Interchange/ switch blades by myself | Golden Skate

Interchange/ switch blades by myself

Annelegato

Rinkside
Joined
Jun 30, 2017
Hi,
I was wondering if I can move the blades (both mounted) by myself. I wanted to remove the gold star from my ice fly and replace it with the revolution from piano ( also needs to be removed)
Can I do that by myself or need to wait for the shop to do it ?
 

Elija

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 25, 2019
You CAN do it yourself, but whether you can do it properly is another thing. Do the holes in both blades align? Like if you removed them and swapped them would you be able to place screws in to the existing holes? If so, it should be easy enough.

I was talking to my coach recently about putting new blades on my boots that are fully drilled, and he said it would be easy if the holes of the new blades matched up. Otherwise you might have to plug the existing holes and drill new ones, which will be much more difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing.
 

kolyadafan2002

Fan of Kolyada
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 6, 2019
Hi,
I was wondering if I can move the blades (both mounted) by myself. I wanted to remove the gold star from my ice fly and replace it with the revolution from piano ( also needs to be removed)
Can I do that by myself or need to wait for the shop to do it ?

By gold star I assume thats one made by mk?
The holes may or may not match up,
however you can take the gold star blades off (noting which screws are in which parts assuming not all the screws are used).

After that line up the revolution blade. If the holes match, then great screw them on. If not, then you will have to get a skate technician to fill the holes and drill new ones.
Assuming they are also mk star revolution blades than I imagine it will be the same holes, but this is just an assumption.
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
Don't attempt this yourself, because you'll be liable should anything go wrong and you take them to a tech afterwards to "fix the mistake". And many techs won't touch them after you do.
 

kolyadafan2002

Fan of Kolyada
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 6, 2019
Don't attempt this yourself, because you'll be liable should anything go wrong and you take them to a tech afterwards to "fix the mistake". And many techs won't touch them after you do.

But if it already had blades with the same holes, then it wont be a problem just to screw them on surely? (Not talking about drilling personally). Also in addition to the fact this person previously mounted both his/her blades him/herself.
 

tstop4me

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Country
United-States
But if it already had blades with the same holes, then it wont be a problem just to screw them on surely? (Not talking about drilling personally). Also in addition to the fact this person previously mounted both his/her blades him/herself.
<<Emphasis added.>>

The OP wrote:

Hi,
I was wondering if I can move the blades (both mounted) by myself. I wanted to remove the gold star from my ice fly and replace it with the revolution from piano ( also needs to be removed)
Can I do that by myself or need to wait for the shop to do it ?
<<Emphasis added.>>

I read this to mean that both blades are currently mounted, and she wants to know whether she can move them by herself. I do not read this to mean that both blades were previously mounted by herself, rather than by a tech. The OP can step in to clarify. But if she previously were capable of mounting both sets by herself, then she probably wouldn't need to post this question in the first place.
 

tstop4me

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Country
United-States
Hi,
I was wondering if I can move the blades (both mounted) by myself. I wanted to remove the gold star from my ice fly and replace it with the revolution from piano ( also needs to be removed)
Can I do that by myself or need to wait for the shop to do it ?
Just curious: Is there still a rink open where you live?
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
But if it already had blades with the same holes, then it wont be a problem just to screw them on surely? (Not talking about drilling personally). Also in addition to the fact this person previously mounted both his/her blades him/herself.

Tstop4me already answered what you quoted me on so no need for me to reiterate it.
 

kolyadafan2002

Fan of Kolyada
Final Flight
Joined
Jun 6, 2019
Tstop4me already answered what you quoted me on so no need for me to reiterate it.

Okay so ignoring the fact s/he didnt mount the blades:
If the holes line up surely it's okay to just unscrew and then screw the blades back on?
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
Okay so ignoring the fact s/he didnt mount the blades:
If the holes line up surely it's okay to just unscrew and then screw the blades back on?

If you know what you're doing, which she obviously doesn't or she would have stated that or not even asked. I don't know how many times myself and others here need to state this for understanding.
 

NanaPat

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Country
Canada
Okay so ignoring the fact s/he didnt mount the blades:
If the holes line up surely it's okay to just unscrew and then screw the blades back on?

Just unscrewing something and screwing it back on can mess up the screw holes. Been there, done that with swapping out a latch on a metal window.

Did two; one was fine/easy; the other eventually involved moving the latch and drilling new holes because the original holes were messed up.
 

Annelegato

Rinkside
Joined
Jun 30, 2017
<<Emphasis added.>>

The OP wrote:

<<Emphasis added.>>

I read this to mean that both blades are currently mounted, and she wants to know whether she can move them by herself. I do not read this to mean that both blades were previously mounted by herself, rather than by a tech. The OP can step in to clarify. But if she previously were capable of mounting both sets by herself, then she probably wouldn't need to post this question in the first place.

Yes both were mounted by tech. Sorry if it wasn't clear
 

tstop4me

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Country
United-States
Yes both were mounted by tech. Sorry if it wasn't clear

No apology needed. It was clear to me.

Back to your original question. Looks like there is consensus that if you need to plug existing holes and drill new holes, you shouldn’t attempt to remount the blades yourself. There is disagreement about what you should do if the two sets of blades have exactly the same spacing of mounting holes, such that no plugging and drilling are needed (if all goes well).

It may sound trivial to simply demount the existing set of blades and remount a different set of blades under these circumstances. I’ve not done this on Edea boots with carbon-fiber composite soles and heels, but I have done this many times on various boots with traditional leather soles and heels (I've also done plugging and re-drilling many times). Similar caveats apply, however, to any boot.

The mounting plates generally aren’t fully flush with the sole and heel of the boot. When you mount the blades, as you torque the screws down, the sole and heel deform to conform with the mounting plates. You need to torque down the screws in a proper sequence and in gradually increasing degrees. Let’s assume your tech did this properly. Now, when you remove the screws, you also need to loosen the screws in a proper sequence and in gradually increasing degrees. If you do it wrong, you can end up stripping some holes, which then need to be plugged and re-drilled.

Assuming you do remove the screws OK, you then need to be careful with re-installing the screws when mounting the new set of blades. The screws are self-tapping. The screws cut threads into the sole and heel the first time they are installed. When you re-install them, you need to be careful to seat them to the previously cut threads. If you misalign them, they will cross-thread, and the holes will strip; they then need to be plugged and re-drilled.

Assuming you do seat the screws properly, you then again need to torque down the screws in a proper sequence and in gradually increasing degrees. Note that the threads in some holes may have been previously damaged during skating, and you may find that the holes are not reusable (the screws won't tighten properly), even if you take all the proper precautions. These also need to be plugged and re-drilled.

Another problem that I’ve encountered with leather soles and heels is that when I demount a previous blade, the old holes may have raised nubs because the underlying leather was strongly deformed under screw tension. If the nubs are slight, they can simply be sanded flat, and the holes can be reused. But if the nubs are severe, sanding them down removes too much material, and then they need to be plugged and re-drilled. Don’t know whether this is a problem with carbon-fiber composite.

Anyway, Ice Fly and Piano are pricey. If you have no prior experience, I would not recommend that you do it yourself; they need special filler plugs and adhesive to repair if you mess up. And again, unless you’re fortunate to be somewhere with a rink that’s still open, what’s the rush? Hope this helps.
 

sandraskates

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Country
United-States
No apology needed. It was clear to me.

Let’s assume your tech did this properly. Now, when you remove the screws, you also need to loosen the screws in a proper sequence and in gradually increasing degrees. If you do it wrong, you can end up stripping some holes, which then need to be plugged and re-drilled.

Assuming you do seat the screws properly, you then again need to torque down the screws in a proper sequence and in gradually increasing degrees.

Excellent post tstop4me! But now my brain has a couple questions:

1. Is there a standard "proper sequence" used by good technicians when blades are mounted?

2. If there is no "standard sequence" and someone handed you a pair of skates to work on, how would you know what sequence they used? (Guessing YOU would use your knowledge and best-practices technique).
 

Tavi...

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 10, 2014
I guess my question would be, is your ice rink open? If it is, aren’t any skate techs working? If it’s not, why would you need to switch out your blades now instead of waiting for someone who can do it professionally?
 

tstop4me

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 2, 2015
Country
United-States
Excellent post tstop4me! But now my brain has a couple questions:

1. Is there a standard "proper sequence" used by good technicians when blades are mounted?

2. If there is no "standard sequence" and someone handed you a pair of skates to work on, how would you know what sequence they used? (Guessing YOU would use your knowledge and best-practices technique).

Perceptive questions.

(1) As far as I know, there is no standard sequence.

(2) You don’t need to know what the prior sequence was. The guiding principle for any mounting or demounting operation is, as much as practical, maintain uniform stress among all the screws. As long as each operation is done properly, each operation is independent of the previous one.

The configuration of skate blades is complicated, so I’ll use a tire analogy to explain the basic principle. Suppose you are mounting and demounting a tire. To simplify the example further, suppose there are only four mounting bolts on the wheel, equally spaced 90 deg apart. Label the bolts according to compass points, N-E-S-W. When you mount a tire, you lightly tighten a nut onto one bolt. It doesn’t matter which one; let’s choose N. You then lightly tighten a nut onto the bolt that is diametrically opposed (180 deg apart); that would be S. You then lightly tighten a nut onto a bolt 90 deg apart; that would be E or W; it doesn’t matter which, let’s choose E. Lastly, you lightly tighten a nut onto W. You then go through iterative rounds of tightening the nuts in the sequence N-S-E-W until you reach the target torque. This seats the tire properly to the wheel and maintains uniform stress at all the bolts.

Now when you demount the tire, you don’t know what the mounting sequence was, and it doesn’t matter. Pick one bolt, and lightly loosen the nut. Let’s pick W. Then lightly loosen the nut that’s diametrically opposed; that would be E. Followed by N or S (doesn’t matter); let’s pick S. Finally N. Then iteratively loosen the nuts in the sequence W-E-S-N until there is no more clamping pressure. Remove the nuts and take off the tire.
 
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