Help! Foil not working!

[ebonylevin]

I have a new foil from Uhlmann I have only used it 2 times and it worked ok but when I tried it out at club the other night it wouldnt work. When I depressed the tip the light wouldnt go off, I went home and sanded down everything inside the barrel- tip, spring and inside- in case something was shorting out, I put it back together and it still wont work. Any suggestions? Do I have to rewire it? I dont know much about fixing weapons so I'm pretty stuck for what to do.
Thanks in advance for you help.

[rsy]

When all else fails, try this. Remove the tip and spring and using a cotton swab lightly dipped in acetone, clean out the cup wire at the bottom of the barrel. You can tell you got it down there when the swab comes out with an impression of the cup. When doing this, hold the blade barrel down so that any excess acetone flows out of the barrel and not down the blade wire. Reassemble. Test. Fence?

-r

[Purple Fencer]

When all else fails, try this. Remove the tip and spring and using a cotton swab lightly dipped in acetone, clean out the cup wire at the bottom of the barrel. You can tell you got it down there when the swab comes out with an impression of the cup. When doing this, hold the blade barrel down so that any excess acetone flows out of the barrel and not down the blade wire. Reassemble. Test. Fence?

-r

I clean it using rubbing alcohol...out of curiosity, why do you use acetone?

[TooLoftheDeviL]

I clean it using rubbing alcohol...out of curiosity, why do you use acetone?

It dissolves any glue that might still be gooing anything up.

[rsy]

I clean it using rubbing alcohol...out of curiosity, why do you use acetone?

Because often the problem is a small amount of glue or other coating on the cup that alcohol won't take off. I have found acetone to be a more universal and useful solvent in this situation.

-r

[The Armourer]

... whatever you do - I would certainly complain to the supplier. If I were them I would want to know if I was getting something wrong. I think we are all waiting to see if the acetone/alcohol fix works before suggesting something else!

[ebonylevin]

ok... well I havent done that yet, have to go to the shops and buy some. Fingers crossed. Cheers to everyone who suggested something.

[SJCFU#2]

While you have the tip out you may want to take a few seconds and check the resistance between the B and C lines so that you can eliminate the possibility of a short between the wire and the blade.

[DHCJr]

The suggestions on acetone on what your problem is wrong. As noted by SJCFU#2 your weapon is shorting out. If you don't have a test box, you can use the machine. Take off the tip and remove the spring. Does the box go off now or the light go out on a test box or the meter reads infinite? If not, unplug the Foil. Does it go off now? If not, it is the body cord. But we will assume it went off. Now look for some excess wire on the connector. Next, loosen the handle, the handle may have shifted crushing the wire.

What you are trying to do is find where the weapon is shorting out.

[mifencer]

Like Donald said, but I would also check to the plug... especially if it's a 2-prong. Sometimes there's extra wire from the socket that touches the bell guard causing it to short.

This the steps that I would do:
1) Check for extra wire at the socket. (if so, cut the end of the wire near the socket.)
2) Check if the wire is popping out and see if there's not a bare spot (if so, re-wire).
3) Remove tip, if it doesn't go off, then the problem is NOT on that end.
4) Remove grip, maybe this is pinching the wire somewhere.

Good luck

[ebonylevin]

Well I took out the tip and it still didn't work, so I took off the handle and you were right DHCJr and mifencer, the socket and guard were crushing the wire against the handle so I fixed it. Yay. I'm so bad at finding problems in my gear so a thousand thanks to all of you who suggested ways to fix it.