DIY ski pole baskets

[DesmoDog]

I bought some new poles recently. I've been away for a while and apparently small baskets are the thing now? I saw where some poles come with "powder baskets" along with the little guys, but the Rossi "Tactics" I bought didn't. They were cheap, from The House sale. How hard could it be to find larger baskets anyway?

I don't have much time at home before heading out to Colorado, and I'm not sure I trust the small baskets in western conditions? Sounds like an opportunity to put off packing for another upcoming trip so I fired up Fusion 360 and went at it.

Rather than worry about making a curved shape and dealing with removing supports from TPU (flexible filament material) I made the baskets flat, just like they were back in the day. After screwing around with a couple ideas I ended up with this.

Top view of model

Bottom view of model

The trial print went well enough I'll use it. I could clean it up a bit before use but I probably won't. TPU is hard to print with no strings. I'm over it. It screws on like the stock baskets. I'll bring those with me though in case these don't hold up in use...

The top looks nicer than the bottom

Yes they have dog paw cutouts. They were supposed to have a logo embossed in them too but it wasn't working so I ditched that detail. One of the earlier ideas was the whole basket being the shape of a paw print, but that wasn't working out so here we are.

 

[dan ross]

I like them - I want a 3-D printer . My only suggestion might be to add a diagonal gusset on the bottom -(snow side)
where the “spokes”radiate from the pole shaft. That is the area where the most stress is concentrated on the basket
The Scott baskets below might give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

 

[Sibhusky]

I bought a bunch from a place in Vermont because for years I was using mis-matched "found" baskets held on with duct tape. I needed them without inner threads and apparently every pole these days comes threaded. Used hardware store bits to secure them. $4.95 per set. But really tough to find.

 

[DesmoDog]

End of season update on the printed baskets. I found that the first design broke too easily. I changed the bracing on the bottom and made them break even faster. So I changed it again and found out it doesn't matter what you do, if you use them in subzero temps they get brittle and break with no regard to ribs or stress risers or whatever.

After more time I've found the "fix" seems to be eliminating the radial ribs on the bottom that were making them break and just letting the baskets flex. And not using them in subzero weather. It takes about two minutes to change them out with "real" baskets so no big deal.

 

[James]

I bought some new poles recently. I've been away for a while and apparently small baskets are the thing now? I saw where some poles come with "powder baskets" along with the little guys, but the Rossi "Tactics" I bought didn't. They were cheap, from The House sale. How hard could it be to find larger baskets anyway?

I don't have much time at home before heading out to Colorado, and I'm not sure I trust the small baskets in western conditions? Sounds like an opportunity to put off packing for another upcoming trip so I fired up Fusion 360 and went at it.

Rather than worry about making a curved shape and dealing with removing supports from TPU (flexible filament material) I made the baskets flat, just like they were back in the day. After screwing around with a couple ideas I ended up with this.

Top view of model

Bottom view of model

The trial print went well enough I'll use it. I could clean it up a bit before use but I probably won't. TPU is hard to print with no strings. I'm over it. It screws on like the stock baskets. I'll bring those with me though in case these don't hold up in use...

The top looks nicer than the bottom

Yes they have dog paw cutouts. They were supposed to have a logo embossed in them too but it wasn't working so I ditched that detail. One of the earlier ideas was the whole basket being the shape of a paw print, but that wasn't working out so here we are.

Weird, none of your photos show up but I see the other posters’ photos.

 

[cantunamunch]

After more time I've found the "fix" seems to be eliminating the radial ribs on the bottom that were making them break and just letting the baskets flex. And not using them in subzero weather. It takes about two minutes to change them out with "real" baskets so no big deal.

You're trying to do too much with one material. Put in some webbing flex elements.

Here is LEKI's design - and these things outlast carbon poles. Yes I know printing TPU is not the same as moulded TPU but still.