Above 1200 Sq/FT The Action Sports Garage

[Grant Gunderson]

Think of rent as buying patience. A year or two of rent is cheap compared to making a bad house purchase. Especially as you figure things out with Jamie and what that all means for the future.

Unsolicited advise from a rando on the internet.

That is a great way to look at it. Buyer for my house backed out, so got done more time in that end at least.

Super excited for you!

New space, lots of changes. It seems like a lot, but (from the outside) you appear to be doing a good job eating the elephant one bite at a time. In short order, you'll be able to look back and feel a huge sense of relief and accomplishment.

We're cheering for you!

I feel like I’ve been drinking from a fire house! Life’s going to be crazy busy for the next year at least, but if everything mostly pans out, it will set me up really good for the long term…. Or at least that’s my vision.

Getting approved as factory authorized service company is a smart move!

It is. It’s essential to have as much factory support for service software / parts as possible. It’s too bad Shimano refuses to do anything to support these motors, but what I’ve learned from reverse engineering them applies to all of the others.

First time posting in your thread here and love all the stuff that you are doing. New shop looks like it will be an awesome space. Can't wait to see it develop. Good Luck and please keep sharing!

BTW - love the QT that you spend with your son. As my Dad has grown older, I look back on those times with fond memories and also have been trying to do the same with my son who is now 19. I can tell you, it's not easy, but so worth it.

Thanks! The divorce put me in a situation where o had to choose between time with my kid and the very successful career I loved, but I feel like it’s on to another chapter and I really value my time with him and it’s translated into a great relationship. Plus while I was t exactly planning a career shift, things just happened to line up and I enjoy that too. It’s only a matter of time till he’s too busy with his friends, so I’m trying to make the most of it now.

Hope you dont mind a little distraction from the Shop discussion to talk about ski binding mounting again. Last year I inquired if it was worth doing my own bindings or having a shop do it. I went ahead and had a shop mount them up and skied them all last season.

Enter my dilema....

Since then I got a pair of race skis and new boots. I have tinkered with my setup quite a bit on the race skis with plates where binding mounting/adjusting is easy. Long story short I prefer 0 binding delta. Too bad that 2 pairs of my all mountain ski bindings have 6mm delta (that i dislike). I remember that you introduced us to the quiver killer/binding freedom inserts a while back & it looks like I can put those right back into the existing screw pattern for my binding so I can mount/dismount it at my leisure . Unfortunately for me, I dont live nearby you & haven't found a shop or tuner in the western MA or southern Vermont area who will pull my toe pieces and put those in for me so I can add my own shims to 0 out the binding delta.

So i am about to give this a shot myself. Any tips, tricks or key tools you have to successfully put in binding inserts?
I am planning on buying the following from Binding freedom: Tap, drill bit, inserts, expoxy, thread locker, guide block (since i want to expand the existing holes for the inserts not drill a whole new pattern where i would need the binding mount template)

That’s the essentials. I’d ditch the epoxy and use the thin version of Fastcap 2P-10. It works way better as epoxy can be too thick. The 2p-10 holds just as good and with the accelerator cures almost instantly. A ground down flat head, leaving the center works best for installing them too. The insert tool they sell is pretty worthless. The step drill bit, countersink and a bottom tap is essential tho.


They used to sell a plug tap for those but those don’t cut deep enough so make sure you get a bottom tap. 5/16-18. I prefer the spiral variety as it removes the chips as you cut.

You also need to get the proper screws for your bindings. Standard metric screws don’t have the proper anti rotation ribs on the heads or the proper geometry. Make sure you run the tap in using a guide so it’s perfectly square or you will have an issue with the inserts.

That being said, I’m a big fan of having some binding ramp angle as it helps keep pressure on the front of the ski where you want it. Only time I like zero is if I plan to tour a long ways over a flat distance. Without it, people usually end up skiing too much on their heels.

A lot of bindings are also designed around it and when I test them (especially tech bindings) won’t release properly when it’s adjusted with adding toe shims.

Most of the time when people complain about ramp angle / delta it’s due to something else. Ie wedges in their shells or under the foot beds. (Are you using custom insoles? ) Or too much forward lean in the shells (rare).

A lot of times people also blame too much ramp angle on issues with turn initialization or finish, when in reality it’s too aggressive of edge bevels tip / tail. I’m a big fan of doing a variable edge angle over the length of the ski just for this.

Also changing the boot center on the ski can also be confused with a ramp angle issue as well.

Basically what I’m getting at, is there is a lot of intertwined factors that can affect how a ski changes and many of them can be adjusted easier than changing the ramp angle and with less consequences. That being said it’s good to test different scenarios. More you do that the more you realize how each affects the way a ski behaves / feels.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

I've been so busy withcusotmer work, its been slow going at the new shop, but I'm still waiting on permits, so thats ok.

Been cleaning up / sorting through what cabinets I want to keep Vs. sell as some of them were pretty beat up, but hell, price was right.

Some angle iron and clamps works great to straighten out the tops, so I can get the top drawers open.

This entire batch look identical, other than a slight change in drawer configurations, so I can swap in the best drawers. Pretty sure I can sell the ones I dont keep and come out where I keep 4-5 plus the two vidmars at zero cost to me.

However, this one cabinet is an odd duck. Instead of having the stroker C channel for the drawer slides like every other industrial tool / parts cabinet, this one only has a L channel for supports. It's clearly way weaker. WTF?

So its supports are completely not compatible with the rest of them. too bad as it's one of the cleaner looking cabinets too.

 

[LXCam]

I've been so busy withcusotmer work, its been slow going at the new shop, but I'm still waiting on permits, so thats ok.

Been cleaning up / sorting through what cabinets I want to keep Vs. sell as some of them were pretty beat up, but hell, price was right.

Some angle iron and clamps works great to straighten out the tops, so I can get the top drawers open.

This entire batch look identical, other than a slight change in drawer configurations, so I can swap in the best drawers. Pretty sure I can sell the ones I dont keep and come out where I keep 4-5 plus the two vidmars at zero cost to me.

However, this one cabinet is an odd duck. Instead of having the stroker C channel for the drawer slides like every other industrial tool / parts cabinet, this one only has a L channel for supports. It's clearly way weaker. WTF?

So its supports are completely not compatible with the rest of them. too bad as it's one of the cleaner looking cabinets too.

That’s interesting Grant, those are the style on my huge rolling shelf model that if I remember right carries a 600lb rating. Regardless of the rating, this old beast is rock solid.

One of these days she’s getting a refresh. A few months ago I tore into her and serviced all the sliders and other then needing one bearing everything works butter smooth. She just needs paint n body at this point

 

[Clemson13]

That’s the essentials. I’d ditch the epoxy and use the thin version of Fastcap 2P-10. It works way better as epoxy can be too thick. The 2p-10 holds just as good and with the accelerator cures almost instantly. A ground down flat head, leaving the center works best for installing them too. The insert tool they sell is pretty worthless. The step drill bit, countersink and a bottom tap is essential tho.

They used to sell a plug tap for those but those don’t cut deep enough so make sure you get a bottom tap. 5/16-18. I prefer the spiral variety as it removes the chips as you cut.

You also need to get the proper screws for your bindings. Standard metric screws don’t have the proper anti rotation ribs on the heads or the proper geometry. Make sure you run the tap in using a guide so it’s perfectly square or you will have an issue with the inserts.

That being said, I’m a big fan of having some binding ramp angle as it helps keep pressure on the front of the ski where you want it. Only time I like zero is if I plan to tour a long ways over a flat distance. Without it, people usually end up skiing too much on their heels.

A lot of bindings are also designed around it and when I test them (especially tech bindings) won’t release properly when it’s adjusted with adding toe shims.

Most of the time when people complain about ramp angle / delta it’s due to something else. Ie wedges in their shells or under the foot beds. (Are you using custom insoles? ) Or too much forward lean in the shells (rare).

A lot of times people also blame too much ramp angle on issues with turn initialization or finish, when in reality it’s too aggressive of edge bevels tip / tail. I’m a big fan of doing a variable edge angle over the length of the ski just for this.

Also changing the boot center on the ski can also be confused with a ramp angle issue as well.

Basically what I’m getting at, is there is a lot of intertwined factors that can affect how a ski changes and many of them can be adjusted easier than changing the ramp angle and with less consequences. That being said it’s good to test different scenarios. More you do that the more you realize how each affects the way a ski behaves / feels.

Thank you for the insights! I went ahead and got all the parts to do this following your advice as well as a couple different length screws with the anti rotation heads. Am I going to do this possibly against better judgement? Yes I like tinkering with my setup, and am happy with the setup/feel my 0 binding delta atomic slalom skis so ill try a few different shim heights to see what difference it makes on the all mountain setup.

But that is why I am buying the screws to put it back to normal from the start. If this makes anything go horribly out of alignment ill just pull the bolts, pull the shim, put the binding back on and be back to having ramp angle again. After i jam the shim in there ill take them by the shop to have the binding release checked, good idea.

No wedges in my shell, no shims, no bontex, etc, have custom molded Sidas foot beds, but they don't add much Hight at the heel vs toe. I do have very flexible ankles (greater than 30 deg dorsiflexion) so I am hoping that this shim + increasing the boot forward lean lets me get some more angle in the boots to close the ankle without changing the overall forward lean (binding delta + boot) that seems to work best for me (~17deg, harder for me to get forward pressure at less than 16, greater than 18 blows up my quads).
If this works, ill be thrilled. If it doesn't? Ill setup an appointment with a better bootfitter (than my last one) & start over with someone who will look at my mechanics while I ski.

Again, thank you for the guidance. I think this will be a fun project no matter what.

Edit: Just found your shop thread over on SkiTalk, cant believe I missed you joining over there until just now. Looking forward to getting your book when it comes out

 

[Grant Gunderson]

This was an interesting motor failure

That ribbon of metal is a bearing shelled that went through the reduction gears

Took a bunch of teeth with it too!

The main drive shaft bearing grenaded its self. Both the outer race fractured

As did the inner one. Second time I’ve seen this on a relatively new motor. I’ve been loving the KUKKo bearing separator I bought a few months back so just ordered a few more of their bearing tools. Not cheap but they are the best I’ve found.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Thank you for the insights! I went ahead and got all the parts to do this following your advice as well as a couple different length screws with the anti rotation heads. Am I going to do this possibly against better judgement? Yes I like tinkering with my setup, and am happy with the setup/feel my 0 binding delta atomic slalom skis so ill try a few different shim heights to see what difference it makes on the all mountain setup.

But that is why I am buying the screws to put it back to normal from the start. If this makes anything go horribly out of alignment ill just pull the bolts, pull the shim, put the binding back on and be back to having ramp angle again. After i jam the shim in there ill take them by the shop to have the binding release checked, good idea.

Again, thank you for the guidance. I think this will be a fun project no matter what.

Edit: Just found your shop thread over on SkiTalk, cant believe I missed you joining over there until just now. Looking forward to getting your book when it comes out

That s the nice thing about using the inserts, is it makes it easy to test different configurations. I did a it a lot when we were getting various touring binding prototypes in to test / shoot.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Was down at the shop space to grab a pair of skis for opening days and apparently they got permits and started the demo of the changing room. Finally some progress!

Stian was really excited for opening day at Baker Sunday so he waxed all of our skis!

Didn’t get any pics of them, as too busy skiing, but the kids both picked right up where they left off and by end of the day were way faster than last season. They are a bit stronger this year and the far I got them last year was a bit on the big side this year it fits perfectly so I’m willing to bet we are going to see a lot of progress. I’m really curious to see where they are at by end of season. They did first to last chair Sunday and Stian did the same again yesterday

Jamie’s new boots are making an improvement in her skiing and she actually seems to be enjoying it. Only issue is she’s going to really have to work at putting the time into it instead of riding bikes all winter if she’s going to be able to keep up with the kids in a year or two. I think that will be some good motivation for her. She’s so athletic and fit now that she’s got properly fit boots it will probably come around pretty quickly.

I got a full day of motor rebuilds today and I gotta exchange Stian at noon today so can’t ski, even tho it’s going to be a bluebird perfect powder day. Those are the days I live for to get out and shoot, but slowly starting to let that go to focus on the shop / skiing with the kids. That’s a big change in career / lifestyle and while the photo thing isn’t viable anymore I still hope to get some good days shooting in with the local athletes as I still love to do it even if it’s not paying the bills these days. Jamie reminded me that I at least got to experience that lifestyle at the absolute peak of the industry and I’ll always have those memories.

Cleaning the garage out getting ready for the move I found this old ski test piece. Back when I was getting my degree in plastics / composites my senior project was creating a pure carbon fiber ski back before anyone had brought them to market. I used all prepreg and a special heat expandable foam to get good compression. Was able to get the stiffness to match the go to powder ski of the day the Völkl Explosive. (Damn that’s a long time ago). Had a composite engineering firm backing the project and we were set to go into the ski production business, but that venture failed along with the sponsoring company before it got going as Boeing at the time bought up the worlds supply of Carbon Fiber production leading into the 787 development leaving no sports grade CF available. (Boeing also offered me a job but that’s a different story) so long story short this isn’t the first time I’ve change direction in a career path either skiing. Funny thing back then is I was already shooting skiing almost full time to pay for school.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Bought myself a new Electronic microscope for the shop for Christmas, to help with diagnosing and hopefully repairing some PCB failures.


See fluke test lead for scale. I need some much smaller probs. Any recommendations?

BTW that component reads .2Ω on a good board. Any idea what to order for a replacement? I should preface this, that I dont know **** about working on PCB's but Im willing to invest in the equipment and learn.



Same board for scale. This wirelessly transmits power / reads the torque sensors and Hall effect sensors.


This is another bad board. It's obviously missing a component and another is dislodged.

This is a known good board out of another motor.
Any idea what these components are?

The larger black one thats completely missing off of the board above reads 1MΩ on the good board
The grey component reads .9KΩ

These may be way too small in reality to fix, but there is ZERO parts or support from the MFG and I get a lot of these motors in with the same issues. Worst case scenario, is that I am improving my skills at diagnosing the issues, so willing to invest some resources and time in trying to repair them. I've narrowed down a very difficult Error code to diagnose to this board, as often times it can be intermittent. So even being able to see an issue with it, is a success.

 

[zanyad]

Merry Christmas!

 

[Grant Gunderson]

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.
My son loves advent calendar’s but I’m over getting him the chocolate ones as after 4 days at moms place he has way too much to eat to get caught back up so got him the Wera one this year.

That was a big hit! Will definitely do that again next year and I’m thinking I should sell them in the shop next year too.
I also got him a full set of MIP drivers for his RC cars too. I sense a tool addiction is forming. Those MIP drivers are really damn nice. Might need to get a set for myself as they seem to have better tolerances for hex screws than even my PB Swiss ones!

I also gave him a complete set of Aluminum upgrade parts for his car too. Idea is to make it bulletproof as he had broke the plastic gear box housing. Pretty impressive in how these cars are made. It’s even got a clutch plate on the gear box.

I explained to him these parts are basically just scaled down from a real car so if he understands how they work on the RC cars when he’s older he will understand how they work on real cars. We got the gear box fully transferred and rebuilt in the new housing…should have taken more pics!
He soldered the new motor leads on himself too.
It’s good to see that he enjoys some shop time with dad. Granted he still preferred to play with his new iPad and Switch2 but that’s ok we live in a world surrounded by technology.

Got a good 4 days of skiing in with him and Evelina too. The my picked up right where they left off and they are ripping on skis. Jamie’s going to really have to put effort in to keep up with them at the rate they are progressing. I’m really grateful they both love to ski.

I got him a subscription to these Crunchlabs kits last Christmas and those have been such a great investment in his curiosity for engineering and mechanical things I renewed that again for this year. If you got a kid that’s even remotely interested in how things work I’d highly recommend them.

I got some new tools for Christmas as well. New Abbey chromby tool for the new Shimano cassettes, star nut setter shop chain whip and a shorter Crombie socket. Other than their wheel building tools I pretty much own everything they make now. Their original Crombie socket is one of the most used tools in my shop but its height can be an issue so nice to have the shorter one now too.

 

[Xti04]

Grant, what rc car is he running? I got my boys each a traxxas rustler for Christmas and wanted to see how interested they were before spending anymore on them. There is a track locally that I am going to take them too and let them see how they do on a closed course instead of just ripping around the yard.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Grant, what rc car is he running? I got my boys each a traxxas rustler for Christmas and wanted to see how interested they were before spending anymore on them. There is a track locally that I am going to take them too and let them see how they do on a closed course instead of just ripping around the yard.

When he was younger I got him a Latrax Teton but he didn’t have the throttle control yet so it kept breaking.

Now he’s getting back into them so we have been rebuilding it.


A friend gave him a Rustler and that’s the one we have been working on in the last post. That things pretty fast! Especially with the new motor.

He loves jumping it and we have a ton of trails behind the house he likes to drive them on. All of the neighbor kids are pretty into them too.

The metal upgrade kits are pretty reasonable on Amazon and are worth it compared to having to keep replacing the plastic parts. So we are in the process of changing all of the components on it to metal same as the Latrax.

My dad’s wife’s family used to own one of the largest RC hobby stores in the country before they decided to close it down 10 years ago after nearly 70 years in business. Sure wish they still had it, now they Stian’s into it. One thing they told me when we got him his first one is that the big money maker for them was on the suspension replacement parts so it was worth getting better / stronger ones right away vs keep buying the original plastic ones over and over.

 

[Johnno]

I have raced RC cars for years and yes MIP tools are the most precisely ground hex drivers in the business. They last a long time and are very strong. In my opinion the best in the business for the smaller sizes!
Thanks for sharing your journey with the bikes and the new shop, always enjoy the updates.

 

[runit]

enjoying all of this! (and I don't even ski)

Hope the new shop space build out picks up the pace when everyone gets back to work Jan 5 or whatever

 

[Grant Gunderson]

I’ve been very happy with the first KUKKO bearing separator, so I ordered its little brother plus a specialty puller. I’ll probably have to modify that puller for my needs but I’m very impressed with the quality of these. That being said I should be given the cost. The single action screw is a massive time saver over the standard design.

 

[old-air-performance]

Those Kukko's are expensive, but worth every penny.
I als have the 204-0 , the others are also on my wishlist , those single action screw makes them so much easier to use.

Kind regards,
Toon

 

[Johanfpa]

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy & healthy 2026!

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Had a house showing yesterday. Seems like they really liked it as spent a lot of time chatting with my neighbors… evidently they really liked the garage…. Haha. Hope they realize I’m not including the workbenches or tool cabinets!


I changed the furnace filters over at Jamie’s and noticed her high efficiency furnace seems to have a leak around the blower area. So we ordered a new blower assembly. When I pulled the old one I realized whoever installed it originally broke off the screw at the blowers 6 o’clock position so it wasn’t properly sealing against the secondary heat exchanger and thus the condensation dripping. Probably didn’t need to replace the blower, but since it wasn’t properly sealing out did it anyways.

I need to bring over a transfer punch and then drill out the plastic bracket and add a 3/16” rivitnut to properly fix it. If this was at my place I’d have it done in 10 minutes. Problem is all of my tools and hardware are either at my house or the shop. With most of my woodworking tools being at Jamie’s. Ugh. I know the garage journal solution is just buy more tools to have at her place…. But I need to quickly figure out a solution that’s economical. Once my place sells I’m leaning towards moving in with her until we find the right property to build what we want. Only issue is her place will get a bit crowded with two kids and the garage is tiny….bit the location is awesome.



Anyways back to the task at hand. After realizing how simple furnaces are last year when I rebuilt mine, I don’t know how I could justify a $300 service call to replace a $200 part that took me only 20minutes. What’s even crazier is knowing that the service company that installed it didn’t take the time to properly locate the control board assembly with the deadman switch so instead used tape to hold the switch down. Took less than a minute to properly secure to the correct factory predrilled holes. I know this was done by the installer as I had to break their service label to open it up.

Is it really too much to ask that people take pride in their work? Or at least give a damn about doing it properly? Jamie got a new dishwasher a week ago that came with install. Next day we found a ton of screws on the kitchen floor. Guy didn’t even bother tightening them into the cabinet frame so I ended up having to redo the installers work.

 

[Bad Mojo]

Had a house showing yesterday. Seems like they really liked it as spent a lot of time chatting with my neighbors… evidently they really liked the garage…. Haha. Hope they realize I’m not including the workbenches or tool cabinets!


I changed the furnace filters over at Jamie’s and noticed her high efficiency furnace seems to have a leak around the blower area. So we ordered a new blower assembly. When I pulled the old one I realized whoever installed it originally broke off the screw at the blowers 6 o’clock position so it wasn’t properly sealing against the secondary heat exchanger and thus the condensation dripping. Probably didn’t need to replace the blower, but since it wasn’t properly sealing out did it anyways.

I need to bring over a transfer punch and then drill out the plastic bracket and add a 3/16” rivitnut to properly fix it. If this was at my place I’d have it done in 10 minutes. Problem is all of my tools and hardware are either at my house or the shop. With most of my woodworking tools being at Jamie’s. Ugh. I know the garage journal solution is just buy more tools to have at her place…. But I need to quickly figure out a solution that’s economical. Once my place sells I’m leaning towards moving in with her until we find the right property to build what we want. Only issue is her place will get a bit crowded with two kids and the garage is tiny….bit the location is awesome.



Anyways back to the task at hand. After realizing how simple furnaces are last year when I rebuilt mine, I don’t know how I could justify a $300 service call to replace a $200 part that took me only 20minutes. What’s even crazier is knowing that the service company that installed it didn’t take the time to properly locate the control board assembly with the deadman switch so instead used tape to hold the switch down. Took less than a minute to properly secure to the correct factory predrilled holes. I know this was done by the installer as I had to break their service label to open it up.

Is it really too much to ask that people take pride in their work? Or at least give a damn about doing it properly? Jamie got a new dishwasher a week ago that came with install. Next day we found a ton of screws on the kitchen floor. Guy didn’t even bother tightening them into the cabinet frame so I ended up having to redo the installers work.

Oh man, this hits a little too close to home. Down to the broken bolt that needed drilling out, the inducer fan leaking water, and the taped switch. I think our furnace was installed on a Friday afternoon if I am being honest. Glad you got it and I am right there with you on spending the money on the service call when I can do it myself.

In terms of the split tool set I ended up building out one 15" tool bag and one hard case with a drill and bits and if I don't have the right tools in that bag I am starting to use that as a gauge of the scale and complexity of the job. If I can't fix it with that tool bag it probably wasn't a quick job to begin with, and it is okay that I didn't have the exact tools/hardware at that moment.

 

[Cruzan80]

Hope they realize I’m not including the workbenches or tool cabinets!

For the right price, everything the buyer wants can be included in the sale. The issue is most don't want to know(or like) the price tag!

 

[gearhead1960]

I feel you on the dishwasher. Had similar experience. They couldn't make sure it was centered in the hole. Because of this it eventually stopped opening, when done, because it had shifted enough to prevent the door from opening on it's own. I knew they had not centered it, but didn't think it mattered and my OCD wasn't bothering me too bad. When the DW (Bosch) stopped opening like it was supposed to, I went ahead and recentered the unit, and on 1st running was back to normal!

 

[Grant Gunderson]

I’m still treading water waiting on the land lord to get their improvements done at the shop. Apparently they are still waiting on permits..

I’ve been crazy busy with motors. Averaged 5 a day last week and it’s getting to the point I’m going to need to hire some help soon as I get the new shop open. The ski mounts are crazy busy too so my lead times are slipping. I guess that’s a good sign and it’s relieving some anxiety about if this venture will work, but I also know work volume ebbs and flows.
This was the worst motor I’ve seen yet. It flooded then sat for weeks before the guy brought it in.

Sprague clutch was toast as was the entire motor.

Next day same guy brings in yet another motor. This one only had 1K miles on it.

And it looked liked he had submerged it in a swamp! Still had wet mud and water in it!

It wouldn’t power up, but I was surprised that I was able to get it going again after a good cleaning, all new bearings and installing a new PCB. Told him to quit riding through creek crossings that are above the motor! The investment in the microscope and diagnostic gear is paying off.

As I can now inspect the boards and in this case found most were good, one just had a blown fuse.

I also picked up some digital tweezers and a set of HAKKO hot tweezers.

The tips on the digital tweezers and the stock hot tweezers are too large for my needs unfortunately, but I did find these micro tips for the HAKKO hot tweezers so I’m getting closer to being properly setup for board level repairs.

Part of the challenge I’m going to have is figuring out how to manage customer work while building out the shop. I don’t want to turn people away, yet at the same time I need tog at try build out done so I can bring in some help.

 

[Johanfpa]

Are they that badly sealed that just cycling through a creek will cause water to seep in or is it down to pressure washing their bikes to get the mud off them?
Great to hear you are busy, I'm sure it will all work out for you because you are offering a service few will these days. We are living in a throw away world now and sadly in most shops they would sell and fit a new motor.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Are they that badly sealed that just cycling through a creek will cause water to seep in or is it down to pressure washing their bikes to get the mud off them?
Great to hear you are busy, I'm sure it will all work out for you because you are offering a service few will these days. We are living in a throw away world now and sadly in most shops they would sell and fit a new motor.

I’m pretty sure these guys were crossing creeks and they got submerged.

Speaking of seals, Jamie kept complaining of bending the presta valves on her bike… truth be told it’s her ****** pump so figured I’d buy a new one for her place so picked up a new Lenzye dirt drive. As much as I hate new “standards” in the bike industry and feel the presta valve works good enough, I figured I’d try these new Click valve stems. They were cheap enough that if they end up being snake oil I’m not out much.

So far I’m pretty impressed with them and the pump to valve interface is awesome. Just click it on pump and then pull it off with zero air loss. They are a bit more difficult to bleed down on the trail as you need to use the cap to depress the tip, but I can live with that. Curious to see if they get gunked up with sealant. As long as they are not worse than presta I’ll be happy.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Needed to setup a dedicated work station for binding adjustments so ordered some of the new PBSwiss screwdrivers. I really wanted to not like the new redesign, but they’re F’ning awesome.

I never had a problem with the previous grip size, but these new larger ones just fit my hands even better.

It’s even more evident on the smaller sizes.

This was a very expensive purchase…. As know I know once the new shop is finished the old style will become the home set and I’ll be ordering a bunch of sets of the new style to outfit the new shop.

I can get Wera at wholesale, and while those are nice, I’d still rather pay a premium for the PBswiss ones as they are just superior in every aspect other than cost.

 

[loganb]

I know you're trying to be fair on pricing....but one of the surest ways to struggle in a business venture is to be underpriced vs the value being provided.

Working crazy hours to get caught up and not make any money cause the rate is too low is no fun. You do top notch work, that is hard if not impossible on the e bike front to find elsewhere....don't be afraid to use your repair rates to help manage the backlog and also help support paying others to complete the build out of the space faster.

Love seeing the pcb tools, that's a field I've never develed into other then replacing obviously blown caps. Going to keep watching to see what I should add to my wish list!

 

[Xti04]

I’m still treading water waiting on the land lord to get their improvements done at the shop. Apparently they are still waiting on permits..

I’ve been crazy busy with motors. Averaged 5 a day last week and it’s getting to the point I’m going to need to hire some help soon as I get the new shop open. The ski mounts are crazy busy too so my lead times are slipping. I guess that’s a good sign and it’s relieving some anxiety about if this venture will work, but I also know work volume ebbs and flows.
This was the worst motor I’ve seen yet. It flooded then sat for weeks before the guy brought it in.

Sprague clutch was toast as was the entire motor.

Next day same guy brings in yet another motor. This one only had 1K miles on it.

And it looked liked he had submerged it in a swamp! Still had wet mud and water in it!

It wouldn’t power up, but I was surprised that I was able to get it going again after a good cleaning, all new bearings and installing a new PCB. Told him to quit riding through creek crossings that are above the motor! The investment in the microscope and diagnostic gear is paying off.

As I can now inspect the boards and in this case found most were good, one just had a blown fuse.

I also picked up some digital tweezers and a set of HAKKO hot tweezers.

The tips on the digital tweezers and the stock hot tweezers are too large for my needs unfortunately, but I did find these micro tips for the HAKKO hot tweezers so I’m getting closer to being properly setup for board level repairs.

Part of the challenge I’m going to have is figuring out how to manage customer work while building out the shop. I don’t want to turn people away, yet at the same time I need tog at try build out done so I can bring in some help.

Lead times are one thing I dont like. I always hated when a service advisor promised a job by a certain time. What if something went wrong and it was delayed? Now I was stressed and the advisor and customer would be mad if it wasnt done on time. Anymore I give a time to drop off and tell them I will call when done. That way Im not rushed and can do my best work without being stressed to meet a deadline. For those who choose to rush me, I now add a premium to the price to make it fair to myself. Enjoying seeing the shop and the new endeavor working out for you!

 

[mercracing]

Curious questions. What makes you like the PCB drivers so much, and can you post a link to them? I’m not necessarily in the market for new screwdrivers, but I’m curious about these.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

Curious questions. What makes you like the PCB drivers so much, and can you post a link to them? I’m not necessarily in the market for new screwdrivers, but I’m curious about these.

Weird I could have sworn I replied to this.

PBSwiss uses parallel ground tips for their flat head drivers. These don’t can out like the typical ones do. That’s a Wera on the right.

Plus their tips last forever. They are extremely snug fitting in the fasteners and are very hard. Those are 5mm hex and T25 they are by far my most used and are used all day every day. That’s the wear after over a decade of use. Nothing else lasts like that. The hex sockets are by far the best I’ve found but I don’t think they still make them. My Snapon feel like horror freight cheese in comparison and the Nepros seem like a good close second but they feel a bit sloppier in the fasteners compared to PBSwiss.

Their T handle hex’s are the gold standard. Lots of reviews out there comparing them to other brands and nothing comes close. I only have two gripes. One, I wish they color coded them… may have to do that once I get a 3d printer and two, I bought the full set including the half sizes and for example I’ve never used a 4.5 or 5.5mm one, but I guess i have them if I ever need them.
I do have quite a few Wera drivers and fo example the ones either the ¼ socket drive do get used for really tough fasteners but I almost never reach for the weras.

Been crazy busy in the shop. Had a motor come in the guy tried to service himself. Used the completely wrong kind of grease and the entire motor was contaminated. With the wrong grease. The microscope is proving to be worth every cent.

I’ve been so busy with motors I’ve started building out fixtures for the older E-8000 and 6000 series. The mounting bolt pattern is the same as the ep8 but the motors are physically bigger so my ep8 fixtures are not ideal. This will speed up service on those. When I expand into Bosch and Brose I’ll need to do the same.

But as luck would have it mid project the water heater at Jamie’s started to leak so I ended up replacing it. Notice how kinked the hot water line was? Surprised it was actually working. So I ended up cutting those out and soldering on mip connectors to use standard water heater supply hoses and while I was at it added an expansion tank. House has made it 40 years without an expansion tank so not sure how much they are truly needed but decided to add one anyways to bring it up to modern code.
I cut out the hard plumbed pressure relief line. Need to pick up a hose and fitting for it.

Jamie asked why all the extra work and my response was making it easier to replace for the next guy…. Knowing that will probably be me, as we plan to eventually turn her place into a rental.

Now I gotta ask why the hell do all of these houses mine included put water heaters on raised platforms vs directly on slab as that would make them a hell of a lot easier to replace!

 

[ericm]

I thought gas water heaters with pilot lights went on pedastals so if there are heavier than air hydrocarbon fumes in the garage they will be less likely to ignite. Especially in garages.

Maybe electric water heaters go on pedastals so if a pipe bursts the water won't get up to the level of the coils?

The gas heater in my last house was on the floor in the mud room, and in this house the heat pump water heater is on the floor in the basement.

 

[Graham08]

Weird I could have sworn I replied to this.

PBSwiss uses parallel ground tips for their flat head drivers. These don’t can out like the typical ones do. That’s a Wera on the right.

100x this! I got a set of PB Swiss flat heads for carburetor work. The parallel ground tip helps prevent screwing up brass jets. I find myself reaching for them all the time now. I need to try out some of their hex drivers.

 

[Grant Gunderson]

I do a lot of binding freedom inserts for people. They look like this.

Their specialty tool to install them is made of Chinesium and only lasts a few installs and I do a few hundred a month.

I ordered a new #6 PBSwiss driver specifically for this, but decided to test my modifications on an old one first.

I used a 3mm carbide end mill to notch the tips.

That worked. It’s a big improvement over what I had, but I’ll need to figure out a good way to clamp the screw driver vertically when I modify the next one so I have squared off corners.

 

[zanyad]

Grant, do you have a wire EDM shop in your area? Looks to me like that'd be a good solution for a corner with minimal radius (whatever the wire thickness is).

 

[old-air-performance]

Maybe make a pair of pliers, in the style of the Cyclus chainring pliers?

 

[loganb]

I do a lot of binding freedom inserts for people. They look like this.

Their specialty tool to install them is made of Chinesium and only lasts a few installs and I do a few hundred a month.

I ordered a new #6 PBSwiss driver specifically for this, but decided to test my modifications on an old one first.

I used a 3mm carbide end mill to notch the tips.

That worked. It’s a big improvement over what I had, but I’ll need to figure out a good way to clamp the screw driver vertically when I modify the next one so I have squared off corners.

I'm envisioning a metal bracket you bolt to the t slot table, vertical leg 8 or 10" tall and clamp the end of the screwdriver shank at the top. If you want extra clearance for a long shank could make the fixture so the shank/handle hangs down off the side on the front or back of the table. If you've got a tslot on the front and back face of the table could possibly mount it direct to the side with a vertical hole and a clamp ring...slip in, clamp down, mill both corners and repeat on next one

 

[gamescastspencer]

Use the same setup you did the first one with, just rotate the screwdriver 90° and use a square off of the table butted up to the blade of the driver to get it aligned vertically. Cut the first side, rotate 180°, **** square up again, cut second side.

Set up a part stop if you want to maintain your X position.

 

[zanyad]

Use the same setup you did the first one with, just rotate the screwdriver 90° and use a square off of the table butted up to the blade of the driver to get it aligned vertically. Cut the first side, rotate 180°, **** square up again, cut second side.

Set up a part stop if you want to maintain your X position.

I think this is the winner for simplicity!

 

[Clemson13]

I do a lot of binding freedom inserts for people. They look like this.

Their specialty tool to install them is made of Chinesium and only lasts a few installs and I do a few hundred a month.

I ordered a new #6 PBSwiss driver specifically for this, but decided to test my modifications on an old one first.

I used a 3mm carbide end mill to notch the tips.

That worked. It’s a big improvement over what I had, but I’ll need to figure out a good way to clamp the screw driver vertically when I modify the next one so I have squared off corners.

I really love this thread. I am stoked to watch your shop build out!. That must be sweet for the BF inserts! Thanks to your guidance I didnt spend any $$ on their tool & just used a bottomed out 30mm.

Speaking of BInding freedom inserts, thank you for your guidance a while back. I have done 3 skis with them so far and have been really happy with both them and the toe shims they let me put in place.

I have another BF question for you ...... How close together can you put inserts? 15mm center to center? 18mm? 20mm? Thanks to a new set of boots with a much shorter bsl, 2 of my skis are mounted +7mm from recommended, naturally one of them is my powder ski 194 QST Blank which is the only one it would make any difference on. With my fat *** at 210+ gear really want more float and am not looking forward to less.

Edit: I am nearly certain I know the answer..... it wont make much of a difference, just go ski. So don't feel bad telling me that

 

[loganb]

I think this is the winner for simplicity!

Agreed, simpler then my suggestion for sure

 

[Grant Gunderson]

I'm fried and it's not even Wed yet. For the last 6 months I keep waking up at 3am with my mind racing with my to-do list, I end up getting up working till 5, back asleep up again at 7 and dont go to bed till 11pm. So time to focus on my self a bit.

5 days ago a certain govt tourism agency got pretty upset with me for bailing on a comped trip. They were completely not understanding that I had too many family matters going on with my Dad's declining health, not to mention the service business / shop build out. To top it off that was the 3rd anniversary of our avalanche accident and that was on a trip for them. I shouldn’t complain but I’ve learned over the years these “free” trips are far from free in their expectations. I’d rather go on my own dime when life has settled back down.

So I formally announced I’m done with the photo business. I’ll still shoot skiing because I love it, but for now on it’s going to be on my terms shooting what I love and when I feel inspired and not sub coming to the **** that instagram etc has devolved to. I have zero desire to shoot people buckling boots, etc just to check off some marketing idiots instagram box. I got a few obligatory trips to do, but for now on it’s only the trips I want to do because they sound cool and are with good people in fun locations. If I sell a few pics that will be a bonus but not the focus I’d much rather go skiing with my kid / family then shoot yet another soulless mega resort in crappy conditions









I was talking to one of my long time editors today and he was stoked for me, he was like you had one of the longest runs and most prolific publishing records in skiing and stayed in it well past just about everyone else. So that was pretty cool to hear. Personally I accomplished everything with it I could have dreamed of and then more than I had even thought was possible. So time to focus on new projects and get back to my roots. I always found the best images came from when I was just out skiing with my friends and we were present enough to capitalize on good conditions / light. So more of that to come. Now if it would only snow….

Grant, do you have a wire EDM shop in your area? Looks to me like that'd be a good solution for a corner with minimal radius (whatever the wire thickness is).

Never looked into it. That would be cool but I’m guessing $$$

Maybe make a pair of pliers, in the style of the Cyclus chainring pliers?

Those won’t work for this application, but I’ve been meaning to get a set. I think I saw a Unior set that looked good but maybe it was VAS I don’t remember.

I'm envisioning a metal bracket you bolt to the t slot table, vertical leg 8 or 10" tall and clamp the end of the screwdriver shank at the top. If you want extra clearance for a long shank could make the fixture so the shank/handle hangs down off the side on the front or back of the table. If you've got a tslot on the front and back face of the table could possibly mount it direct to the side with a vertical hole and a clamp ring...slip in, clamp down, mill both corners and repeat on next one

My concern with that was how much it would vibrate given how thin the screw drivers are.

Use the same setup you did the first one with, just rotate the screwdriver 90° and use a square off of the table butted up to the blade of the driver to get it aligned vertically. Cut the first side, rotate 180°, **** square up again, cut second side.

Set up a part stop if you want to maintain your X position.

I agree. I should clamp it tho to the Vee block so I can just flip it over. Funny I’m pretty sure I would have thought of this sooner if it wasn’t for the lack of sleep.

I think this is the winner for simplicity!

Agreed.

I really love this thread. I am stoked to watch your shop build out!. That must be sweet for the BF inserts! Thanks to your guidance I didnt spend any $$ on their tool & just used a bottomed out 30mm.

Speaking of BInding freedom inserts, thank you for your guidance a while back. I have done 3 skis with them so far and have been really happy with both them and the toe shims they let me put in place.

I have another BF question for you ...... How close together can you put inserts? 15mm center to center? 18mm? 20mm? Thanks to a new set of boots with a much shorter bsl, 2 of my skis are mounted +7mm from recommended, naturally one of them is my powder ski 194 QST Blank which is the only one it would make any difference on. With my fat *** at 210+ gear really want more float and am not looking forward to less.

Edit: I am nearly certain I know the answer..... it wont make much of a difference, just go ski. So don't feel bad telling me that

Thanks! It depends! On customer skis I keep them a cm apart hole edge to edge for liability reasons. I got a pair down at the shop we were using for binding tests back in the day. I put inserts so close when I taped the hole for the next it cut into the threads of the previous….. and they held. Skis with a harder wood core and or metal top sheets allow you to go closer. Softer skis such as lines or factions need more space. +7 from boot center usually isn’t to noticeable especially on a Longer ski. Those blanks are pretty beefy so you can probably go pretty close with inserts.

Been crazy busy got a weeks worth or motors / suspension jobs in one day. Been telling people I’ll get them done as soon as I can, but I’m taking my time to make sure they are all done right. People seem pretty understanding and if they are not they can go elsewhere. I’m at the point I need some help, but it’s not consistently that backlogged every day but I do expect it will be even busier with the store front. I’m too busy with customer work to work on my part of the build out. Good thing we are still waiting on permits I guess…. At some point. I’m just going to have to say now for a few weeks.

The additional fixtures I made speed things up a lot, but I’m realizing tho I need a minimum of two sets of fixtures for each motor so I can have two going while waiting for customers to approve parts etc. I’ll just chalk that up to more in the to do list when I get some down time.

I’ve also been spending a ton of time data crunching. I’ve been keeping a very detailed spread sheet of all of the motors I’ve done along with the encrypted log files. After figuring out what most of the sensor architecture is and knowing what to expect for the various values I was able to put that into AI and crack quite a bit of the log system Shimano uses. It’s amazing what you can do with AI with good data and enough foresight to tell it what you want it to do. So I’ve learned a ton about their failure methods prior to throwing codes, etc I’m also seeing quite a few in line changes Shimano did as well to the ep8.

But as soon as I think I’ve seen it all I open up another motor and find a completely different failure mechanism. I’m blown away this one didn’t throw a code but sounded like **** when pedaling. The bearing must have been holding it in place just enough it would still read the broken magnet. I was able to repair it tho!

I’m going to start journaling a bit before bed for the next few weeks and see if that helps turn the mind off at night. I like how the mind is trying to problem solve and I get a bunch done at 3 am but that doesn’t jive well with typical customer hours. Otherwise I just need to figure out how to cram 48 hours into 25 every day. At least I don’t have to worry about being bored anytime soon.