epee failing

[BubbaM]

I used a new this epee weekend . Used it in a tourney and it occasionally is setting off the light when I go engarde. Not when I wack it on my shoe, shake it, wack it, etc. I swapped cords, checked to make sure that everything looked ok on the plug, tip, etc. It just randomly contacts when nothing forceful is happening. Any ideas?

Thanks

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

check the wires under the bell guard, make sure that they are not touching. It sound like part of the wire is bare under the bell and is making contact with other bare wire. If so, put a little nail polish on it. Or, slip the spagetti over it. It could also be the tip, take apart the tip, and see if the contact spring is a lil to long maybe. Also, when you take the tip apart, stick a q-tip down their and swab it out, it could be moisture. Check to make sure the wire on the blade isnt broken. also, make sure that their is a pressure spring in the epee. I've had epees where the manufacturerer didnt put the pressure spring in. Make sure the wires are not pinched under the bell and between the grip. If all these things fail, find an armourer or rewire it. Good luck.

[Artisan]

If you used it in a tourny, then presumably it passed shims and weight, so you can rule out the spring length or travel. Its probably a pinched wire at the grip, or possiby a loose barrel that has turned and allowed the wires to short out just behind the the contact before the glue holds them down at the tip. Could also be conductive crud in the tip - like a metal shaving or tiny piece of broken screw thread.


-Forgot to tell you...epees are fraught with these niggling problems, and I have learned:
a) you cannot have too many epees.
b) epees fail, break or lose screws most often when they are new - especially if they came fully assembled.
c) its impossible not to have a "favorite" and that will fail or break first
d) your least favorite POS epee will work stand up like a trooper to the all the ill will and abuse you can throw at it.
e) Cheap blades are a false economy
f) Expensive blades are a false economy
g) There is no good way to find a screw once it has fallen to the floor it is lost forever: magnetize your screwdriver
h) contact springs only go in


anyone else have the rest of the alphabet?

[Pepster]

i) Barrels never stay fully tight, especially if you make extra sure that they do
j) Tip screws are forged to be the biggest pain in the butt possible
k) Tip screws are like lemmings, they seem suicidal at times.
l) The longer you spend trying to fix the weight & Shim on an epee the more likely it is to fail after one bout
m) The more you like an epee, the more likely it is to fasil on the first bout
n) Conversely, the less you like an epee, the more likely it will be the only one you have left in some important bout.
o) Should you ever make the "perfect" epee, with a tight, secure tip, perfect weight & Shim, well glued, even wires, spagetti all the way from below the bell to the socket, solid unmoving bell, and absolutley no faults that will cause a short life span, the epee Gods will immediatly claim it for themselves.

-Pep
- Who has a love/hate relationship with epee, and a hate/love relationship with his epees.
p)

[Artisan]

Thanks...BTW:
m=c and n=d, essentially. And k=g, but tip screws as lemmings is much funnier - got a snort out of me...

[geezer]

Contact springs can be tricked into readjustment. Puch IN, toward the tip and screw post...the coil will expand ever so slightly, IN or OUT.
Oh yeah, for lost screws, use an old stereo speaker magnet, and knee pads...or drag it across the floor like a pull toy, which it can be if you mount it on some old abandoned toy car, etc....

Have a nice bout.

non iligitimi carborundum

[Artisan]

Oh yeah, for lost screws, use an old stereo speaker magnet, and knee pads...or drag it across the floor like a pull toy, which it can be if you mount it on some old abandoned toy car, etc....

Heh - heh - I did that once... magnet came up looking like a porcupine (metalshop)

[The Outsider]

I'll add a few

p) Checking weights and shims the night before a tournament really won't determine if they will pass, even before you have fenced with them.
q) Tip screws only go out of tips, not into.
r) Contact springs will become compressed, preventing the weapon from firing, for any reason, and sometimes no reason at all.

[great bowyer]

p) Checking weights and shims the night before a tournament really won't determine if they will pass, even before you have fenced with them.

i have this problem, every tournament i go to, i ALWAYS clean, test and adjust all of my weapons, takes about two hours. every tournmanrt i have been to, i had to fix a weapon.

the worst problem i had was a few months ago, used one weapon during the whole day without any problems, then on the first de bout, the weapon failed the shim test, then i presented a new weapon that was not touched since i checked it the night before failed, i think i may have had one other fail as well before i got to one that worked. i did however win the bout.

another major problem i was at a different tournament, in the first pool bout i had, my weapon was dead, changed weapons, that was dead, then after i had a red card, someone walked up and said the reel was not working before the tournament started. they changed the reels, i got my original weapon, it passed the testing, but one the first point it died. u got my second weapon, that did not pass the shim, then i had a yellow card and running around looking for a weapon to borrow. i did not do too well that day.

the unexpected will always happen, no matter what, it just depends on how much effort you put into trying to avoid it.

[fencinman89]

s)wires always pop out of the socket.
t)the bell gets rusty and u can score hits on it
now we only need "u,v,w,x,y,z." Thats six problems i know epees have at elast that much.
-Tre'