With a love for skiing, but on a college student's budget, I looked for a way to be able to ski in the backcountry using the skis and bindings which I already had. While looking for this solution I came across Daymakers alpine touring adapters. These adapters interface with the ski boot and binding to allow for uphill travel. They are then easily removed and stored in a pack for downhill skiing in the backcountry.
With the means to design and build my own adapters, I reverse-engineered the Daymakers and made some personal design tweaks of my own. Most of the design changes were done to simply the manufacturing process on my end.
The first two prototypes were designed so that all parts, excluding the fasteners, could be cut from sheet metal with a water jet cutter, and then bent. The first prototype was almost identical to the first Daymakers prototype, so I could verify the design and find any issues with the manufacturing process.
The second prototype reduces the forward linkage to a thinner solid machined linkage. This design was to increase the rigidity of the mechanism, but resulted in a more difficult manufacturing process.
Ski boot and Ski Binding Interface with the Adapter.
Design problems with the 2nd prototype, and broken waterjet cutter resulted in a design that would require more machining. Improvements include: more secure toe hold, infinite length adjustment vs the old incremental adjustment, 15 and 7 degree heel lifts, telemark binding inspired heel fastener, increased rigidity. In addition the design is more visually appealing (it just looks cooler)
15 degree heel lift
