New foil-already in trouble...

[Anari]

Well, I got a new foil recently...and tonight the tip just stopped working...

So I took the point apart...replaced the spring, the grub screws, the tip tape, the insulating tape...nope, nothing..the test box refused to turn that stupid green light off...

So I took everything apart at the other end. Lo and behold...the green light on the test box won't even turn on now when I stick the body wire in.

What did I do? And can anyone lead me step by step into how to repair it?

Thankyou.

[Anari]

OK, now the foil is back together and works apart from the original problem.

When the tip is OUT, the light stays green, where as on my other foil it goes out.

Does it need rewiring? (Hopes to God it's a no)

[Purple Fencer]

The green light (presuming you're using a typical fencer's test box) indicated that the circuit is closed...i.e. there is a consistent path for power to go from the reel, through the weapon, and back to ground. This is as it should be.

HOWEVER, if you remove the tip and you STILL have the green light, there's something in the barrel that's closing the circuit.

The key is that the light stays on even with the tip and spring out.

Here's what you can do.

Put the blade in a vise and hook the test box to it.

Get a Q-tip damp with rubbing alcohol, stick it in the barrel, and twist it around to get any gunk out of the inside...you may have somethig conductive that's bridging from the wire cup to the barrel.

If that doesn;t work...

Get either a small crescent wrench or a 5mm open end one and very carefully and SLOWLY back off the barrel. Slowly, because if you go too far you'll break the wire.

While backing the barrel off, watch the box. If the light suddenly goes out, that means the wire's insulation was nicked during assembly and bare wire is touching the blade, thus closing the circuit.

Once the light goes out, try slowly tightening the barrel again. If the light STAYS out, you've fix the problem for now and there's not much else you ca dhort of a rewire.

If the light comes back on, do a rewire.

[SJCFU#2]

As Purple Fencer said, it sounds like you have a short somewhere between the wire and the blade.

After you clean out the tip, and before loosening the barrel, loosen your grip and look at where the wire passes through the guard socket and guard - you may be crushing the spagetti insulation between the grip and the socket (fitting the grip so that the insulation fits into the groove at the front of the grip helps to avoid this).

If you can't find anything obvious then start taking everything apart (you may want to seek help from someone who has done this before), pausing at each step to check continuity between the insulated socket (or the bare end of the wire that would normally be wrapped around the insulated socket) and the blade. Ideally once you remove the source of the problem resistance should go to infinity (i.e. continuity is broken and the light goes out). If you reach the point where you have nothing but a wired blade then you will probably have no option other than rewiring, but try eliminating every other possibity first.

Good luck.

[Anari]

Thankyou very much I hope it is the barrel. I was fencing first time with it and it just stopped working...so I hope it is the barrel

Thanks again!

[Anari]

OK, really stupid question...how do you back off the barrel?

[Anari]

OK, tried fiddling round with the barrel, the light switched off...but then I waved the foil around and it goes on and off, usually on when it's in en guarde (sixte) and off when it goes vertical...any ideas?

[HDG]

I see a rewire in your future. It sucks because it's a new weapon, but rewiring a foil is no big deal, and the sooner you get comfortable doing it, the better.

[Anari]

*runs around the room screaming with delight!*

MY GOD IT WORKS FOR SOME REASON!

I am very happy now, thankyou for all your help. It seems I just need to (attempt to) twist the barrel a bit and it's fine if it stops.

Thankyou

[SJCFU#2]

*runs around the room screaming with delight!*

MY GOD IT WORKS FOR SOME REASON!

I am very happy now, thankyou for all your help. It seems I just need to (attempt to) twist the barrel a bit and it's fine if it stops.

Thankyou

Hopefully this won't ruin your day, but when you say that it stops do you mean that the green light goes out?

From your description it sounds like you are using a simple weapons tester (basically a continuity tester). Foil uses a normally closed-circuit so the green light on your tester should only go out when you depress the tip, and should come back on when you release it. If the light is going out when you twist the barrel then you have may have introduced a new problem to the system and a rewiring is probably in your future.

[Anari]

OK, from what I can tell, I do use a simple test box. At the moment it performs well enough (tip turns light off). But, if I perform a flicky motion, the point stops working. I am under the impression that the wire is touching something somewhere when I make that motion and hence the point ceases to work. I think I've found the problem, and things have been fine since. If they keep stuffing up then I will probably rewire it.