On 11/22/2010 05:58 PM, pigo wrote:
On Nov 22, 3:52 pm, wrote:

Ah, helicoils, the savior of many a shop rat's ass. I'm sure
they are still in the tool kit of all shops today.

They came in handy when I'd pull a binding out of a ski.


That too, but for mis-aligned holes, which had to be drilled
out much larger than desired, they were the nuts!

Even if you used a drilling jig, you could still mis-align
a hole if you hurried too much.

In the early days of metal skis, it was fairly common to
pull a binding off especially if the skier was big and
aggressive. If we knew beforehand that this was a
possibility, we would either "T" nut through from the
base like snowboard bindings are done today, or, use
a flathead machine screw from the bottom and a nut
with LokTite on the top side. Did the latter for a
one-legged skier friend in the mid-60's. WWII vet from
the Airborne landing at Anzio. Huge, rugged. Couldn't
keep a (single) binding on his ski nor the ski tips
on his Canadian crutches. Drilled all the way through,
used a countersink on the base, mounted binding or
crutch and filled with p-tex. Worked like a charm.