A review of portable boot press from ProTek

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A review of portable boot press from ProTek

Postby AnI » Sat Dec 30, 2017 7:44 pm

I've had an idea of buying a boot press for quite a while. I completed a bottfitter training from Masterfit University some 12 years ago, and several years ago did the ski alignment training at HSS. While this does not make me a professional, I had a reasonably good idea of how bootfitting works and was doing some shell grinding and padding on liners for a while. Unfortunately, anything more substantial, such as shell modifications with a press, required a trip to bootfitter equipped with proper tools.

Finding a bootfitter who you can trust is like finding a dentist to make a new bridge. You need to develop a trust. You do not want to see any mistakes done with your boots. You want the bootfitter to be conservative because doing too much is easy, but taking it back is hard or impossible. I learned it hard way years back when in one instance, a ski shop in California sanded off half of the base of my skis to remove every single scratch, and, in the other instance, another shop in the Bay Area punched a ski boot shell way deeper than I needed.

For a few consecutive years, I had at least one, sometimes two, and one year even three trips to PMTS camps in Colorado and could get adjustments to my boots done at HSS shop - but now, I am down to one trip in two years at best. Unfortunately, ski boot fit can be good but is rarely perfect. As liners compress and feet change, one may need to "fine tune the fit" and make some small adjustments to the shell. It is a never ending story. On top of it, to make it perfect, one may need to go through multiple iterations until you hit the perfect spot on the shell.

So, this year I "pulled the plug". I have constraints with the storage space. I do not have a permanent work bench in my garage (it is either cars or work area, but not both). Hence, I wanted something very portable. The ProTek electronic boot punch appeared to be exactly what I needed.

When I was doing initial research in the spring, the ProTek Racing web site had a very short description of the press, with a single poorly taken picture that showed next to nothing. It sounded interesting, but one cannot possibly buy an expensive tool without even knowing what it is. There was not a single review of the tool anywhere. I contacted the owner of the business and asked him to post more pictures, and also asked some questions. Eventually, he updated the web site. The pictures were still limited, but at least one could get an idea. I still was uncertain if the press based on a clamp would work well, but decided to take a risk and ordered it because, honestly, there were no other portable options. Everything else that I saw (SVST/SkiKare and a Swiss model) had to be bench mounted.

Since ProTek apparently is a small business and there is a small market for such tools, the press had to be literally built to order. In my case, most of the parts were there and only a thermocouple was lacking and had to be ordered to complete the assembly. The lead time was around two weeks. I was told that oftentimes it may take up to a month to build a press from scratch.

The press is designed foremost of all for carbon boots (such as Dodge boots) which require very precise temperature control and cannot be fitted using a hot air gun. Carbon boots use 230 F temperature. I asked Sean to change the setting point to 290 - 300 F to work with plastic, based on 270F temperature recommendation from Masterfit University. It is actually easy to change the target temperature because temperature controller is fully adjustable. If needed, one can move the set point back and forth.

The boot press is called electronic because it has an electric heater and a controller. The punch reaches the target temperature of 290-300 F in about 4.5 to 5 minutes, cooldown takes 25 to 45 minutes and can be accelerated with a fan. A heated element makes it easy to make punches through dual layer of plastic, such as in ankle bones areas. In theory, if one waits long enough, heat should propagate through both layers, but it is easier to use a heat gun to heat the top layer while heater does it work from below.

The tool comes in a very nice case, light and portable, easily fits on a shelf. I put my new boot (Head Raptor RS Speed, a special edition of RS 140 in reversed colors) on top to show how relatively small it is:

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The case is nicely padded inside

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If you look closer, inside there is is a power cord, a belt to carry the case (hidden under the power cord - I had no need to unwrap it yet), the punch built on basis of a lockable clamp with a spring mechanism, a temperature control unit, 6 attachments - punches and a "receptacle".

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I got four round "mushroom"-like attachments of different diameter

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Two elongated attachments

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And one "receptacle", for the lack of a better word:

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Assembly is easy, one connects the power cord as well as thermocouple and power cord that goes to the heater to the temperature controller.

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And then the whole thing clamps on a boot

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Temperature controller basically has a single switch, heat on/off, and a display which shows current temperature of the heating element. Buttons for changing the temperature set point (and probably for adjusting the PID settings of the controller) are under the display (hidden under a lid, so that they cannot be pressed accidentally).

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Once the temperature reaches the set point, it is stable within plus minus 5 degrees F (in my case, it oscillates between 290 and 300 F).

So far, I fitted three pairs of boots: made some adjustments to my old boots, made four punches around ankles on my new black boots, and made two shell stretches around the instep for my friend. Getting to instep was a little challenging but doable. I am not sure how feasible it is to get to the toe, at the very least it would require opening up the flaps of the shell all the way. A possible constraint is that there is no extender, the ball goes on top of the heating element, and this is it. One cannot get it far into a narrow long area. A standard boot press seems to be better suited for the toe.

A clamping mechanism turned out to be quite efficient. It exerts a fair amount of force, enough to deform the plastic, but never too much. It is very easy to be conservative. It is very easy to adjust the force. Once it is locked, it stays in place nicely - and since the plastic and the heating element are still cold at this point, you can reach inside of the boot and make sure that the punch is oriented correctly (if it is the elongated one) and that it is in a right place. Also, one can readjust as many times as one needs before turning on the heat.

A punch a couple of mm deep is easy to achieve, while a very deep shell extension could require two steps. Since time is not money for a home user, it is really helpful to take it one step at a time. I liked how easy it is to make shell expansion in the area of ankle bones, which has always been a problematic area for me. One does not need to take the boots apart and punch the lower and the upper separately. One does not need to worry about under-heating or overheating the plastic if one attempts to do it through both layers. Clamp, turn on, heat up a little from the top with a heat gun. I did not have patience to wait and see if the heater would warm up the plastic through both layers, although I do not see why this would not happen - but this probably would take some 20 mins or so.

Of course, as any portable electronic tool, it is not designed to be abused. One has to be careful and watch what one is doing. A standard boot press, made of steel, could probably withstand a hit with a sledge hammer without damage. This one has wires, connectors, which one has to be careful with. Everything is metal, nothing is too brittle, but still.

I really liked the selection of punches - good range of sizes and shapes. I wish there was more than a single "one size fits all" "receptacle", but it works.

Overall, so far, so far I had very positive experience. It is great to finally being able to get bootfitting work done at home. Also, I should give credit to Sean from ProTek Racing for being responsive and providing timely updates on the status of the order.

This could be a good addition to the collection of tools for ski enthusiasts and part time coaches. One take take this press on a car trip and use it anywhere - at a hotel, ski lodge, etc. The way how it is designed makes it very easy to use. While I had some training in this area, it is not really necessary to use the press. A one page instruction sheet provided with the tool contains all that one needs to know. Additionally, these days, one can find a lot of instruction and demonstration of good practices on youtube. Clearly, there are cases when an experienced professional is absolutely needed. Oftentimes, the origin of pain does not lie where a person feels the pain. The fix might not be where the pain is. There are difficult cases which require fancy footbeds or met pads. There can be pressure on the nerves in the instep felt as numbness in the forefoot. However, cases where pressure spots are caused by protruding bones - e.g., common cases of ankle bones, navicular - are straightforward and easy to fix. One does not need to travel many miles to a bootfitter you can trust for this kind of work.

Just wanted to share my experience with the fellow skiers!

Here is a link to what I got: https://protekskiracing.com/protek-elec ... oot-punch/
Last edited by AnI on Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:38 pm, edited 5 times in total.
AnI
 
Posts: 51
Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2010 11:41 pm
Location: Portland, OR

Re: A review of portable boot press from ProTek

Postby GThomas » Sun Dec 31, 2017 2:15 am

I very much appreciate your sharing.
While i dont have boot fitter training i have plenty of experience of poor to bad work done and I agree with the fact I can take far more time and care on my boots or skis than ever a shop has done.
I chose to make my own foot beds using the pillows and blanks etc per the HH technicians manual and while they cost me a lot to get set up and there is for sure a learning curve these are the best foot beds ive ever used.
More recently i stRted to contemplate how I could set up myself to grind and punch boots in part for the learning and majorly due to poor stretches and over grinding being done for me in the past.
I like the temp controlled aspect which should get around the experience needed to not over heat the plastic when using a heat gun without experience
GThomas
 
Posts: 38
Joined: Sun Sep 27, 2015 11:20 pm


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