Hi,
I'm a new skater and until now have always prided myself on being a dab hand at the old DIY. Good around the house, better than my man at fixing stuff, but since taking up skating have really let myself down
Please can someone tell me how to assemble my Guarddog Blade Guards?!
I have recieved four plastic bits, four springs, four screws and a couple of sleepless nights. I can't figure it out. Help

I know just how you feel- that's exactly what I thought when I first bought the two-piece guards.

The important thing with these is to cut them to the correct length. You shoudl have got a small bit of paper with some numbers on it in the bag. then you find the length of your blades and look up the corresponding number on the sheet.

If you look at the plastic guards you will see these numbers printed along the length. Then you get out a hacksaw and cut them to the correct length - don't have to be too accurate. If the plastic bits are too long they won't stay on your blades and too short makes them very hard to get on.

Then you take two pieces (usually two pieces have along 'tail bit' and two pieces have a shorter one - most people join one of each together.)

For the next bit you really need to grow an extra hand as you have to slot the screws through one end of the spring and into the plastic - do the same with the other one on the other side, the other way round so they fit into each other. Screwing them down should lock the springs in place.

Then repeat for second pair of plastic bits and springs.

Best idea is to find someone at your rink who has done it before and get them to show you - or better yet to do it for you!!!!!

Good luck!

Thank you, you make it sound simple and will have a go later tonight. Like you say if all else fails I'll wander round the rink tomorrow looking for willing volunteer to take over my handywork!
Didn't get any paper or instructions with them though, so refuse to blame my own stupidity for this problem (!) hmm.

Same thing happened to me when I first got mine. I had no clue how to assemble them. So I just let my dad do them, who I think gave to his friend who goes through this every 6 months or so since his son plays hockey and his feet grow like mad. So I'm not too sure how to help you, but what Batikat said sounds good.

My problem came in cutting them down to size. I didn't have a saw but had one of those tremendously sharp serrated kitchen knives that are sold on TV. It was very STUPID of me to cut the guards using that. I didn't hurt myself, but that by dint of good luck....

Next time, I'll ask my skate pro to do it (the place I bought my last set didn't do any of the cutting, but I think I know two skate pros who are able to cut the guards...)

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the pro shop at my rink has a special little tool just for cutting guards; the blade comes down kind of like a paper cutter & viola!! So much easier than DIY in this case!

It seems like EVERYBODY around here has those two-piece guards - I had never seen them when I skated decades ago and got one-piece guards for myself.

What is the advantage of the two-piece guards?

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Dianne
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I think the two-piece guards stay on a bit more snugly. They're also rounded at both ends--possibly making it a touch easier to walk in? (I don't think there's a huge difference in that, but YMMV.)


Yeah, word to the wise--don't use a kitchen knife. That plastic is much harder than it looks. You really do need a hacksaw, or have the pros cut it for you.

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I had the one piece guards before, but tehy didn't stay on properly. They kept falling off when I would walk in them. That why I got the 2 piece guards.

Ok, that explains it. It does take a certain "technique" to walk in one-piece guards - I guess that's the only thing I didn't forget from 30+ years ago.

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argh double post

I don't cut my guards down. My blades are 9-1/2s, and they fit fine, with just a little (maybe quarter-inch) gap between each end when they're on my blades.

You'll need a screwdriver for this. What I do is put one screw in the hole closest to the tip, and make sure it's all the way down. I also like to make sure the spring's loop is flat against the plastic, it seems to hold tighter that way.

Take the open loop from another screw, and push it all the way down on that same side, so now you have one half of the guard with two screws, and the other half with none.

Then you take the other half of the guard, kind of bend out the spring with the loose screw, and push that screw into the hole closest to the tip. Use the screwdriver to "tighten" the spring loop onto the screw. So now the guards are 3/4 put together. You have one side with the spring and screw joined, and the other side where they're apart.

This is the tricky part. Put the two plastic ends together, and now you have to pull the first spring up towards the screw end of the back half of the guard and latch it onto the screw. Don't worry about pushing it all the way down. Just get it hooked on, and "tighten" it with the screwdriver. Sometimes it's hard to get it all the way down, so as long as you get it at least halfway so the spring doesn't pop off, you'll be fine.

Boy, that's confusing to type out! Let me know if this helps or I can try to explain further. Maybe I can take photos of my assembled guards.

I sat down last night with my tools and am delighted to tell you that I have assembled my guards!!!
I can't stop looking at them as feeling very proud of myself. I must say thank you for the helpful instructions that have been posted, how kind you all are to take time out to help. Thank you thank you thank you!

When I had Coronation Aces I didn't need to cut my guards down - in fact, they had a gap between the two halves. But when I got my dance blades, it was a different story, but I have a Husband who is good at such things, so he did the necessary....

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Is it a bad thing to have a gap between the 2 pieces of the guards? A girl I skate with has a gap of more than an inch between hers (they were poorly cut)- she says it drives her crazy, but does it make a difference?

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I wouldn't think it would make that much of a difference. I think you'd need at least a small gap between the pieces--enough for the spring tension to operate--because otherwise you'd run the risk of the guards being too long, and loose. An inch doesn't sound too big. Too much space might increase the risk of stepping onto something with actual blade contact, but even that would be rather unlikely, I'd think.

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You get two-tone guards! I never had problems with the once piece guards staying on, I just like the way the two piece guards look. My current guards were selected by my coach's 3 and 4 year old daughters, so I'm currently rocking the sparkly pink and purple look.

Yeah, like my light purple and light teal set. Not to be confused with a former coach's dark purple and dark teal set.

I also use the shorter rounded ends. I may go back and hack off the longer ends and have an extra set.