Equipment Modifications

[aarondevera 0]

Skates: Always switch out stock laces with Elite waxed, one size shorter than recommended because I don't do up my top eyelet. Replace stock tongues with traditional felts from a pair of old CCM Black Tacks that are one size larger than I wear now. 3mm heel lifts, 1mm forward 11" foot contouring, 90/75 FBV

Sticks: For wood replacement blades, I use a heat gun to mellow out the curve on Easton Fibre-Plus Sakics.

Pants: Cut out the thick foam hip inserts for thinner, more flexible ones. I remove the velcro from the inseam zippers and replace the stock lace with a short hockey lace.

Shins: Cut off top flap, remove all straps and liner because I don't block shots anymore. No tape, but I use referee shin tights.

Helmets: Always swapped out for white earloops and use the circular stock Itech visor spacers instead of the stock Oakley spacers on my Pro Straight.

Shoulders: I rarely ever use my hockey shoulders as I favour my lower-profile lacrosse ones, but I've cut off the shouldercaps on my hockey pads and replaced them with the caps of my old lacrosse pads.

[ISTOUT 0]

Curious I have seen professional equipment mgr's. add extra padding to the spine, coller bone etc. areas of shoulder pads does anyone have a clue as to were I could get the padding material needed to fabracate and add some additional spine and collor bone protection to my Cooper SBD II's? Thanks in advance for any help!

[TBLfan 25]

Buy a cheap, used pair of shoulder pads with the features you want and buy a sewing awl/waxed thread.

[ISTOUT 0]

TBL,

Thanks for the advice! I had never thought about doing what you suggested but I think I can pull it off as I am very comfortable with sewing leather and other related thicker materials ... What I would like to do to my SBD II's is add a low profile pad on each of the clavicle areas, slightly reinforce and add additional low profile protective material to the chest and back panels and fabricate a very streamlined drop down spine pad that will work in conjunction with the tail bone/ upper padded area of my pants… Any and all suggestions and ideas about designs and materials are more than welcome! Thanks again TBL!

[titand19 0]

Hey guys, noob here Big DIY guy in general.

Usually I sew all the sleeves on my jerseys so they end at my elbow, instead of having to roll them up.

If you play under USA Hockey rules, your elbow pads must be under your jersey. No pads can be exposed.

Yeah I play in a beer league now. When I used to play under USA hockey rules 10+ years ago, no one ever said anything to me about my elbow pads exposed. Maybe things have changed?

[The Stranger 0]

Hey guys, noob here Big DIY guy in general.

Usually I sew all the sleeves on my jerseys so they end at my elbow, instead of having to roll them up.

If you play under USA Hockey rules, your elbow pads must be under your jersey. No pads can be exposed.

Yeah I play in a beer league now. When I used to play under USA hockey rules 10+ years ago, no one ever said anything to me about my elbow pads exposed. Maybe things have changed?

I got busted once last year, never before or since.

[reyno2ac 0]

I got tired of looking like a linebacker in non check beer league so I decided to rip the shoulder caps off. If I can save up money I would love to pick up some farrell shoulder pads.

Right side is before, left side is after.

[TBLfan 25]

TBL,

Thanks for the advice! I had never thought about doing what you suggested but I think I can pull it off as I am very comfortable with sewing leather and other related thicker materials ... What I would like to do to my SBD II's is add a low profile pad on each of the clavicle areas, slightly reinforce and add additional low profile protective material to the chest and back panels and fabricate a very streamlined drop down spine pad that will work in conjunction with the tail bone/ upper padded area of my pants… Any and all suggestions and ideas about designs and materials are more than welcome! Thanks again TBL!

Just go to a place with a selection of cheap, used gear. Have an idea of the shapes you want and buy some protective pieces. For fabricated pieces like you want to do, don't limit yourself to just shoulder pads but maybe some elbow pads or pants have pieces you might want... Remember, plastic can be cut! I mod a lot of my stuff and I always keep the left over pieces for this very reason! :)

[ISTOUT 0]

Solid advice and you have given me some good material ideas! Thanks brother.. :D

[titand19 0]

Hey guys, noob here Big DIY guy in general.

Usually I sew all the sleeves on my jerseys so they end at my elbow, instead of having to roll them up.

If you play under USA Hockey rules, your elbow pads must be under your jersey. No pads can be exposed.

Yeah I play in a beer league now. When I used to play under USA hockey rules 10+ years ago, no one ever said anything to me about my elbow pads exposed. Maybe things have changed?

I got busted once last year, never before or since.

What was the penalty or outcome? I'm assuming the refs are the ones who busted you?

[Ahriman 1]

I can't imagine a ref having so bad of a day that they would call a penalty instead of saying "yo, roll them sleeves down"

[The Stranger 0]

Hey guys, noob here Big DIY guy in general.

Usually I sew all the sleeves on my jerseys so they end at my elbow, instead of having to roll them up.

If you play under USA Hockey rules, your elbow pads must be under your jersey. No pads can be exposed.

Yeah I play in a beer league now. When I used to play under USA hockey rules 10+ years ago, no one ever said anything to me about my elbow pads exposed. Maybe things have changed?

I got busted once last year, never before or since.

What was the penalty or outcome? I'm assuming the refs are the ones who busted you?

It was fix them, or don't play. I fixed them. (as best I could, with shoulder pads the sleeves on that particular jersey only come down mid forearm anyway)

[bulwinkle 0]

The problem I have is that the only skates I've ever found that fit my freaky feet are the (nike)/Bauer Flexlites. I play defense, so if you know these skates, you know that they're like wearing slippers. They're comfortable, but they have no protection at all. So I took an old pair of soccer shin guards, cut out the plastic part, and pulled the remaining sleeve with the foam padding over the tongue, under the laces. The plastic part, I velcro'd to the inside of my skate, where I've blocked many bone bruising shots. It looks like crap in the picture, but it doesn't really look that bad on the skate, and it's unnoticable on the ice.

I bought a pair of HockeyGiant's KOR one offs with the Gear brand for $100 last year, after reading the fit reviews on here. They fit my feet pretty well, but the heel was too wide, so I stuck some $4 heel grips that I got at Meijer. Best $4 spent. My heels don't move at all in them.

The only other change I made to them was that although the Kor Shifts are advertised as 1 piece composites, the toe cap is plastic, and it is poorly attatched to the one piece boot. I blocked a shot right off the toe cap 3 months ago, and the seam that connects the two failed. I ended up fracturing the toe next to my big toe, and my big toe's nail is _still_ black and blue underneath the nail. So I epoxy'd the toe cap at the seam on both skates. Dunno if it'll hold because I've been skating in my reinforced flexlites since then...

-ted [iniNew++ for telling me that I had to host the images offsite]

If anyone cares I'll retake the images in focus. Just got a new cell phone and apparently/obviously I don't know how to use the camera yet.

[IniNew 53]

-ted [if someone tells me how to post pics, I'll post them, but when I try it just comes up blank]

First you have to upload them to a website such as www.imageshack.us, or www.photobucket.com . After that come to this website and put it inside [.img] [/img.] tags. Minus the periods in the brackets.

[sm326 0]

i had to post this, that is just the worst ever thing i ever saw and that is possabily the worst handyman ever with no brain LOL

i actually had my holders realigned like that on purpose. it fixes ankle pronation causing the player to stand up straight. as for the bad rivet job causing the wave, that seems like a job done by the repairs department at great skate.

[hauptmanndurst 0]

I got tired of looking like a linebacker in non check beer league so I decided to rip the shoulder caps off. If I can save up money I would love to pick up some farrell shoulder pads.

Right side is before, left side is after.

Get the farrells, ive got a set and they rock. Lightest, most breathable pads ever.

[dumbpolak9 1]

murdered out my skates (mission fuel 85xp) no more green fuel logo, black tuuk, and black laces

[TBLfan 25]

I'm one of those guys that like short elbows and short cuffs but the bruises piling up have been getting annoying. I can't stand the feel of long cuffs and don't like the stiffness of long elbow pads. I've been looking for a Jofa floating slash guard but came up with a quick fix that some of you might like.

Problem:

I had an extra 5044 elbow pad from when I received two rights, she later sent the left pad and let me keep the extra right pad. So I took out the plastic on the upper piece(bicep guard), used some sandpaper on the part where I wanted to add some velcro and attached velcro(black pieces, obviously.

I cut out the liner from the elbow pad and cut/glued(flexible fabric glue) it to the inside of the plastic so it's comfortable with no rubbing.

...and problem solved.

Besides glue setting time, it took all of 3 minutes to do. Simple fix to a rather annoying problem. This is a temporary fix for me but I can see this lasting a long time.

[Tsubasa27 0]

My shoulder pads.

Cut off the caps and put some caps from CCM V06 model.

[furlanitalia 1]

I can't imagine a ref having so bad of a day that they would call a penalty instead of saying "yo, roll them sleeves down"

Rule 3.1 (a) A minor penalty shall be assessed to any player who delays the game for adjustment of any equipment. (Hockey Canada)

This include sleeves rolled up, neck guards undone, chin straps - all the stuff guys try to get away with. Have I ever called a penalty for it? No, usually just do my best to talk to each player during warm up, and then talk to the coach telling him to warn his players. Can't say anyone has been stupid enough to do it after that - no one likes sitting for 10 minutes.

[IniNew 53]

Hows this for a modification? My two loves.

[IniNew 53]

Attempting to tint my 2nd visor a maroon/burgundy/red. Could of used more time in the RIT, but I ran out of it. I'll have another go at it some time.

[bednarz877 0]

Attempting to tint my 2nd visor a maroon/burgundy/red. Could of used more time in the RIT, but I ran out of it. I'll have another go at it some time.

all it takes to give a visor a little tint is RIT dye?

how long do you keep it in there for?

[IniNew 53]

Attempting to tint my 2nd visor a maroon/burgundy/red. Could of used more time in the RIT, but I ran out of it. I'll have another go at it some time.

all it takes to give a visor a little tint is RIT dye?

how long do you keep it in there for?

I started with small ammounts (like 45 seconds to a 1.5 minutes) and the last two dips I used I left them in there for about half an hour. Total it was about 2 hours. Be sure not to heat the liquid too much. Bring it to a boil to dissolve the RIT Dye and then bring the temp back down to 150*, and when you remove it from the RIT Dye dip it in cool water immediately. Then it's just a matter of time.

I imagine straight black would work best as well.

[stuie7 6]

Cant remember how long I left mine in the bucket for.. but it was probably around 10 minutes.

edit: by bucket i mean the bucket of dye, not the helmet.