”

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f218/c0nquistad0rian/Equipment%20pics/p1010014.jpg

Before you cut the plastic, though, mark on the posterboard where you think you’ll need holes to lace through the plates. Drill all of the holes that you’ll need to lace the nylon cord through in the front, and that you’ll need as starter holes for your leg strap lacing. I used a 3/16” drill bit for this.

Cutting the plastic proved to be the most difficult part. It can be done with a pair of tin snips, though not very easily (it would have been easier had I ordered 1/16” thick plastic). Some kind of rotary tool would work. But make sure that it’s powerful enough (i.e. stronger than a cordless 7.2 volt) and make sure that you have the correct cutting attachment. (Dremel sells a blade specifically meant to cut plexiglass, I believe). I ended up picking up a jigsaw for $20 at Lowe’s. I made all of my cuts with this. I shaved down the rough edges made from the jigsaw with a utility knife


The back ends of the plates usually attach by making holes that your boot straps and knee straps can go through. The calf area is where I differed. Most people seem to make holes into the calf wing itself and use lacing there, I decided that I was going to put the extra slack from the nylon webbing in my calf straps to use and loop them through the plates themselves then back to the buckles.

Lastly, I don’t know if you can tell from the pictures but the inside gusset of my Heatons are pretty rounded. So, I stuck each plate in the oven (200 degrees Fahrenheit, for about 3 minutes) and bended them, making each plate rounded and molding them around the inside gussets of my pads. You could also use a heat gun if you have access to one. You probably don’t have to do this if your pads are more flattened in shape on the inside, but I found it useful because when I butterfly, neither the nylon cord on the front attachment nor any of my straps on the back attachments touch the ground. So, this should minimize wear.

I’ve used the plates once so far on sportcourt. I did get some extra slide, as opposed to that almost adhesive sticking of the weave on the sportcourt. My movements felt quicker and more fluid overall.

On the cons side, I think that the plates made my pads a little stiffer, but it wasn’t something that I minded. If you notice, I didn’t thread the nylon cord through the top of the knee wing plate or the bottom of the boot plate, because I realized that it was unnecessary and I think that it would’ve impeded my pads from flexing even more.

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f218/c0nquistad0rian/Equipment%20pics/P1010020.jpg

Thanks to:
-Scott Battram for the idea
-soulpatch for sending me pics of his Battram pads with slide plates
-Marauder31 for the inspiration, posting the awesome pics of his own DIY slide plates and answering my questions
-NJDev803 for posting pics of the medial rolls on his pads

[Law Goalie]

Here's Leaferguy's rather clever velcro-based removable slide-plate project:


I've been one to decry slide plates as unnecessary in previous posts. After starting to really feel some pain in my hips and knees, however, that was largely due to the friction on the floor, I decided to make some slide plates. I contacted avatarkava (a member on this BB) because he had already made his own lace-in slide plates. After admiring his handiwork, I felt I should give it a go.

The product avatarkava used came from www.mcmaster.com and it's listed as part number 8752K421 - Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene 1/16" thick, 24"x24". I actually purchased the 2'x3' (24"x36") sheet just in case I screwed up, which wouldn't surprise me. This material is a thermoplastic, meaning it can be reformed and reshaped once heated.

McMaster is apparently located in New Jersey, or they have a warehouse there. Either way, the sheet came way faster than I expected. I left for a tournament two Fridays ago, which is when it arrived, so I had no chance to work with it. After coming back last Sunday, I started getting my plan ready.

A trip to Home Depot resulted in my owning a nice new heat gun and 4' of industrial strength velcro, which can also be found at A.C. Moore

The plan I came up with involved putting plates onto the pads, but doing no real physical modification to the pads themselves. Should I decide to play ice, I wanted to be able to remove the plates with minimal work. Thus, I decided to use the velcro.

The first thing I did was make a template of each of the following parts of the pad:

Boot
Gusset
Knee
Knee wing

To do this, I took an 8.5"x11" piece of computer paper and traced the desired part of the pad. I then cut out my rough template and laid it out on the pad. After eyeballing which parts looked acceptable and which needed modification, I lightly re-traced the stencil onto another piece of paper. I then drew a heavy outline around the traced shape while making the desired changes in a freehand manner. So, now I have a flimsy piece of paper with my shape on it.

To fix this, I again cut out the shape from the paper and scanned it into Photoshop. I labeled each piece and printed it out on heavy paper and then cut it out one last time. This was how each piece was created.

These templates were then transferred to the plastic sheet with a Sharpie. Using a utility knife, each piece was cut out from the plastic. Please note that this step was very tricky, as you can seriously hurt yourself if you're not very careful, patient, and smart about your work. If you're younger and you're even thinking of doing this, find a capable adult and let him or her help you. Essentially, the knife will start to move very easily if you cut with the blade on an angle.

The next step was to lay the plastic on the pad and see how it lays. This is most pivotal on the boot, as the key to making it work here is a nice, close fit to the contour of the boot area. I used a set of work gloves to handle the plastic, as the heat gun was operating at ~1000ºF.

To get the plastic molded, I heated it and molded it by hand. After finding the right shape, I put the plastic into a bath of cold water. If I didn't do this, the plastic would lose its shape and just flatten out once again. Having never worked with this material before and never done anything like this in general, it was something of a learning experience.

One easy way to tell if the plastic was overheated was if it became clear. Being that ultra high molecular weight polyethylene is a thermoplastic, its turning clear indicated that the large polymer chains were getting enough energy to slide along each other (if I'm wrong, I apologize; I'm trying to remember polymers). As they do this, the initial irregular arrangement that led to the semitransparent appearance becomes more regular, which allows more light to go through. Anyway, the key is to heat the plastic past its glass transition temperature, but below its melting point. This is pretty hard to do, though, unless you have an isothermal oven. Thus, it's easier to just eyeball it and make sure it doesn't get clear.

Coming back to reality, I found the water bath method to be very easy and effective, as it quickly cooled the plastic and let the plastic keep its new form. This was most essential around the boot, as the gusset, knee, and knee wing are relatively flat.

After forming all of the plastic pieces, I got to work on picking the velcro sizes and shapes. I decided to try and keep it as minimal as possible. I also wanted to make sure that my natural movement in the pad wouldn't break the velcro free of the pad or weaken its hold to the "leather," so I torqued and bent the pad as much as I could and found what were reasonable anchor points. Generally, the boot was again the toughest, as it bulges and flexes a lot. The knee wing was the easiest part, as it simply required that there be velcro.

Having used velcro on pads before, I knew that it wouldn't hold very well by itself. I brushed the pad a little with my hand and then turned the female half of the velcro glue side up. I used the heat gun at its lowest setting (~750ºF) to heat the glue for about ten seconds. I also quickly heated the pad, and then I slapped the velcro onto it. To properly align everything, I simply put the male velcro on the now-anchored female velcro and removed the backing. This left the glue on the male side exposed and I heated this similarly to the female side. Note that I did shorten the time here, as the velcro can melt. About 5-7 seconds should work. I then quickly aligned the plastic and pushed it onto the velcro and the piece was done.

This was repeated for all of the pieces and then the pad was placed with the inner leg on a hardwood floor. I was hoping that some slight pressure over time would help ensure that the velcro stuck.


I've used this setup once so far for a PIHA game against the York Typhoon. The change was instantaneously noticeable. When I would kick out for a save (I don't play a very butterfly-based style), my pad just felt like it was effortlessly moving. Sliding across for centering passes and one-timers felt much less painful, but more importantly, I was able to close my five hole much better. I don't know if it was just the teams, but I felt really good out there and got my first pro shutout (8-0)

All in all, I can't comment on the durability, as I've only used the setup once. I'll be taking the pads to practice tomorrow and Thursday, so that's likely when I'll really see how well they stand up. The good thing is that if one piece breaks or it just stops working, I can remove the other pieces and work on a new solution when I get home.

I'm pretty pleased with my work, especially for a first attempt. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. Also, if you have 34" Velocities and want my templates, I can gladly oblige

As per usual, pics to follow...

Also, please excuse my horrible grammar and verb transitions from past to present and back again. If you want to read more about ultra high molecular weight polyethylene or thermoplastics, these Wikis can help (although they may not be entirely reliable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoplastic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyneema


As promised:

First, the tools. I swear, I'd do a million projects if I got to buy one tool each time. I love my new heat gun.
http://home.comcast.net/~leaferguy/IMG_4164.jpg



The velcro used and a sample of a paper outline of the boot. You'll see the final templates in the next pic.
http://home.comcast.net/~leaferguy/IMG_4167.jpg



Each piece is just heavy paper (oaktag?). I labeled all templates except for the boot, as the directions for that were pretty self-explanatory. You can see what I was going for in terms of pad coverage.
http://home.comcast.net/~leaferguy/IMG_4166.jpg



The finished products. What was pivotal here was to understand the areas of high friction and the areas that were "safe" to use as anchors. This is important, as I said, on the boot and in the knee area. The knee wing and gusset (I think that's what it's called??) area are pretty straightforward. You'll see that the boot piece wraps around the bottom binding and the shin/gusset piece covers the long medial roll, as that generates a significant amount of friction. On the knee, it's more important to cover the surface area of the knee and the knee wing. The force is most directly applied through the landing gear area, so the medial roll on the knee isn't as significant.
http://home.comcast.net/~leaferguy/IMG_4154.jpg



Close shot of the knee area. The knee wing needs a lot of reinforcement due to the heavy usage. The knee itself is pretty small, as you can see. It's enough to elevate the pad off the ground and reduce the friction.
http://home.comcast.net/~leaferguy/IMG_4156.jpg



The shin/gusset area again. The fabric is ballistic nylon.
http://home.comcast.net/~leaferguy/IMG_4157.jpg



You can see the curve of the boot piece, as well as the small snips that were made to allow for easier bending and fitting. This pic shows the curve of the plastic along the front of the toe pretty well.
http://home.comcast.net/~leaferguy/IMG_4161.jpg



This shows just how far it covers the lower binding.
http://home.comcast.net/~leaferguy/IMG_4163.jpg


One thing I wish I did was clean the velcro application sites more vigorously. I think the plates will eventually fall off, and when I re-apply, I'll clean the hell out of the "leather."

[Law Goalie]

Sorry - I had to chop out all his smilies and bump this image down one in order to repost here... there's an 8 limit on the total of smilies and images per post. :(



For Scott - The pic of the pad without the plates on.
http://home.comcast.net/~leaferguy/IMG_4168.jpg

[Law Goalie]

And what have we learned? :)

If you're going to make your own slide plates, you'd better have a massive toolchest and serious handyman wherewithal, or someone like Scott to make them for you. ;)

That said, there are a number of fairly easy ways to attach them.

[Taipan]

Awesome info, thanks a lot for taking the time Law!

[Law Goalie]

Hey, I just quoted better men than myself.

Oddly enough, that's exactly what I spent 98% of my time doing. :D

[batalf]

hey those slide plates look great
i have been playing roller mostly the last year after being an ice goalie for like 15 years but all my friends are playing roller and the "court" times i get seem to be more convenient
i am having major problems on breakaways and odd man rushes...i am not very tall, and my biggest asset is i am quick, esp down low, and the fact i cant slide seems to be killing unless i do a hasek flop or something
anyway some questions
1) will the battram slide plates i can order fit a velcro mod like the one shown in this thread? (the otherone is far to complex for my liking)
2) i have 32" velocities and i was wondering how much damage hot gluing the velcro does to your pads...i am not handy at all and love my pads so much i dont want to damage my pads...
...also...how much difference do they make? is it worth it to take the chance? and does the plastic come off the velcro at all all when you are playing?
thanks so much

[Law Goalie]

I'm sure Scott can cut you some plates to fit however you'd like.

If, however, you do hot-glue the velcro to the pads, or use industrial adhesive velcro, it will *not* come off the pad easily, or without leaving sticky spots. You'll be able to remove the plates, but half the velcro (either hook or loop) will remain on the pad permanently.

If you're going to be taking them on and off a fair bit, I'd suggest sending you pads to Battram and letting Scott work out the details.

[batalf]

thanks for responding
hmmmm i have to think about it
i guess i wouldnt mind the velcro staying on
have you played with the velcro on?
will playing ice mess up the velcro to the point where i have to redo it each time?
also, this is for scott, how long would moding my pads for a slide plate take?

[VAGoalie]

the plates I have from Scott are sewn in, but removable if I wanted to. Im sure he can cut them to any size you wanted though.

[batalf]

im just curious if those of you with plates think it is worth it to spend the money?

[VAGoalie]

hard to say how much you benifit from them, but my pads dont really stick to the floor at all and I get a little bit of slide on them.

[c0nquistad0rian]

I never really noticed that I was quoted in this thread - I feel honored, Law Goalie!

Batalf: You said that you do not want to damage your pads. I would contend that hot glue and/or the wear caused to the PU leather from reapplying the velcro adhesive would be far more detrimental to your pads (not to mention inhibit your on-ice sliding ability) than poking or punching some holes in the already existing medial rolls on your velocities.

I've since moved on to another pair of pads (Itech 7.8 X-wings), which I also sewed medial rolls onto and attached some new slide plates. I did slightly change my attachment method at the rear of the slideplates, however:



Slideplates:
Lastly, I sewed in a jenpro medial roll to the side of the face of the pads and made slide plates, following the same attachment format that I used in my own design.
http://www.goaliestore.com/board/equipment-forum/38672-how-mods-repairs-thread-7.html (9th post down)
I have two key differences from my original design: the first is that the calf plates also cover the whole calf wing. The second is that instead of cutting holes into the plastic to lace the pad straps through (difficult & a greater chance for wear of pad straps – though I never had an issue), I used more 3mm lacing to create loops that the pad straps belt loop through.
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f218/c0nquistad0rian/Itech%2078%20XWings/100_0432.jpg


http://www.goaliestore.com/board/equipment-forum/69257-itech-7-8-x-wings-pads-my-self-mods.html#post1077344

Recently, I have been getting onto the ice for some pick up sessions, and have been taking off and putting on my slide plates routinely. With my new attachment method, I only have to lace and unlace the front edge, while I simply slide the rear loops off of my leg pad straps. Unlacing the slide plates takes about 5 minutes for both pads. Lacing them back in takes about 15 minutes for both pads. It's just like a big thigh board, in that sense. It's not very complex at all. Yes, it is a little more time consuming than the velcro method. But, I am comfortable with the permanence of attachment when I have them on (or lack thereof permanence when I have them off; I don't have to worry about the medial roll affecting or being affected by my slide on ice like I would with velcro, or any adhesive residue.)

As for whether or not they are worth it? Using them on sportcourt is still not like sliding on ice. Nothing is. But the extra slide that I get going post to post or in breakaway or odd man rush situations definitely helps. One of the biggest differences between ice and inline play for a goaltender is lateral movement. And playing inline at a high enough level, you quickly learn that goals are scored by beating the goaltender, side to side. As you can see when I got my new pads, I took the time to make myself a new set of slide plates (in addition to the other mods I made to the pads). After having used slide plates, I wouldn't play without them.

[batalf]

thank you all for responding, i am not to handy but i am going to give the "sewing" method a whirl, i will order my plates soon
thanks again

[c0nquistad0rian]

thank you all for responding, i am not to handy but i am going to give the "sewing" method a whirl, i will order my plates soon
thanks again

if your Velocity's already have medial rolls in them, like Leaferguy's in the picture, then no real sewing is involved. From there, you can either get a leather punch and punch the holes in (be sure to make them smaller first - you can always make the holes bigger, but you can't make them smaller again), or I recall one board member burning the holes in, using a soldering iron.

[batalf]

ok so my velocities only have medial rolls from the knee down it appears, but what i do have seems to be filled with something hard, did you guys just use leather or fold the leather on top of something, then sew it in?

[c0nquistad0rian]

ok so my velocities only have medial rolls from the knee down it appears, but what i do have seems to be filled with something hard, did you guys just use leather or fold the leather on top of something, then sew it in?

From the knee down should be all that you need. I sewed in PU leather medial rolls into the side of the face of my pads, since my pads had no medial rolls. Since yours do, as long as you can get a leather punch to go through the medial roll and whatever the hard material is on the inside, then you shouldn't have to sew anything in. You can just take some 3mm nylon cord and lace it through holes in your slide plates and the holes that you punch in the medial rolls.

[batalf]

i meant below the knee and down, oops
thanks so much for all your help btw, everyone
so i assume i have to create the medial rolls on the knee area then...so what did you stuff them with...anything?

[c0nquistad0rian]

i meant below the knee and down, oops
thanks so much for all your help btw, everyone
so i assume i have to create the medial rolls on the knee area then...so what did you stuff them with...anything?

I didn't stuff them with anything. I just got some strips of PU Leather (jenpro/clarino, robocop/weave) and sewed them in. I folded them in half and glued them together with a normal glue stick to keep them folded while I sewed.

I also used 1/16" thick plastic the second time around, which was much easier to work with. You can cut it with a pair of tin snips (as opposed to the jigsaw that I used on the 1/8" plastic for my first set of slideplates). I was also able to use my leather punch to make holes in the plastic (as opposed to the drill that I used on my 1/8" plastic).

Just remember: don't cut any corners (literally). Round all of the edges. Sharp corners might cut up your pads, or...you:p Also, cut the plates on the bigger side - you can always trim them down later, but you can't add on to them. I would also suggest making sure that you cover the binding at the bottom of the pad. My lower slide plate is extends beyond the binding just a bit and is slightly curved. Leaferguy cut some notches in his and severly curved that lower plate around the binding as well as the inner front corner of the pad. My pads don't wrap around that corner and the binding is already showing some wear after about a half a year.