curious about people's ptex techniques

[Evil E]

everyone seems to have their own way of doing this and I was wondering what the tried and true is. Mine is ghetto and I think i need some tips.

Ptex stick, lighter, metal base scraper
1. light ptex stick
2. drip in gouge
3. keep carbon out of gouge by scraping off w/metal scraper
4 push on filled in gouge with scraper
5 scrape
6 wax

-thats what I do, whats the best way. and is it true that ptex sticks and the six pack beer plastic rings are the same material?

plus... i would be interested in thoughts/pics on home tuning benches. I have a basement but no garage and I need to tune my gear.

[summit]

Six pack rings are LDPE (#4 low-density "photodegradable" polyethylene
PTEX is a brand name for UHMWPE (Ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) ... somtimes graphite is included in the sintering process

So... no... but it might work.

When dripping the P-Tex, hold the candle close to the ski to minimize carbonization. Remember that if you drip P-Tex, a shop's gun P-Tex will not adhere to the gouge in the base if your repair falls out and they will probably cut out around the area of the repair.


Now can someone give me the technonerd description of a base weld?

[elesquiador]

I use a handheld butane torch (the $10 at home depot kind) instead of a lighter. I seem to be able to keep the PTEX burning with a nice blue flame more easily that way. My repair jobs usually hlod pretty well.

[FNG]

Use a razor or stanley knife to turn the gouge from looking like this \_/ to this /__\ to help make the weld stick. Then fill it with your favorite hot ptex. At the shop I usually use the ptex gun (for the uninformed, imagine a glue gun). Up here I used a ptex stick, butane torch, and a razor blade to scrape. It's held for a season so far.

[420skier]

Bace welds get the ptex much hotter than the normal drip methed and the ptex gun. It is simaler to a ptex gun but the bace welds will bond muchbetter because the ptex is much much hotter.
Dont forget to clean the "wound" real good and angle your walls so the bond will be much stronger.

[summit]

Use a razor or stanley knife to turn the gouge from looking like this \_/ to this /__\ to help make the weld stick.

That's a good idea. I'm going to start doing that.

[Lurch]

Bace welds get the ptex much hotter than the normal drip methed and the ptex gun. It is simaler to a ptex gun but the bace welds will bond muchbetter because the ptex is much much hotter.
Dont forget to clean the "wound" real good and angle your walls so the bond will be much stronger.

I've been told that base welds use a ptex that has some epoxy in it.

[Evil E]

Cool tip with the angling using the knife, thats the type of shit I was hoping people would chime in with.

[hyasakyte]

Use a razor or stanley knife to turn the gouge from looking like this \_/ to this /__\ to help make the weld stick. Then fill it with your favorite hot ptex. At the shop I usually use the ptex gun (for the uninformed, imagine a glue gun). Up here I used a ptex stick, butane torch, and a razor blade to scrape. It's held for a season so far.

Best advice so far. In addition, keep your work clean from dirt/oil. Even a fingerprint on your work area will make the repair plug more likely to fall out before its time. Preheat the base, too. Don't try to perform a weld/repair on skis that just came in from the cold.



Also, if you light your p-tex candle with a blue-flame source, it will be less likely to carbon up after it is lit. Yellow flame, like from a lighter or match, will almost surely carbon up the p-tex stick.

[Vinman]

Just in case you are curious, a regular glue gun is not hot enough to melt p-tex.

For core shots on the edge, without pulling the edge out, I use PC-7 epoxy. Similar to JB weld epoxy. It is a 2 part paste epoxy that is very strong. It is drillable and tapable to hold threads.

[Below Zero]

I use ptex repair string and the base repair iron from Tognar (pictured below). Then I use a Versaform plane (be sure it's nice and sharp) to remove the excess at the top. Then a metal scraper to scrape it down. The iron works awesome - I think it's worth the $30 - safer for inside an apartment also.

[cj001f]

I use ptex repair string and the base repair iron from Tognar (pictured below). Then I use a Versaform plane (be sure it's nice and sharp) to remove the excess at the top. Then a metal scraper to scrape it down. The iron works awesome - I think it's worth the $30 - safer for inside an apartment also.

I use a sanding block after the versaplane, then the scraper. Works awesome.

[summit]

At the shop we use a razor, then sureform (grater), then a rolling planar, then a thin metal scraper, then we grind the base (and edge) and wax.

[Below Zero]

I use a sanding block after the versaplane, then the scraper. Works awesome.

Oh, yeah, I forgot the sanding part - I do that too!

[basom]

i use a big file to get the repair close to the base, then metal scraper.

i find our ptex gun is much less precise than using a candle. i hate using the thing, its messy as hell.

[bagtagley]

I read in a thread the other day about not letting the P-Tex stick burn. What do you do, hold the flame to the stick continuously? How do you keep it from burning on its own?

Oh yeah, where's a good place to get ski tuning equipment (p-tex, iron, edge sharpener)....anywhere?

[PlayHarder]

I use a tip sort of like this: on my soldering gun.

Then trim with a metal scraper, sand and scrape flat.

[Big E]

Oh yeah, where's a good place to get ski tuning equipment (p-tex, iron, edge sharpener)....anywhere?

Tognar Toolworks If they don't have it, you don't need it.

[FNG]

Forgot to mention. If you're using a butane torch, make a few light passes over the area on the base you're gonna repair to heat it up a bit. You can use the hot-box too if you've got one. After your weld has cooled, take a heavy wire brush, heavier than the brass brush, and go over the ptex a few times to put some texture in it. I believe they call it a structure brush. The ptex will never accept wax, but put some really hard/cold wax over it to help seal it and protect it.

The gun works really well for long scrapes. Once you get the hang of it, you can get the whole thing in one pass. For short deep ones, dripping it in works better. I've never used the iron posted earlier.

For really big fuck-ups, use a ptex patch as it will accept wax. Cut a clean shape of your choosing out of the base down to the core. Then cut the same shape out of the patch and epoxy it into place. Again, use the hard/cold wax on it to seal and protect it.

[Vinman]

The structure tip is a good one. I don't go quite as aggressive with the wire brush. But I do use a green sctoch-brite pad on the p-tex while it is stil warm to put some structure in.

[Angry Whelk]

i use bukkake, in all aplications where hot material needs to be added.

as should all of you!

shinjuku, MOTHERFUCKER!

[Below Zero]

i use bukkake, in all aplications where hot material needs to be added.

as should all of you!

shinjuku, MOTHERFUCKER!

What the fack are you talking about?

[72Twenty]

Just a little fyi when scraping larger repairs...

I usually start in the middle of a rapair and scrape outwards at first. This reduces the chance of hooking the repair at one end and ripping it out. When it is close to flush, then I scrape it from one end to the other (again, with metal scraper).

Also, I let it cool, but start scraping while it is still a little warm (softer) rather than waiting like an hour till fully cooled.

[mtbakerskier]

6 pakc rings will work in an emergancy, but there defintly not the best material. Plastic milk jugs are HDPE the same thing as extruded Ptex bases. Sinistered bases are UHMWPE wich is a completly different material, but will patch with HDPE quite well.

1 make sure the area is cleaned with wax remover, notch area as depicted in previous posts. Get the surounding area very hot, then patch. This will create a better bond.

Avoid quenching it by cooling it too fast, do-not use a p-tex roller, it will cool the area way to quickly increasing the chance for a pull out, your better off layering the patch up with small amounts of material at a time.

[Mountainman]

Im waiting for the patented BobMc candle wax method