For many, the deal maker feature of G3’s Onyx binding is the swap plates. I was playing around with those yesterday, along with removing the plates for use on other skis, and ran into a few easily remedied problems. Small details but they’ll help when you need to get this sort of stuff done quickly. Check it out.
The binding toe unit is removed from the swap plate by removing two machine screws and sliding the unit off the plate. Problem is, the screws of this 2010 model tend to get trapped. Solution, slide a thin right-angled pick in from the rear, as shown, then jiggle the pick till you raise the screw up high enough to allow the unit to slide off the plate. Turning the ski upside down and jiggling can help as well.
We epoxy all binding screws here at the WildSnow shop. Heating with a soldering iron for a short time allows them to come out like they're in butter, provided you use regular hardware store epoxy that's not too heat resistant. Heating too much will damage the swap plates, so count to perhaps 8, then try the screw with a hand screwdriver. If the screw doesn't back out easily, reapply heat and test again. Eventually you'll figure out the exact number of seconds you need to heat each screw. Interestingly, it's actually easier to get this sort of epoxied screw out than it is a screw inserted with non heat sensitive adhesives such as Gorilla glue.
I messed up, and forgot the Onyx screws are made from stainless steel and thus not as strong as regular steel binding screws. Without enough heating, the epoxy gripped and I twisted the head right off a screw. Whoops. Using stainless screws is a good idea with Onyx, as they're hidden and stay moist so corrosion would be a problem with regular steel. But you've gotta remember these aren't your father's binding screws.
When a broken screw happens, sometimes you can grip the stub with Visegrips, heat the screw up (provided you used epoxy) and easily back it out. In this case the stub was too short for pliers, so I drilled it out with a small drillbit (easy, because the stainless is fairly soft). While drilling, the screw heated up and softened the epoxy. I could tell when that happened because it rotated a bit from the drill bit torque. At that point I inserted a small easy-out and easily backed the screw out. Shew.
There you go, just another session in the WildSnow shop. Adventure is where you find it.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
