I’ve got a new splitboard. It’s kind of like a snowboard that transforms into a pair of skis, allowing me to travel uphill to get to the Good Stuff. This is a relatively new technology, so it’s rife with vendor lock ins, expensive replacement parts, and gear that just doesn’t work that well yet.
Here’s a shot of the “ski” portion of the binding system on my old board:
And the binding plate:
The front of that purple anodized plate goes around the tabs on the board, with the cotter pin, it locks your toes to the ski, allowing your heel to move freely. This setup is probably 7 years old now.
Here is that same pin in the binding system of my new setup, same manufacturer. It doesn’t fit!
The plate is designed to go in between the tabs on this one, causing my cotter pin to be about 1/4" too short.
I discovered this issue about four days before I had an event that required me to spend two days on the mountain in touring mode. You can buy the pins on their own, but at $16USD each, plus shipping, I was looking at $50 after everything and no guarantees of stuff arriving before the weekend.
So I headed to VHS.
This is a nice piece of correctly sized mild steel I found in the scrap bins.
I actually used this same piece of stock in my lathed pen a while ago.
A quick hacksaw job to cut to size and notches for retainer rings, and we have a thing:
Both done:
I guessed at the size completely, I did not have my snowboard with me when I made them.
Success!
I did take some spare parts with me up the mountain. I was pretty apprehensive of using the mild steel in sheer forces (as regular skiing would do), or the retainer ring in side-to-side motion (I am a bad skiier), but they did an admirable job! Zero issues!
It’s interesting to note that they began to show some rusting by the end of the first day. I’m going to have to come up with a more permanent solution before my next trip.