2 pin or bayonet

[mousers11]

In the UK we tend to use leon paul bayonet fitting to attach wire to weapon for sabre & foil. ? what if any is the advantage over 2pin fitting if any at all

[mrbiggs]

Bayonet and 2 pin each have advantages. Neither is clearly superior overall, it depends on your taste.

[fencinman89]

I've discussed this with a few people who use 2 pin. They all say that if it doesnt fit quite right in the socket you can just open up the little pieces of metal around each Pin. I, and my whole club use the Bayonet because it is easier to fix, (no screws to hole the casing together) and becasue it is a built in retaining pin, i.e. no worries about losing the retaining clip and having to use tape to hold it in.
-Tre'

[Chafunkta]

I've always used bayonet, but that's mostly because everyone in my club uses it so it's easy to borrow equipment (which is probably a bad thing because everyone ends up borrowing my equipment). I know one guy who uses and Uhlmann two-pin and he made a good point about it. It's not loose. You can't wiggle a two-pin (at least a high quality one) around; but my bayonet can jiggle a little (it's LP on both socket and bayonet). However, I have never had any problems with my bayonets so I don't see any real reason to change. He, by the same reasoning, hasn't had problems with two-pin so he's not going to change.

Both two-pin and bayonet work; I don't see a specific advantage in either. Just make sure that what you get matches up brand-wise (Uhlmann socket with Uhlmann clip, LP socket with LP bayonet end, etc) and that they are of pretty high quality.

[akaiyuki]

I agreed with the above posts. I personally use 2-pins because everyone else that I know (well) uses them -- a lot easier to borrow a body cord when mine fails.

[KD5MDK]

MY club uses 2 prong, so that's what I use. Personally, I find them dead easy to repair, but I suppose if I opened up a bayonet clip I could figure it out too.

[Mergs]

Have used both, and prefer the 2-pin. For me, it is easier to fix and more forgiving.

As for spreading the 'leaves' of the pins to make better contact, an alternative is to take a small rod (3mm or 4mm, or both) and insert it (them) into the sockets and slightly bend it outwards. This causes the two sockets to become slightly out of alignment with each other and causing the pins to 'jam' into the socket and make better contact.

[Robert Smith]

Whole club with maybe two exceptions use bayonet. I'm not convinced they're the better choice, but going with the flow certainly makes sense. Problems with bayonets:
- tendency to fall out at inopportune moments (may be just tired springs?)
- using too small a grip may result in the bayonet getting pushed out of place by the thumb; answer to that, I guess, would be to use the right size grip...
- hard to find replacement wire locally that will fit down the guide channels, so the tendency is to not use the channels. Which means any looseness in the screws at the contacts will result in intermittent white lights;
- those long screws are a pain! Prone to corrosion, and hence to sticking. I've slit the heads on at least a couple trying to free them.

I'm all in favour of mechanical simplicity, for maintenance's at least, and I think the two prong has to have the advantage there.

[KD5MDK]

Slit the heads? Do you mean perhaps split or stripped? (Split I guess would be break in half, while stripped means the notches are so worn no screwdriver can get a crip.) I haven't heard that term before (unless you mean you ground new notches with a dremel or something).

[HDG]

I've always used bayonet b/c back when I was 12 that was what my instructor told my parents to order; seeing various problems two prong people have, I have never seriously thought about switching.

I recently recommended bayonet to one of our young fencers getting his first electric gear and learned something: DO NOT get off-brand bayonet sockets or cords. He ordered from a well known vendor with a color in its name, and the stuff is junk; the plug simply will not stay in. If I lend him my LP bodycord, he's just fine, or if I put his generic bodycord in my LP socket, it's also fine.

[Robert Smith]

Originally Posted by KD5MDK

Slit the heads? Do you mean perhaps split or stripped? (Split I guess would be break in half, while stripped means the notches are so worn no screwdriver can get a crip.) I haven't heard that term before (unless you mean you ground new notches with a dremel or something).

Split. Sorry 'bout that, slip of the fnigers.

These are Uhlmann body cords - at least, the connector on the other end is definitely Uhlmann. And the screws are either a cheap alloy, or I'm much stronger than I think. They get a little corroded, the screws just don't want to come out. Someone recommended soaking in Coca Cola, but that just made my skin all sticky (har har). So I tried it on the bayonet connector instead. Didn't seem to make a lot of difference, as didn't soaking in WD40. I assume there's some good reason for the design, but if there is, it sure isn't maintainability.

[Welted 24/7]

Two-prong. I've used enough of both types to make a judgement for myself- the worst problem I've had with a two-prong is having to widen the prongs a little to fix the connection, whereas I've had a bayonet explode in my hand on more than one occasion.

[Mergs]

Actually, Coca Cola is a good way of removing corrosion, especially from battery terminals. Makes you think twice about what it is doing to your innards, doesn't it? WD 40 is a lubricant and corrosion inhibitor, not a corrosion remover.

[oiuyt]

Personally I prefer the Negrini bayonet system. I've been using them on my sabres (still LP bayonet on my foils which don't receive much use) for over a year. I've had exactly 1 problem (a socket that lost a piece, the vendor took one look at it, said something to the effect of "that shouldn't have happened" and gave me a replacement socket) in that time. They're very solidly built, and with the j-groove channel the plug locks into the socket in a way that it can't pop out or work its way loose. Far more secure than either the LP or 2-prong systems.

On the other hand, I'm incompatible with nearly everyone else out there. If something ever did go wrong.... Well, actually, that still wouldn't be a huge worry, I still carry LP-style bayonet cords in my bag (I don't swap out cords, but rather carry all three types that I use (epee being the third)), so I could still borrow/buy weapons in a pinch.

-B :)

[epeemike81]

Originally Posted by fencinman89

I've discussed this with a few people who use 2 pin. They all say that if it doesnt fit quite right in the socket you can just open up the little pieces of metal around each Pin. I, and my whole club use the Bayonet because it is easier to fix, (no screws to hole the casing together) and becasue it is a built in retaining pin, i.e. no worries about losing the retaining clip and having to use tape to hold it in.
-Tre'

broken wires are easier to fix for this reason, but bayonet has more things that could go wrong (like issues involving the springs in the cord or the socket). my feeling is why have moving parts if not necessary? two prong is easier to diagnose, has fewer non-wire issues, and those non-wire issues are easier to fix. Bayonet is marginally easier to fix a simple broken wire on.

-m

[epeemike81]

Originally Posted by oiuyt

Personally I prefer the Negrini bayonet system. I've been using them on my sabres (still LP bayonet on my foils which don't receive much use) for over a year. I've had exactly 1 problem (a socket that lost a piece, the vendor took one look at it, said something to the effect of "that shouldn't have happened" and gave me a replacement socket) in that time. They're very solidly built, and with the j-groove channel the plug locks into the socket in a way that it can't pop out or work its way loose. Far more secure than either the LP or 2-prong systems.

On the other hand, I'm incompatible with nearly everyone else out there. If something ever did go wrong.... Well, actually, that still wouldn't be a huge worry, I still carry LP-style bayonet cords in my bag (I don't swap out cords, but rather carry all three types that I use (epee being the third)), so I could still borrow/buy weapons in a pinch.

-B

While I agree that Italian bayonet is a good system, your one problem is one more socket/plug problem than I've had with two prong in the last year. not saying that two prong is better than negrini, just that I don't find that example all that compelling.

I personally think that two prong and negrini are both about as good (both retain well, have a lack of moving parts, and thus less that can go wrong), especially the new favaro two prong, on which the retaining clip seems to work better. I think both are favorable to the other bayonet systems.

-m

[broncofencer]

I use 2 prong mainly because I have large hands ans in foil I tend to knock the bayonet out of the socket during bouts. I am considering switching to bayonet for sabre to eliminate the confusion of "is this a foil cord or a sabre one"? I don't fence either enough to worry to much but I like the 2 prong a little better. Basically it your choice. Kind of like which grip you use.

[Ordway]

Originally Posted by broncofencer

I am considering switching to bayonet for sabre to eliminate the confusion of "is this a foil cord or a sabre one"?

Confusion? There's no difference between a foil or a sabre cord; they're the same cord!

I used bayonet a long while ago, and have used two-prong exclusively for years. I like two-prong better, though I'm hard-pressed to say why exactly; maybe just that when things go wrong, it's easier for me to identify the problem and even fix it myself. Also, I think the fat bayonet plug is clunky and gets in the way somehow.

The main argument for one or the other is, I think, "what are my clubmates using?" Using the same system as the majority of the people you fence with makes it a lot easier to lend and borrow weapons and cords.

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by Mergs

Actually, Coca Cola is a good way of removing corrosion, especially from battery terminals. Makes you think twice about what it is doing to your innards, doesn't it?

Easy, it's removing corrosion!

[broncofencer]

Originally Posted by Ordway

Confusion? There's no difference between a foil or a sabre cord; they're the same cord!

Actually there is a way to wire a 2 prong that it will work in sabre but not for foil. At least this used to be true. I have gotten one of these in my bag before and tried to use it for foil because it looks like the rest of the body cords. Perhaps this is no longer a problem but it used to be.