Alpha Field Repair

Alpha Field Repair

Chris L Johnson

10/30/1998

This may not have gone through last time I sent it, so here goes again:

On Tue, 27 Oct 1998 20:56:13 EST Todd Norton < <Email Address Redacted> > writes:
>I have been having mixed results with my Alfa liner fittings I have
>experimented with both cushion and locking liners in all three
>thicknesses. Some patients/clients have really liked them, but others
have given
>me feedback that leads me towards a traditional PTB shape. I also have
>experimented with a variety of different tension values from 5-12 %.
>What type of results are others having? Are there any tricks that
anyone
>has found?

I have a medium, uniform, 9mm Alpha locking liner in a mid-patellar,
non-suspending supra-condullar socket. It is wonderful. Quite tight
when new, sometimes uncomfortably so, but after I break that horse she
works really sweet!

A suggestion is to use a latch, like Ortho Enterprises sealed pin latch
to promote added suspension through a partial vaccum fit between distal
socket and liner. Latches that allow air influx lose out on this added
benefit. I have a Cascade shuttle lock that does not seal, so I
improvised and ran rings of electrical tape around the socket to seal
over the button. A word of caution though. The seal should not be such
that the button will de-latch the liner! Better to seal the pin and not
the button as Ortho wisely does via o-rings.

Here is a trick for you for repair of damage, holes, etc.

Out of my deep, dark past, during the days when I wore those dreaded,
sweaty, easy-to-hole, hard-to-bend, short-lived, neoprene sleeves comes
an old solution to holes and damage that I found works peachy keen on the
Alpha as well. The trick is simple: At bed time, silicone RTV adhesive
can be rubbed into holes and damage with some excess material left on the
surface to promote strength. Then - and here's the real trick - you dab
a mound of talc over the fresh silicone and delicately rub it in without
smearing the uncured silicone. Next day you have a cured patch with no
tack (grabbiness) due to talc being cured into the surface. Care allows
this technique to fix small holes or large areas. Really big rips can be
first stiched, then the same treatment be done on both sides, with the
silicone being pushed completely into the rip and stiching on both sides.
 Very durable.

The Alpha is not silicone, but I used a rather beat up liner (repaired
per above) for a two day althletic competition recently with great
results.

For those who still use suspension sleeves that go outside the socket and
are therefore very vulnerable to holes being puched during bumps against
the world's hard objects, you can renew your tight suspension with this
trick. It's an excellent, overnight field fix to give to your more
cognitive patients...er uh clients, um payer persons, ah receivers of
goods and services? Ah whatever.

Chris (CJ) Johnson, Engineering Director
College Park Industries, Inc. ( <URL Redacted>)
Home Office (616) 664-4173 at CPI (810) 294-7950
<Email Address Redacted>
Scorpa 250/Fantic 305/Gas-Gas 160/Three Yamaha 650s