Well, the boots are finally done! I used them the other day walking on some rocks I had previously slipped on with studded (just the cheap machine screws) felt. The alumabars work awesome! They do indeed grip the rocks like Velcro. The boots were a fair bit of a pain to make. Honestly I would recommend just buy the Patagonia boots or the Korkers. But, if you are like me and you like to tinker with/make stuff then it is a fun project!
Materials I used:
-A pair of suitable boots. I was lucky that a brand new pair of wading boots in the size I normally wear were given to me. They are felt soled. I imagine a vibram/rubber sole would be better for winter fishing as the felt will pack up with snow if it is on the ground (like it is now). However these boots were free so of course I used them.
-Aluminum bar. I bought from Home Depot. 4 feet in length, 1/8 thick, 3/4 wide. If you can find thicker than 1/8 (even up to 1/4) I would buy that. All they had was 1/8 so I bought that and it seems to be fine.
-1/4-20x3/4 machine screws. I used 18
-1/4-20x1 machine screws. I used 4 for the heel (thicker than the rest of the sole on my boots, so longer screws were needed here).
-1/4-20 T-nuts. I used 22. You can get them in flanged or un-flanged. I used the flanged ones, but if all you can get is unflanged they should be fine too.
-Drill bits: 1/4 to drill into aluminum, 15/32 to counter-sink into aluminum so the machine screws sit flat, 5/16 to drill into sole of boot (1/4 is a bit too tight for the T-nuts, need to go 5/16).
Procedure:
-Get some paper and trace your boots out. Do the left boot and right boot. Figure out your plan for how many bars you want and how long they need to be. On each boot I decided to do 4 bars that are 3 inches long, and 1 that is 4 inches long. About 1.5 inch space between bars.
-After you are happy with your plan on paper, it's time to start cutting the aluminum bar!
-Measure, draw lines on the metal, and cut each bar with a hacksaw. This is much easier to do if you have a vice. Use a file to clean up the cut edges (optional).
-Place the head of the machine screw on the metal, and figure out your screw spacing. When you get it right trace out the head of the screw with a pencil on the aluminum. Take a punch and put a nice dent in the middle of each traced out screw head spot (so your drill but doesn't move when you start to drill).
-Drill out each one with 1/4 drill bit. Then, carefully so you don't drill right through the metal, countersink with a 15/32 bit. Test each one and make sure the screw sits flush.
-Once these are all done you are ready to drill into the soles of the boots!
-Take the paper template and place it over the sole of the boot. Place the bar where it is going to go and mark the holes with a jiffy or nail, etc. Drill the holes out with a 5/16 bit.
-The last and hardest step is to get the T-nuts in place. I devised a way to make it easy. Get a long (3 or so inches) bolt with the same threads as your machine screws. Thread 2 nuts (I first tried 1 nut but it spun a bit) onto it about 1 inch up. Place a big washer over the bolt (if you don't use a washer the nut will dig into the felt). You use this to "pull" the T-nuts down into place. You will not be able to get enough torque with a screw driver so use a ratchet. Also try to find a bolt with a robvertson head as a phillips will drive you nuts.
-Poke the bolt up through the sole of the boot and "grab" (thread into) the T-nut. Keep screwing the bolt farther into the T-nut until it pulls it all the way down and flush with the sole of the boot (feel inside with your fingers and make sure each T-nut is nicely flush). I used an electric drill to quickly back the bolt out and move on to the next T-Nut. After you finish all the T-nuts you are done!
A few comments:
-I used a drop of blue locktite on each machine screw. Not sure if it holds up for such applications. An alternative would be a dab of silicone on each screw.
-Cost of materials was about $25, but like I said I got the boots for free!
-As I said unless you like doing this sort of thing and have the tools save yourself the headache and just buy boots that come like this.
-Total time about 4-5 hours.
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Topic: Slippery soles. (Read 5710 times)