Epee tip trouble

[angriff]

Hi -

One of my epees is refusing to register after i whacked it pretty hard against the piste following a botched attempt at a toe touch I'd checked, no wires were broken anywhere and the body cord's fine, but no lengthening or shortening of the contact spring would make it register. Ditto when I swapped the offending tip for another one.

What seems to be the problem here? Please help, I've a competition in 2 weeks and of my 3 epees, the abovementioned one is dead for now, one registers intermittently (I'll post about this one once I'm more sure what ails it) and the only working one has 2 kinks in it.. Thanks lots!

[neevel]

When you say "no wires broken", I assume you mean that you took the tip out, shorted the contacts together with a screwdriver, and saw that you had A-B continuity. Did you flex the blade while you were doing that? You could have a wire broken right beneath the contact, which will still be touching it when the blade is straight, but separates when the blade is flexed.

Another possibility is that the wire insulation is damaged right behind the tip, causing a short to the blade from one or both wires. Depending on the scoring box you're using, this will result in a dead weapon.

-Dave

[Swordmaster]

Have you replaced the tip? Did the problem go away? If so, it could be a separation inside the tip it's self due to the whack on the ground. But check what Dave said also. Sometimes a hit like that can cause wire damage where you can't see it. In that case it is time to rewire.

[MyraTrue]

I think I'm in agreement with Neevel here. I've recently had people coming in with epees that don't work after a particularly hard hit. I've been lucky (being that we were particularly short on left handed weapons, and all were lefties) that they we usually due to the contact spring. The first thing I'd be checking is if using a screwdriver to short the A-B lines does in fact set off the box. But most of the time, a new contact spring has solved the problems for us.

Good luck.

[angriff]

Hi Neevel, Swordmaster and Myra

Yeah, I checked for A-B continuity like you all suggested, even with a bent blade. No problems there. But once again it is still not registering when I put back the tip. I tried swapping around the tips from my other blades but it still doesn't work either. Think I need a new tip or at least a new contact spring?

BTW Swordmaster - could you explain a bit more about the "separation in the tip" you mentioned?

Thanks!!

[neevel]

Try checking for an A-C or B-C short in the weapon. With many scoring boxes (especially older designs) that will ground the weapon out and prevent a touch from registering.

-Dave

[Swordmaster]

...Think I need a new tip or at least a new contact spring?
BTW Swordmaster - could you explain a bit more about the "separation in the tip" you mentioned?

Angriff,
Sometime, on rare occassion, when an epee tip is struck had on an immovable surface (such as the floor) it will "break" the small stem that you thread the contact spring up on to, up inside the plastic insulator (so you can't see it). If you have tried another tip from another weapon (assuming the contact spring is not to short to make contact) and it still doesn't work, do as Dave has suggested and check for a short bewteen A-C or B-C. It would be best to use a multimeter set to read ohms to do these tests because sometimes the problem could be really high resistance that you are not seeing by just using a scoring machine.

[DHCJr]

All the suggestions are very good. I will give one that happens, but it is not a high percentage. When you use a screwdrive, if you are like most you will place the blade between the contacts and turn the handle slightly to come in contact with both contacts. This is a good method and I also use it. I am going to suggest 3 other ideas.

1) The spring of the tip doesn't work that way. One problem could be the contacts are not level. If so that could cause what you described.

2) The top of the contacts may have something on them.

3) Have you tried putting in the tip without the big (weight) spring. It is not necessary. If you haven't try it. If the tip goes all the way down, then as was suggested before the spring is not long enough.

[angriff]

Try checking for an A-C or B-C short in the weapon. With many scoring boxes (especially older designs) that will ground the weapon out and prevent a touch from registering.

-Dave

I'm sorry but I have no idea how to check for an A-C or B-C short.. could you please elaborate?

[angriff]

1) The spring of the tip doesn't work that way. One problem could be the contacts are not level. If so that could cause what you described.

2) The top of the contacts may have something on them.

3) Have you tried putting in the tip without the big (weight) spring. It is not necessary. If you haven't try it. If the tip goes all the way down, then as was suggested before the spring is not long enough.

Hi DHCJr,

1 & 2) I'm aware of these possibilities.. but what would be the remedy? Rewiring? It is after all a pretty old blade dating back to 1994..

3) Yes, I've tried it without the weight spring. AND with the contact spring extended to the max as well. Still no go.

And meantime to everyone who replied.. thanks a bunch, you've been extremely helpful and I appreciate it a great deal

[DHCJr]

1) You can try pushing down the high one if it is possible. The second solution is not a good one is to have the spring bent sligtly to angle the bottom.

2) Try scraping and touch the screwdrive to the top only.

3) Did the travel spring push the tip back up. If not, then maybe it took a longer tip, because it has not come in contact. If you have a point setter you can take a few weapons that work and put the tip setter in to see how far it goes down. Mark that point. Now try the one that doesn't work and see how far it goes down.

Marking the point setter is a good trick, to make sure BEFORE you glue, that you don't have an extra spacer.

[angriff]

Firstly thanks to everyone who replied.. But as it turned out, Neevel had been correct all along - the wire was broken just beneath the contacts. I've since rewired the blade and it's now back in action. Thanks again!