Goalieboard

This isn't a project that I am curently involved in, but rather a thought process that I am learning as I go along. I am however working on my own set of pads, so a lot of this will be from lessons learned and ideas and concepts.

First of all this is something that anyone can contribute to, so if you have thoughts or ideas, chime in.

Making a set of pads from scratch is definitly a daunting task. I think that the first step that anyone needs to take is determine the type of pad that they are looking for, and what they want the pad to do for them.

The next step would be to make rough sketches, diagrams, and a list of additions to the basic pad (IE knee locks, thigh board, etc). Rough sketches should have lenghts and measurements.

An important step would be to make a good drawing (like a drafting drawing with exact measurements if possible) to allow for the best outcome. Also it would be good to make a pattern from the drawings, or templates. This will give a means for tracing onto the material that will be cut.

Now it's important to get the correct materials. Make a materials list of what you need and be sure to always order extra of everything. What comes out on paper will always not work when you lay the templates out on the available material. That's another reason why it's important to make templates of the different parts. If you start cutting away on a piece of material, you may have a lot of waste and not enough material to finish the job.

Materials that should be considered:
Jenpro/Clarino
420 nylon
1000 Denier Cordura (get the real thing)
Material for the leg channel (there are many different options)
LD foam (LD45 is the most common)
HD foam (HD80 is common in most pads, but there are many others available)
Glove cord (something needs to hold the leg channel together)
138 nylon bonded thread (white and black are what is used in the industry)
Snake foam (used in stuffing the sides of the pad, also shredded LD foam will work)
Polypropylene webbing and asscociated hardware, or leather straps (up to you what you want to use)
Heavy duty waxed thread for the toe and thigh bindings.


After getting your parts together, you are going to want to lay out your templates on the fabics that they go with. Arrange the templates to allow for the least waste of product. Trace the templates. If you are not sure of your initial measurements, cut big. It's better to have a part too big that can be cut down rather than a small part that will never work for your project.

The first item to be sewn together would be the outer shell. I would start with the face of the pad and sew the different parts of the face together (shin to knee and thigh). If you are doing a one piece faced pad this will not matter. The inner and outter gussets should be added afterwards, ensuring that the break points on the sides line up with the break points on the face.

Taking a step back, when making the face of the pad, you are going to need to punch holes for the leg channel first before getting the pad together. You also need to make a pocket for the first layer of LD foam to go into. Now the basic layers of a pad should be (face to shin), Jenpro, LD sheet or rolls, 420 nylon backing, hd sheet, LD leg channel, cushion foam in the channel, channel skin (whatever material you determined to use here). So before you sew the side gussets onto the face of the pad, it's important to put the LD foam that will be used in the shin onto the pad and then to sew a 420 nylon backing over it. This keeps the foam in place as well as prevents the stitching to pull though the foam on the break points. After sewing the 420 onto the face, sew the breakpoints into the boot and the knees if making a flat faced pad.

After sewing the side gussets onto the pad, you are going to need to add binding to the sides of the pad. Binding should at least go from the top of each side to the bottom and eventually the end points of the binding will be covered by the Jenpro binding used on the boot and thigh of the pad.

With the pad binding in place on the sides you should now sew the back of the pad together (not to the front). IT's good to make the boot and shin two sperate pieces (IMO). This allows for a natural break in the boot.

I do have a question in regards to making pads and I apologize in advance if I don't use the right terms. Looking at the front of the pads there is that approxiamately 1 1/2" wide rail, for lack of proper word that runs the height of th pad. It seems that it is a seperate piece from the main part of the pad. If that is true is there a benefit of having that as a seperate piece? Second question is how does one go about making the straps not visible on the face of the pad? Thanks for your help.

That 'rail' on the outer edge of the pad helps control the path of the puck; specifically, when you take a shot at an angle, it prevents the puck from skidding off the outer edge. Instead, it deflects the puck forward.I'm probably not the best one to answer this, because I've never had a pair of pads like that. From what I've seen of the Velocity style pads, there are tabs sewn into the point where the back panel of the pad meets the gussets (the side panels). Arranged in pairs, they're in about the same location where the straps would come out of the pad.

Here's where it gets fuzzy for me. The straps start through the tab on the outside of each pad, then go into a channel between the face and the back panel of the pad. I haven't look at a pad closely enough to note whether or not the straps run in front of the spine, the rigid foam that gives the pad its shape. I would think not, but I'm not betting on it.

After nine years of steady use, my old Alites are being put to rest, but for a good cause (I hope, the wife isn't so sure): I'm ripping the seams apart and documenting it with photos. Maybe I'll make a pattern from them and put together something with a few tweaks here and there.