marka

Howdy, Holy shit dude. Mark

Howdy, If you're handy, this isn't crazy to do yourself as well. The blade straightener tools I've seen make it easier / faster, but some sockets and a vice let you do the same things. Mark

Howdy, Really? I'm almost positive that the Crosby Learn to Play around here still has the 'free equipment' part of the deal... checking... Yeah. Still head to toe gear: https://www.nhl.com/penguins/community/learn-to-play Of course, this doesn't do much good if that's not available to you, but I thought this was the standard. That Bauer extend stuff looks pretty sweet! Certainly seems like a good option. Mark

Howdy, I really liked the Reebok 9k elbows I used to have. But if I was going to have to pay someone to repair them, I would 100% go to modern Tacks. If for no other reason, just because of the odor resistant materials. Mark

Howdy, I guess, looking at that, its not really all that triangular any more. An even earlier version had layers of 1.5", 1", and then .5" tape. Still weird though! 🙂 Mark

Howdy, Check out my weird knob. https://photos.app.goo.gl/e4e5hMW4zQoVKnt4A (wait, we can upload photos now? What is this, the future?) The one on the left is the one I use now. The one on the right is an earlier iteration, before I found VukGripz (from someone here, and its fucking awesome) which shows the layers of tape build up. My thought is that I'd design it so that the end of the stick was inserted into the knob, with maybe a 1/4" or so cap/top. That way most of the force would be in compression which seems like it would be stronger vs. just a plug type thing with the knob sticking way out and a bunch of leverage on it. That means that I'd need to measure up the specific sticks I'd do it for because presumably wall thicknesses can vary, etc. but if I have a 3d printer, that doesn't seem like the end of the world. I expect if I'm no longer constrained by "need to build it with tape", I can also smooth out the transitions, experiment with making it more of a spherical shape vs. a cone, etc. The biggest thing I need to help my wrist seems to be just the overall diameter giving me a little more leverage on the stick. Mark

Howdy, I need an excuse to get a 3d printer. And I use a funky triangular knob end to help my old man wrist deal with hockey forces. Today said knob end is made by doing 15 wraps of 1.5" tape followed by 15 wraps of 1" tape, then covering the whole deal with VukGripz. That's sorta a pain. I think it would be nicer to be able to 3d print the underlying part of the knob end, then cover / hold it in place on the stick with a bit of tape & cover with VukGripz. I know I'll have to model the knob end & slice it and whatever... My question for those of you that know something about 3d printing (I don't) is "what material should I use?" A knob end that fractures off or can't take being whacked into the boards or whatever would suck. Thanks! Mark

Howdy, If you want the injected eyelets to hold the lace less, I don't see why filing down the teeth a bit wouldn't work just fine. Obviously less is more, since you can't un-file it. Mark

Howdy, So how much does one of these Elite ES4 machines cost? I'm not going to buy one, just curious what a 'production' CNC approach would be. Mark

Howdy, I'm at least passingly aware of how hockey helmet ratings work. I, like lots of folks, would like something better than an outright pass/fail rating. Using your parallel, you'll notice that the NHTSA implements a star / tiered rating system to help quantify differences between various car models and their performance in different tests like frontal, side, rollover, etc. That's most similar to what VT is doing. CSA and HECC is nothing whatsoever like that. They're more like SNELL helmet ratings where you either get a pass or a fail. I agree that's better than nothing and that its the 'standard', but like a lot of people I'd like to see that standard improved to be something more like the NHTSA testing you mention. People also LOVE to say that an improperly fitted helmet can't provide good protection without, as far as I have ever seen, any actual evidence to back that up. If you take that approach to the extreme, everyone will be out there wearing a wool beanie as their helmet, since those fit really, really well. There's every chance that the custom Tacks X helmet is super comfortable because it uses really low density foams that conform to the head well and it JUST BARELY passes HECC / CSA certification. But we'll never be exposed to that type of compromise design solution being chosen, at least not from the manufacturer. Mark

Howdy, You've got a lot more faith in unknown / unreviewed biased manufacturer-only testing than I do. Mark

Howdy, Thanks! How does that compare to the mainstream hockey stuff, either independent guards or integrated with baselayer? Mark

Howdy, If you care only about cut resistance, would something like this be reasonable? https://www.amazon.com/Resistant-Protector-Protection-Motorcycling-Paintball/dp/B07P83G4T9/ref=asc_df_B07P83G4T9/ Mark

Howdy, "Sponsored by Carhartt" Sometimes that looks good. This wasn't one of those times. Mark

Howdy, I'm interested in this as well... I made a gear dryer with pvc pipe and attached a fan to it (Dayton 1TDN7) and the airflow is pretty much terrible. I'd be interested in learning what I did wrong. Mark

Howdy, My ES100 lately has been clicking / popping as the carriage travels back to the home position. Its most noticeable if you open / close the door, so the carriage is traveling without the wheel spinning (I think, at least?). But it does ocassional pop/click once or twice during a sharpening as well. Lately its gotten bad enough that occasionally it does this, doesn't quite get to the home position, then throws a 3-6-10 code (I think it is) for carriage limit switch not found or whatever its called. My guess is that the travel ways or whatever for the carriage are gunked up a bit. I tried vacuuming and then blowing the machine out, no change. Being a gen 1, it doesn't tip up so I can't really see up there very well. Any tips / tricks on how to get access to look at (and probably clean) the actual travel rails / whatever the carriage rides on? Mark

Double post

Howdy, The home machine doesn't have any ability to automatically adjust the ring height. AFAIK (which could be wrong), the pro machine is the same. It makes sense that they can detect that a cross grind ring is installed and modify the travel speed of the carriage / whatever. But I don't understand how they could increase the pressure. Mark

Howdy, How do they apply more pressure? Are they larger diameter? Mark

Howdy, So do you know what they're doing under the covers? Mark

Howdy, I did a Weekend Warrior adult camp in Pittsburgh last year. Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon, IIRC. As I remember, single ice slots on Thursday & Sunday, with 2 a day on Friday/Saturday. Also lots of classroom / video / whatever sessions. I had a great time. I didn't get any magical overnight improvements, but I did learn about some things that I still think about today. For this old guy it was a bit like turning back the clock and being in sports in Highschool or whatever, where all i cared about for a few days was hockey. The camp is pitched to all levels, but I would say that the majority of folks there were on the "started playing hockey as an adult" spectrum. I don't recall anyone that struggled to skate at all, but there weren't guys out there 5 years removed from playing AA travel hockey either. I will say that your body needs to be able to handle that much ice time. They're super understanding and will work with people, but I know that I'd feel like I was letting myself down if I had to miss significant portions of the on ice stuff. You probably don't want to take the camp if the idea of two games in a weekend is too much for you, for instance. For me personally, I'll do it again if the stars schedule-wise align correctly. I didn't do one this year because of shoulder surgery. I am worried about how my body will hold up as I get older. Cost isn't cheap (particularly if you're travelling), but I figure I'm at least partly paying to just be able to put the rest of the world on pause and pretend to be a full time hockey guy for a weekend. My version of a fantasy camp. 🙂 Mark

Howdy, I'd seen something about this on an automated skate sharpening FB group. https://conicity.com/edgehone Has anyone played with / examined one of these yet? I'd be really curious to see what the inside looks like / see how they're actually doing the honing. Mark

Howdy, Ah hell man, that doesn't sound good. Hopefully the biopsies come back better than you're expecting and he just tells you to lay off the flaming hot cheetos? Mark

Howdy, Pretty much has to be this. Mark

Howdy, Its that "move the needle" bit there that matters. For an existing owner, I don't think there's any reason to buy a new machine. Maybe portability, if you're a gen 1 user. But otherwise... Not much that I can see. So the question is, at what point does Sparx need to start selling upgrades to current owners, vs. new people? I have no idea when that point is. Presumably they've got marketing folks / data that's talking to them, telling them to continue to make minor refinements to the current setup vs. major advances in capability. But still, to me as a gen 1 owner on a forum talking about shit, I'm curious how the machine could realistically be better _for me_. Mark