Research and innovation
TheRink Engineering Lab
Advancing ice skating equipment through precision, data, and partnership.
Mission
Equipment matched to ambition
TheRink believes every skater deserves equipment matched to their ambition. The Lab brings the workshop, the ice, and the engineering bench together around impartial guidance, precision maintenance, practical tools, and manufacturer collaboration.
For skaters
Better equipment matching, safer setup, and improved confidence through clearer guidance.
For technicians
Research-backed tools, training, measurement, repeatability, and better process records.
For manufacturers and suppliers
Field feedback, product insight, fewer avoidable returns, and improved maintenance standards.
Engineering workstreams
One home for TheRink skate engineering
For skate technicians, suppliers, and rink teams, the Lab brings together sharpening research, blade mounting and alignment, boot fit, profile and hollow selection, blade condition, technician tools, and rink operations.
Sharpening and process control
Pass speed, pressure, wheel condition, finishing media, edge completion, and profile preservation.
Measurement, Visualiser, and metrology
Optical inspection, repeatable measurement, calibrated visual guides, fixture behaviour, and Visualiser validation.
Fit, mounting, and alignment
Boot fit, foot mechanics, blade mounting, screw torque, alignment, and the way the boot and blade work as one system.
Profile, hollow, and blade selection
Radius of hollow, blade profile, toe-pick geometry, skater feedback, discipline, and ice conditions.
Blade condition and repair
Straightness, rust, nicks, reconditioning, pick engagement, hole repair, re-riveting, and practical blade-life decisions.
Rink and technician systems
Hire skate safety, technician training evidence, job workflow, customer messaging, and tools for ice arena operations.
Featured system
The Visualiser
The Visualiser gives skate technicians a clearer view of what is happening at the blade. By combining a microscope-camera setup with calibrated on-screen guides, it helps technicians inspect blade position, monitor grind progress, and make more confident sharpening decisions.
The Visualiser helps skate technicians inspect edges, check alignment, train staff, and make sharpening decisions with clearer bench evidence.
Learn about Visualiser accessFeatured research
Current research areas
Sharpening technique, blade life, and profile stability
The Lab is investigating how sharpening pressure, pass speed, wheel choice, finishing media, and technician process affect edge levelness, steel loss, blade profile, and skater experience.
Read summaryOptical measurement of skate blade hollow
The Lab is exploring how microscope-based and optical metrology techniques can inspect skate hollows, locate edges, assess symmetry, and support more repeatable sharpening decisions.
Read summaryFigure skate hollow depth and on-ice performance
The Lab is reviewing how radius of hollow affects bite, glide, release, edge confidence, jumps, spins, and skater-specific setup choices.
Read summaryFigure skate blade profile selection
The Lab is studying how rocker profile, spin rocker, toe-pick geometry, blade family, skater size, discipline, and technique interact when selecting figure blades.
Read summaryIce skate fitting, foot mechanics, and practical diagnosis
The Lab is developing a practical fitting model that treats boot fit as a dynamic system involving foot mechanics, support, heel lock, blade alignment, and skater feedback.
Read summarySkate heat moulding, ovens, temperatures, and materials
The Lab is reviewing how skate heat-moulding decisions depend on boot material, model guidance, oven behaviour, chamber temperature, heating time, and workshop risk control.
Read summaryCollaborate
Help build better skate evidence
TheRink is open to studies, trials, field testing, manufacturer collaboration, technician validation, and equipment feedback.