Yet Another Cycling Forum
Random Musings => DIY => Skip Bike and Bodge It => Topic started by: peterc on 09 July, 2020, 08:28:47 am
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Much as many people were I was feeling down a while back so needed a project, having had custom speedskates made from a mold taken from my feet I fancied a go myself.
A few people already do this kind of method, most full custom creators do a similar version.
You take a female mold using plaster of paris bandages.
Make a positive plug in casting plaster of paris
Wet layup of the sole plate with a few layers
locate and bond down some threaded inserts
Add lots more carbon that you will trim down, basically between a "bathtub" wrapping up to the widest point of the feet and ballet shoes
Without bonding it to the base, make a upper over the toes and instep
Lots of trimming and sanding
Join the upper to the base on one side (I've hand sewn, but I may bond later, close with velcro straps)
I've got photos that I need to find a way to share, as this make little sense without them.
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I just discovered this thread after over two years! The idea sounds really interesting, but...
You take a female mold using plaster of paris bandages.
Once the plaster is dry, how do you take your feet off the mold? I can see two possible method, none of them seems to be acceptable:
1) Destroy the mold, obviously not the point...
2) Cut the mold into two halves with an angle grinder, which is certainly not the safest thing to do so close to your skin.
I'm eagerly waiting to see photos of the final product! Does your feet rest directly against the carbon layers, which are, basically, hard plastic, or did you use some kind of more comfortable inner layer?
A
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how do you take your feet off the mold?
Very much like a regular shoe, once the plaster has started to cure but not fully done, cut into the plaster where the laces would be in a normal shoe, splay the mould and twist of the foot then re-form. I place a thin metal strip next to the foot to cut towards.
I'm eagerly waiting to see photos of the final product! Does your feet rest directly against the carbon layers, which are, basically, hard plastic, or did you use some kind of more comfortable inner layer?
Foot (in a sock) straight against the carbon, surprisingly comfy as they fit you very well there is less need for the compliance of padding you have in a regular shoe. I also mess with the layup to add some flexibility in places.
This is how the prototypes came out, I've done three pairs in total so far, Boa dials seem to work better than straps.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AL9nZEWCsQvtUUj7KWbB9f753sSoADxmrXZLwgjq6E4L-hBgmme8ioQDUiVLEWxJ6Sotwii-mplJ_vSeKfGW4T9sf8-aXB-UujsPIirHpdZRiPSJFV14h18zSzfnRpkIfb4z4DqvpcvCzsLzHmpfiiWHxSNh=w744-h991-no?authuser=0)
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Ultralight carbon racing shoes! All they need now is a red stripe down the side.
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2) Cut the mold into two halves with an angle grinder, which is certainly not the safest thing to do so close to your skin.
s/angle grinder/oscillating multi-tool/
The whole point in those things is that they're good at cutting hard material, but when pressed against flesh will just cause it to vibrate, rather than biting properly, which makes them safe for fiddly work. I believe they were inspired by the saw that orthopaedics use to remove casts.
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Ultralight carbon racing shoes! All they need now is a red stripe down the side.
They all* seem to be about 250g a pair before cleats are added, if mass interests you.
*Certainly the last two pairs I recorded the mass of.
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s/angle grinder/oscillating multi-tool/
I've not got one of those they seem almost unnecessarily noisy but that may well be better than missing the steel strip I use with the knife blade.
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I'm not sure I'd want to use one on my feet tbh. I've stuck my thumb into the blade for SCIENCE and achieved little more than mild grazing, but my feet are horrendously ticklish...
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On the basis that I seem to have managed to link and image from goggle photos, does anyone need to see images of any specific stages the process?