Audryb
08-14-2009, 07:37 PM
I have been looking at/ thinking about Skating Safe's Ultracrash pads for quite a while. Everyone I know or who's written about them on this board seems to love them, but they are so darn expensive I've just never been able to bring myself to click the "order" button. I had also read some archived posts by renatele about how she cut an Akton wheelchair pad into kneepads, but even the wheelchair pads aren't cheap.
Then last Saturday after a "click of death" on back crossovers, I smashed my knee the worst I ever have. I came straight home and ordered myself an 18"x18"x1/4" pad. I figured it's a little thicker than the skating safe knee pads and a little thinner than the hip pads.
I went online and copied the photos of all the pads from the skating safe website, used photoshop to blow them up to actual size, then traced them right off the screen onto pieces of paper. I then cut these out and traced them onto the wheelchair pad after figuring out the most space efficient layout. The padding cuts easily with scissors, but the cut edges are also extremely sticky and stick to the scissors as you cut. I solved this by dipping my scissors in a glass of water every few cuts. The padding doesn't stick to water. After I cut them out, I taped the edges with clear flexible medical tape, top and bottom, then cut around the edge so there's a sort of flange, similar to the actual pads.
I made 2 hip pads, 2 knee pads, and a tailbone pad of my own design. I have enough padding left over that I could cut two elbow pads and two hand/ palm pads the size of the skating safe ones. (Or I could cut out another knee or hip, but since I don't have 3 of either body part, I don't really see the point in that;))
To buy all of those pads would have cost me $267 +shipping; just to buy two knee pads would have cost $70 +shipping. The wheelchair pad cost $60 + shipping and the tape cost $4 at Walgreens.
One other thing: I have handled other peoples' ultracrash pads on several occasions, and had been told that the wheelchair padding was not quite the same, and would break if bent too far. This Akton wheelchair pad is exactly the same stuff. I also did see it in smaller sizes while I was shopping online, in case you don't need or want that many pads. If I wear them all at once I'm not sure I'll be able to jump... the things are heavy!
Here is the result:
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/823800/all%20pads.jpg
closeup of knee pad:
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/823800/knee.jpg
Then last Saturday after a "click of death" on back crossovers, I smashed my knee the worst I ever have. I came straight home and ordered myself an 18"x18"x1/4" pad. I figured it's a little thicker than the skating safe knee pads and a little thinner than the hip pads.
I went online and copied the photos of all the pads from the skating safe website, used photoshop to blow them up to actual size, then traced them right off the screen onto pieces of paper. I then cut these out and traced them onto the wheelchair pad after figuring out the most space efficient layout. The padding cuts easily with scissors, but the cut edges are also extremely sticky and stick to the scissors as you cut. I solved this by dipping my scissors in a glass of water every few cuts. The padding doesn't stick to water. After I cut them out, I taped the edges with clear flexible medical tape, top and bottom, then cut around the edge so there's a sort of flange, similar to the actual pads.
I made 2 hip pads, 2 knee pads, and a tailbone pad of my own design. I have enough padding left over that I could cut two elbow pads and two hand/ palm pads the size of the skating safe ones. (Or I could cut out another knee or hip, but since I don't have 3 of either body part, I don't really see the point in that;))
To buy all of those pads would have cost me $267 +shipping; just to buy two knee pads would have cost $70 +shipping. The wheelchair pad cost $60 + shipping and the tape cost $4 at Walgreens.
One other thing: I have handled other peoples' ultracrash pads on several occasions, and had been told that the wheelchair padding was not quite the same, and would break if bent too far. This Akton wheelchair pad is exactly the same stuff. I also did see it in smaller sizes while I was shopping online, in case you don't need or want that many pads. If I wear them all at once I'm not sure I'll be able to jump... the things are heavy!
Here is the result:
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/823800/all%20pads.jpg
closeup of knee pad:
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/823800/knee.jpg