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I’ve been doing some more research here:
http://www.modsquadhockey.com/forums/in … ntry404978That Ultra High Molecular Weight (UHMW) polyurethane seems to be a possible option. It’s what the pad at SK8 is made of and is supposedly the best material for using ice pucks on (apart from ice of course!).
I’m not sure how good it is for use with inline skates though, but I suspect it would be adequate. I called up Ryan Wick at SK8 today and he tried an inline skate on it and reckoned it would grip well enough, although it would be hard to gauge accurately without skating flat stick and trying to turn or stop on it.
There are also ice pucks which have pegs added, just like an inline puck, so that they can be used on inline hockey surfaces, there is an example here:
[url:mj01ds5u]http://www.americanhockeycenter.com/hockey_pucks.htm[/url:mj01ds5u]Now the question is … “where the heck do you buy large sheets of UHMW polyurethane?/”
I spoke to Deanna Pielak-Jones the other day about what progress had been made on the construction of the shooting gallery/training area.
They asked James Van Leeuwen for a quote on construction costs last year and are waiting to hear back from him.
Their plan is to surround the area with nets rather than walls to keep the puck in and also allow spectators to view without getting hit by pucks. Nets would also likely be significantly cheaper than real walls and have plenty of ‘give’ if you crashed into them. A wall may be necessary for the end of the area though as there’s an air conditioning radiator there which you wouldn’t want to risk any pucks hitting.
Ryan,
UHMW polyurethane is apparently hopeless for use with inline skates so that idea is out of the question. Perhaps the best option may be to just get the netting and wall etc. sorted and worry about the surface afterwards. The surface up there looks okay for use with inline skates, certainly better than asphalt anyway. Unless anyone has a strong view on the surface issue that is.
Now to chase up the netting/wall issue ….
Ryan,
I’m still voting on the epoxy paint.
Because by my count you’ve been around and rejected every other option
” title=”Wink” />"Kyle":140tvnju wrote:I’m still voting on the epoxy paint.[/quote:140tvnju]Yeah, I’ve been trying to avoid anything that wont work with ice pucks and epoxy paint definitely wont, they’ll just flip and roll like crazy. It would be very easy to do though, just paint it on and it would likely be cheaper than any of the other options above.
Any idea where you get that stuff from? I had a hunt online but couldn’t much info. about it, presumably because most rinks use Sport or Ice Court.
We could email the NZIHA who will likely be able to point us in the direction if noone on here knows.
Ryan,
I have no idea, but I would have thought Resenes would be a good place to start. If they don’t have it, they’d probably have someone who knew where it could be sourced.
Hmm, I was assuming it would be such a specialised type of paint that the average painter wouldn’t know.
From the experts that I have discussed this with (some guys who saw the surface being painted in Christchurch), the paint is specially designed for inline hockey, with a specific amount of additive to give the correct amount of grip, thickness etc. It also needs to be added in quite a few layers to make sure it doesn’t wear out.
But you could well be right, it is paint after all and a paint shop/painter would be a logical place to start! Atleast we know where to go try to scam a cheap paint job
” title=”Smiley” />Ryan,
Have access to netting at no cost (I think). I just need to find out how much is needed. Whats wrong with the concrete surface thats there?. I imagine a 2-pot epoxy paint would do the job but resene paints will answer that question for you.
Shooting off of concrete isn’t the same as shooting from ice, it does screw your technique up a bit. An epoxy paint surface wouldn’t help that either but it will make it much grippier for inline skates – plain concrete is mega slippery, although it’s not impossible to skate on. The Blenheim inline hockey rink for example has a similar surface, although it isn’t very popular.
Painting the surface would also brighten it up a bit and make it look prettier too. I wouldn’t think it would be worth painting it unless we could do it very cheaply though as the benefit wouldn’t be that great, the purpose of the facility would be mainly for shooting and puck handling which would be just as good on plain concrete as a painted surface – possibly a little better even.
The plastic tiles (Sport Court, Ice Court etc.) give a similar feel to ice when shooting on hence I was suggesting them.
I’m inclining towards having the plain concrete surface as is, with one of those UHMW polyurethane pads for shooting on, like they have at SK8.
Ryan,
PS: If I have time on Sunday I’ll do some more more accurate measurements of the area so we can work out how much netting we need.
There seems little point in having any surface at all if it doesn’t allow good training for shooting. If you can’t shoot pucks in your shooting gallery, then it’s just a gallery, and there’s one of those in the octagon already.
I don’t really have a solution unfortunately, but I have checked out some of ryan’s links and I like the look of the Ice Court surface…
"Chris":80now1p8 wrote:There seems little point in having any surface at all if it doesn’t allow good training for shooting.[/quote:80now1p8]Well, concrete it isn’t useless, just not perfect. Like Aaron said, there’s no substitute for ice, so anything is going to be a compromise unless we actually installed an ice rink up there which isn’t going to happen.
If we can nets for free, then all we need is a wall (I think) and that’s about it, maybe some extra lighting or atleast a cover over the existing light to prevent it being smashed.
Anyone know where we can get some materials to build a wall cheap or even better, for free? Presumably the wall would need to be fairly strong as it’s going to take a pounding from pucks.
If we got the nets and materials to build a wall we could probably get this thing knocked up fairly quickly and be training on it before the season starts
” title=”Smiley” />Ryan,
On second thought!
[b:1gxak3p5]Graham:[/b:1gxak3p5] you don’t happen to have the plans for that part of the rink handy do you? Would save me the job of measuring it all up. I don’t just need a basic floor plan though, as we need to know exactly where the steps for the grandstand are as they make up the shape of the roofline back there. The roofline will make a big difference to where the nets are placed, hence how much netting we need.
Ryan,
I’ve now got the lighting sussed, as far as I can remember there’s just some crappy tungsten bulbs up there so I’ve managed to, er, [i:1q07hnps]borrow[/i:1q07hnps], some fluorescent bulbs including protective covers
” title=”Smiley” />I’ll also be heading to the rink tonight to do some measuring etc. so don’t worry about that request for the plans Graham. We do need to find someone to build us a wall though! Any takers? We just need the materials, I’m sure we can get tools, people power etc. no problems at all.
Or do you guys reckon we could get away with no wall and just use nets? Seems a little dodgy to me as I’m not sure I’d just a crappy net to stop [b:1q07hnps]every[/b:1q07hnps] puck which may hit the rather expensive looking air conditioning unit up there. But I don’t own the air conditioning unit and if we could get away with nets that would be a hell of a lot easier!
1X hockey training facility on it’s way! … hopefully!
Ryan,
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