epee contact springs

[MyraTrue]

Is it possible for an epee contact spring to be jammed in hard enough to shorten it to the point in no longer makes contact?

On Saturday I was trying to keep a couple of much needed epees in circulation, and twice over the course of the day had one brought to me with the comment that it was "dead". It turned out that the contact spring was so short it was no longer completing the circuit between the A and B lines. So I replaced them.

Does anyone know what's causing this? I know one of my epeeists commented that she had hit someone extremely hard and was afraid her blade would break in her last point.

Also... WHY is it that you can't lengthen contact springs? You can't "unscrew" them. You HAVE to replace them.

[dunastor]

I've seen some people who just pull gently on the contact springs to lengthen them...

[Pepster]

Some of the newer Tips (I forget the brand) have Adjustable inner springs. It would appear from the pictures I've seen that you can use a micro-screwdriver to screw the spring up or down if It fails shim or doesn't connect.

And every time I try to lengthen one of those tiny buggers, I end up ruining it.

- Epee Pete

[suregrip]

I've had the same problem in the past. It would seem that hard hitters are generally harder on the equipment and therefore stuff breaks more often.

[DHCJr]

A hard hit can push a spring up onto the threads as you described. Remember the tolerance is in the range of 0.5mm. As was mentioned above, there are different tips. What I am going to describe is for 'Standard' tips.

You can pull, but you can damage the spring. A better way to adjust the spring is to twist it clockwise. The only difference is you push when you are trying shorten the spring and not push when you want to lengthen the spring. The reason this works is the springs are fragile. What you twist it on without pushing down it will jump the threads, thus lengthening it. If you try to twist it off, you will be opening up the spring and the spring will no longer stay.

[Artisan]

Originally Posted by Pepster

Some of the newer Tips (I forget the brand) have Adjustable inner springs. It would appear from the pictures I've seen that you can use a micro-screwdriver to screw the spring up or down if It fails shim or doesn't connect.
And every time I try to lengthen one of those tiny buggers, I end up ruining it.
- Epee Pete

Yes Blue Gauntlet sells them as "SG" epee tips, interchangable with other german barrels, springs and screws.They do work.

Otherwise it is easier to yank off a short spring and replace it than to try to effectively lenghten it by stretching or unscrewing.

[MyraTrue]

For as often as I've had to change the (short) contact spring, I've NEVER been able to make them unscrew. I tend to use Uhlmann tips etc, but I've had the same trouble with French parts. I'd like to keep these epees working as long as possible, and the problem was that was had 4 left handed epeeists and 3 left handed epees. A bit of a nightmare...

Thank you all for the suggestions- DHC, I'll see if I can make that work. Something is better than nothing!