How to heat Intuitions at home? (NO CONVECTION OVEN!!!)

About the best trick is to get a turkey bag (or two to prevent leakage) , put them in the boot carefully and pour boiling water in.

Much better than the convection oven or hot rice method.

Well I'd go with what Sierra Jim said, unless your peeps don't like chicken soup, then you could try this

Quote:

 

Originally Posted by barrettscv This is my DIY procedure for Intuitions; Research, and some creative thinking, provided this procedure; 1) Remove factory liner from ski boots. 2) Place plastic tape down the inside spine of the boot, from the spoiler down to the heel pocket, to cover any sharp gaps or hardware inside the boot. 3) Heat the Intuition liner in an oven to 210F for 12 minutes. Shield the liners from direct heat with foil. 4) Heat the boot shell to about 140F. I placed the boots above a large pan of boiling water and covered with a pillowcase for 7 minutes. This will reduce heat transfer between the liner and boot shell during fitting. 5) Place the footbed under the users foot and place a stretchy sock over the footbed & foot to hold it in place. Add any padding around the forefoot, if you want wiggle room. Hold together with cloth tape, if required. The next 4 steps need to be done without interruption. A) The liner is now heated to 210F. Place the foot/footbed, as a unit, in the liner. B) With a helper holding the shell open, insert the liner/footbed/foot in the warm shell. C) Buckle the boot a little more loose than normal. D) Step into the ski binding, using the ski to stabilize the shell, gently flex the boot a little until the heel is deep in the heel pocket. E) Tighten the buckles to a comfortable fit F) let everything cool for 20 minutes with minimal body movement. I was able to avoid twisting of the liner by using a helper to open the shell wide. The soft & warm shell helps entry, also. The liner came out with a sharp imprint of my foot and the boot. This is good evidence that the liner was warm enough to mold properly. I guess I need to do more to create room around the toes. Michael

If you have a barbecue with a cover and a temp gauge, that'd work.  While you're at it I recommend cooking up a nice steak on the side, then all you need is to toss a salad and crack open a beer or two for lubrication.

Good luck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SierraJim 

The official TGR method is as follows................

 

• Start with a very large commercial (?) pasta pot.
• Add 1-2 Gal. of cold tap water and 3 cans chicken noodle soup.
• Bring to boil, reduce to simmer for 10 min.
• Add S&P to taste, potatoes, carrots, and onions (finely chopped)
• Add liners. Simmer 25 mins.
• Remove liners, place on feet and into boot shells.
• Thicken remaining liquid w/cornstarch, Serve with crackers to onlookers that are not rolling on floor.

 

Yeah.....that's the official TGR method......yep, I think that's it......ummm.......I'm pretty sure.....uhhh.....

 

Oh, BTW......"I'm an excellent driver."

 

SJ

 

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!  What is that? Some kinda Californy hippie granola thing?  Everyone knows you should always start with water and a few stones.

Wow!! And I thought all the jerks looking be cute and increase their post count hung out on TGR. Guess they are evenly distributed throughout cyberspace. To the OP. Forget your regular oven. It can be done I'm told,  but that's a pretty expensive piece to practice on and maybe ruin. 1st option is to see if some of the shops in your area will heat it with either a dedicated blower or convection oven. Even then, do some research (TGR, Youtube) so that they do it right. The "fitter" here with the diploma on the wall omitted toe caps and the 2x4 with (in hindsight) predictable results. For my next pair I'll wait until I can find a shop that does more than 2 a season. For a DIY solution the hot rice or hot water method makes sense assuming you have the correct sized liner in the first place. Intuition customer service is awesome so I hear. BTW, if you post up on TGR do some searching first. Use this link as the one in TGR Tech Talk kinda sucks.

http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=013088392104881963655:goe34wkkkv8

Post a picture of your liners?  You sure they're not dreamliners that don't need baking?

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php/237166-Molding-Intuitions-with-hot-water-It-works

Doing these is a bit of an art. People who do it a lot tend to know the quirks - they have a basket of toe caps, understand sock thickness, are good at tag-teaming gelatinous liners into shells sans wrinkles, etc. . Folks who do not to a ton, usually not so much. The TGR thread makes a ton of sense to me - especially as thinking has evolved. Pretty clever actually. Seems more likely to get good results than the home baking project method many use. Or a shop whose real experience is little more than reading a manual.

If I had access to people who do 40 or 50 or more pairs a year - with happy customers - I'd pay 'em. If not, I suspect you are as likely to get good results with the TGR method as with a shop that is lacking experience in the "art". That said, if I were to do my own, I'd do a ton of reading about trade offs with toe caps, sock thicknesses, foot beds, stance,  etc...

Quote:

Originally Posted by spindrift 

Doing these is a bit of an art. People who do it a lot tend to know the quirks - they have a basket of toe caps, understand sock thickness, are good at tag-teaming gelatinous liners into shells sans wrinkles, etc. . Folks who do not to a ton, usually not so much. The TGR thread makes a ton of sense to me - especially as thinking has evolved. Pretty clever actually. Seems more likely to get good results than the home baking project method many use. Or a shop whose real experience is little more than reading a manual.

 

If I had access to people who do 40 or 50 or more pairs a year - with happy customers - I'd pay 'em. If not, I suspect you are as likely to get good results with the TGR method as with a shop that is lacking experience in the "art". That said, if I were to do my own, I'd do a ton of reading about trade offs with toe caps, sock thicknesses, foot beds, stance,  etc...

Speaking from someone who has had intuitions heated by good boot fitter(s) and someone who's seen DIY jobs turn out very bad, I'd pay the money to have it done right the first time.

But that's just me.

A few years ago, I bought some Garmont Adrenalin AT boots and had to get the liners baked. Basically the same as Intuition  I paid a reasonable fee to a Truckee store (Backcountry) to help fit them, and got good results.  The cost wasn't very high considering the risk of messing up the liners.  The key is to use someone that actually has experience.  BTW, my fitter used toe-caps and set me on an incline using a 2x4, and even kept the wrinkles from forming as the liner was slipped into the boot.

Damn, that was at least five years ago!

Not an expert on these...but the old ones heating was just an option to get the custom fit asap.  You could also just wear them, and in a few days the heat from your foot would create the same custom fit....at least that was my understanding.

I've done several pairs using convection oven; I've also have Jans and REI do them.  no issues.  The key thing about convection oven is that it creates an even heat all over the oven/liners because of the circulating fan.  The thing conventional oven is that they may/likely create hot spots, thus can ruin your liners.  You can use cookie sheet(s) and / or sil pads to reduce the chance of hot spots.  In my thinking, since I have not done it with conventional oven, I'd place the cookie sheets between your liners and the heating element (assuming electric).  If, then hot spots are less likely.

Since you've never done it before, I would not experiment using conventional ovens.  Take them to a pro shop.  You may get lucky that they may not charge you for heating and using their toe caps. 

My home clothes drier features a insert-able drying rack. I use it frequently to dry shoes and other items that do not tumble well. Seems to me this may be a viable option if you can locate one. Just throwing it out there....

The intention of the majority of this post is not for the OP - he should just go find a pro to get the job done.

I have fitted Intuition-type liners at least 100 times over the years - anyone reading this post gets the benefit of my experience.

There are some critical problems with the heat stack (blower), rice-in-a-sock, or hot water in a bag heating methods:

1. Insufficient heating - these methods will not fully form the outside of the liner to the shell.  You'll eventually get there from liner pack out, but you will not achieve the same level of fit that the oven method achieves.
2. Problematic foot insertion - if you can easily slide your foot into the heated liner while it's already in the boot then either your shells are too big or the liner wasn't sufficiently heated.  If you actually have a good shell fit and a completely heated liner, then you will need to go with the plastic bag over the foot + silicone spray method to avoid bunching the liner during foot insertion.
3. Custom footbeds - any custom footbed (those that cannot be heated without ruining them) will become a problem with these methods.  You cannot pre-insert the footbed during heating and the old "tape the footbed to your foot" method can lead to less than satisfactory results because the the alignment of the footbed to your foot is different in the boot than outside of the boot.  If you go with the taping to the foot idea, try to tape it loosely enough to allow some shifting of the footbed once your foot is inside the liner and shell.

Note that an Intuition liner will never achieve the level of fit you get through heating if all you do is try to ski it to pack it in.  In fact, if you can actually get your foot into your boot with an uncooked liner then (once again) your shells are TOO BIG.

The idea that you cannot reliably fit Intuition liners with a home oven (non-convection) is incorrect.  The keys are sufficient pre-heating and layers of foil.  These techniques will ensure even heating of the liners.  By heating the liners outside of the shells you can then place your custom footbed in the bottom of the liner after heating and ensure that the footbed is perfectly aligned in the liner.  Insertion of the heated liner into 3-piece shells is fairly easy and hardly problematic.  If you have a 2-piece shell then I recommend you pre-heat the shell a bit so that it can be spread wide and have a friend help you in the process by opening the shell for you while you slip your foot and liner in.

There are a few great threads on TGR for Intuition liner fitting.  Review those and most skiers should be able to reliably fit an Intuition to their shells.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vitamin Ski 

Here is an idea...

If I were you I'd review post 19 a few times and go from there.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Obviously, a professional is best, but here is my version for a Gas oven.  Pick your poison.

• Pre heat oven to 280 F (have done at 300 F too - due to rest of procedure, it doesn't seem to matter)
• Rack is OUT of the oven and clean
• Open oven door and insert rack, liner (no footbed), oven thermometer (I used the thermometer to test - not required)
• Turn oven OFF, set timer for 10 minutes
• Put on toe cap and thin sock
• Get boot ready to expand to insert liner - have assistant ready.
• After 10 minutes, remove hot liner with cotton gloves.  Oven thermometer should be 200 to 225.
• Insert footbed – BEFORE inserting liner in to boot – seemed to work better for me.
• Insert liner with foot bed into boot
• Put on boot, tap heel back, wrap liner and make sure there are no boot pinch points,   and lightly buckle up
• Stand with toes on one inch board for 12 – 15  minutes while it cools.

It worked for me.  No marks from oven rack because you insert it at room temp.  No scorch from heat since Oven is OFF during baking and is just radiating the retained heat.

Here's some observations and a question

You really need someone to spread the shell before you try to get your foot with the liner on it into the boot without wrinkling it.

Practice this BEFORE you heat the liner.

Heat/insert one liner at a time, i did not heat the shell.

I used a conventional oven with the liner wrapped loosly in foil.

Use an oven thermometer to check the temp.

I cut up some cotton socks to use instead of a plastic toe cap, taped the foot bed (not a custom) to my foot, and put my thinnest ski sock over it all.

I put my alpine wraps into new boots last year without reheating them. 

What does the board do that clicking into the bindings on both skis won't?