Installation and Review: Skinz Protective Gear "Air Frame" Boards

[christopher]

In the process of getting ready to rivet these boards into place I got in some practice tonight.

So, I shot my first rivets into my sled this evening and I used BOTH the generic and the ones I got from OFT Racing.

HOLY SMOKES

The difference is HUGE.

A rivet is NOT just a rivet!!!
The Yamaha OEM Rivet from OFT on the right, and the generic one on the left!

Which one do you think is the better solution??

__________________

 

[christopher]

Preparing the underside of the boards for the bonding agent required that I grind off a small portion of the powdercoating to ensure a solid metal to metal contact surface.

 

[akrevrider]

In the process of getting ready to rivet these boards into place I got in some practice tonight.

So, I shot my first rivets into my sled this evening and I used BOTH the generic and the ones I got from OFT Racing.

HOLY SMOKES

The difference is HUGE.

A rivet is NOT just a rivet!!!
The Yamaha OEM Rivet from OFT on the right, and the generic one on the left!
Which one do you think is the better solution??

__________________

Are the "generic" rivets the ones provided with the AirFrame boards? Until you installed and pulled both of them as a comparison it's would be hard to see the difference. The Yamaha rivet looks 100% better.

How's the adhesive working out? With quality Yamaha rivets those boards won't be moving anytime soon.

Post up some progress pics please! :camera:

akrevrider

 

[christopher]

The rivet on the left came with the kit from Skinz.

This weekend I am going to try and finish the project.

If all goes well I will have plenty of new photos of the actual bonding process and riveting and then I can get going on the rest of the projects!!

 

[christopher]

Finally got to MOUNT the boards on my sled today!


This is the Lord 406-19 Acrylic Adhesive loaded in the manual dispenser.

This is the Mixing Tube that comes with the Adhesive.
The tube has three different diameters on the end for you to choose from.

I trimmed it to the largest diameter available.

Final cut as large as I could get it.
NOTICE that I am wearing gloves.

This stuff is NASTY.
I would not recommend handling this without gloves on.
I wasn't even able to get the plugs out of the main tubes without getting it all over my gloves. And make sure you do this with some ventilation. It gives off some strong odors. I discharged about 25% of the primary contents before I attached the mixing tube as some of it had separated and I wanted to make sure I got into the best portion deeper in the tube.

 

[christopher]

Prior to applying the Adhesive, I prepped all of my rivets, nuts, bolts, and clamps.

One the Adhesive enters the mixing tube you have 6 minutes before this stuff gets THICK and starts to harden!!

When it comes out the nozzle its almost like WATER. It is VERY VERY viscous!
But it starts to set up FAST.

Make sure you are 100% ready to rock and roll when you squeeze the trigger...

As the 2 part adhesive enters the mixing tube you can watch it blend together.

When it comes out it is very viscous.

 

[christopher]

After laying down as large a bead as I could, I went back over and laid down a second bead. After all was said and done, I probably should have laid down a little more. There were several places that were not 100% covered and bonded. In the end I doubt it will make any difference at all, but when I do the other side tomorrow, I will use more Adhesive. Once the boards were mounted and the excess "oozed" out it was VERY easy to wipe away with some shop towels.

Note.
Keeps lots of them on hand and ready to go.
Again, you only have 6 minutes when this stuff is liquid.
By 10 Minutes it was very think and pretty much fully set up.
Though I could wipe it off the tunnel so long as I used a little muscle to get the excess off. 6 minutes goes by very quickly...



The board is laid in place on the Adhesive and the forward and rear bolts are inserted to ensure proper alignment before the rivets are set.

Board is bolted to the tunnel now.
All the Rivets have been inserted into the pre-drilled holes.
http://www.snowestonline.com/forum/forum.vb/picture.php?albumid=1821&pictureid=19131

Clamps are now in place and its time to use the Rivet gun to set all the rivets.
NOTE: You MUST MUST MUST clamp the Tunnel lip to the Boards. While its a pretty close fit, it is not 100% I found the clamps made a noticeable difference in pulling the boards and the Tunnel together before I set the rivets.

 

[christopher]

Here is what it looked like after all the rivets were set as I began wiping away all of the excess adhesive.

 

[christopher]

This is the rear of the boards where the boards no longer mate up with the lip.
If I had the opportunity to do this a 2nd time, I would have cut the lip at the rear of the tunnel a little bit wider than instructed to so there would have been a bit more lip let to sit under this part of the boards.

 

[christopher]

The 4 rivets that go in the footwell.
I did not apply the adhesive up here.

 

[christopher]

Finished Mount looking down from the top of the tunnel.

 

[christopher]

Half way there.
Going to change and see if I can't roll her over and get the other side done.

 

[christopher]

Got the 2nd board installed today at lunch.
Went in very quickly now that I have done it once before.
Used more adhesive to get a better more complete seal than yesterday.

While I didn't need it, it would be nice to have an extra mixing tube or two laying around just in case. But when the 6 minutes was up, the tube was solid.

Now to roll the sled back off it's side, slide the sled stand underneath, and start drilling all the holes to mount the traction studs.

 

[christopher]

I have to say that the instruction booklet that they included is quite nice. I suppose I offer a bit more detailed photos than they did, but their booklet certainly walked me through the whole process.

 

[christopher]

Tonight I mounted the TRACTION STUDS on one of the boards.

All of the stud holes have to be Center Punched first.

Then drilled out with two different bits.
There is a large bit for the outside tube, and a small bit for the inside tubes.

Each stud in then SLOWLY screwed into the hole.
The wall thickness on the outside tube is MUCH greater than on the inside tubes. When the stud is tight on the outside tube you can fell it.

But be CAREFULL on the inside tubes. It is VERY easy to strip the tube with just an extra 1/4 turn of the ratchet. The wall thickness is much thinner on these tubes.

 

[christopher]

Skinz provides a small plate to use as a measuring template for positioning the hole punch.

 

[christopher]

Installing the studs is SLOW work.

 

[christopher]

Looks good.

But, I do have a question.
Why are you using a hand ratchet? You have a compressor now, a 1/4" air ratchet makes disassembling and reassembling sleds a joy. Most 1/4" air rackets will not have enough power to strip out most fasteners.

EASY ANSWER

STRIPPING!

The studs that go into the inner tubes have to be tightened EVER SO GENTLY or they will strip out. The wall thickness on those tubes is not all that great and it wouldn't take much at all to spin one of those studs. I can't see doing it with an air tool and NOT stripping out a bunch of them. The outside tube would be fine. It has plenty of metal to bite on and you can "Feel" when the stud is torqued down and it's time to release. But I could barely ever feel that on the inner tubes.

 

[christopher]

Here was the torque issue I noticed on the inner tubes.

To get the stud started took a look of down pressure.

The first revolution took the most torque.

Then it dropped to almost NO FRICTION at all, and the stud would turn effortlessly.

And lastly as the head of the stud started to get close to the tube itself, there was a little bit of friction once again, but if I wasn't really attentive and

LOOKING at the head, and extra quarter turn on VERY LOW TORQUE would just strip it right out.

 

[christopher]

It just felt like each one of them was about to break loose to me.
I spoke to Skinz about this at the Snow Show this last Saturday.
They told me they screw them in using an electric screw driver with the tension set to 1, the very lowest setting on the screwdriver.