Most wanted gear quality improvement?

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!


This thread is intended to be a wishlist, with discussions on wished-for items. However, do not knock down on anyone else´s suggestion - this is brainstorming.

Anyway, if you could change something about your fencing gear which would improve it - but not get you more points - what would that be? Improvements could be longer time to first failure, easier repair, cheaper but with same functionality, some snazzy new functionality that is currently not available, or something else as long as it is not primarily a points increaser.

If your suggestion would necessitate rules changes that would not affect the nature of the bout or cause new classes of fencers to gain new advantages, please state both suggestion and needed rules modification.

Multiple items welcome! Please try to keep your wishes technically and physically possible.

I will start off:
1. I would like the epee and foil to be constructed so that it is impossible to twist/cut off the wire(s) when mounting the weapon.
2. For club weapons, it would be nifty feature if they could be switched from right to lefthanded very quickly (less than 10 seconds) without removing any other part.
3. I would like some spray-on (or paint-on!) product that would restore conductivity to dead spots in lame´s.


Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson

[erooMynohtnA]

You said it, price.

[rory]

You said it, price.

Economies of scale. Get more fencers and prices will drop.

I'd like reliable foil points for 10 please Bob.

[Craig]

I'd like reliable foil points for 10 please Bob.

Reliable is pretty general. What specific problem are you looking to solve? (dinged barrels, bad contact in the point, etc)

Cheers,
Craig

[Katman]

I would like my gear to magically transform into FIE gear (aside from my mask and blades, which are already FIE).

I would absolutely love it if the collar on my JL lame matched the collar on my Post-Sport jacket so I wouldn't feel as if I were being strangled when I put it on.

[i'mnottelling]

I would like jackets to be cut with more room on the weapon side to allow for the plastron. I have an Uhlman FIE jacket which fits great except when I wear the plastron. I could buy the next size up but then the sleeves are too long and the jacket too big. The excess material catches tips in epee.

Also improve the zippers. Make one that will stay zipped and won't open from the bottom up.

i'mnt

[courtneyp]

I would like jackets to be cut with more room on the weapon side to allow for the plastron.

I was going to say I wish my jacket had less material on my weapon arm. When I bought my newest jacket (the LP competition range) I got a size smaller than my practice jacket, but the sleeve still seems too big around so that it bunches up around my elbow and gives extra target in epee. My arms aren't unusually thin either.

PS to LP: I love the jacket otherwise.

[parrythis]

My biggest complaint is the utter lack of tolerance standards for plugs and sockets. When I first started using electric weapons, I went through lots and lots of body cords and sockets that were just a bit too large, just a bit too small, etc.

Sockets with holes a bit too big resulted in white-lights in foil when the connection wasn't solid. One body cord I bought had pins so large that they wouldn't go into any socket until I ground down the tips. The springy leaves on the pins of some sockets are so flimsy that after a few weeks of use, they lose their springyness and collapse resulting in a bad connection.

I have found a number of good manufacturers and I patronize them now, but for every good one it seems that there are two bad ones. I would like to see everyone subscribe to the same tolerances and improve their quality so that any manufacturer's plug will work with any manufacturer's socket.

How hard can that be?

[rory]

Reliable is pretty general. What specific problem are you looking to solve? (dinged barrels, bad contact in the point, etc)

Cheers,
Craig

My biggest problems with kit right now are:
- bayonet sockets whose metal frame unbends, dislodging the internals
- soft grub screws on German points
- soft barrels on German points
- loosening barrels (why should I need to use loctite?)
- general difficulty of wiring weapons
- gloves that go hard once you wash them, but stink if you don't

Possible solutions:
- "closed" frame on sockets so there's nothing to unbend
- recessed grub screws
- harder metal!
- some kind of twist-lock fixing?
- [this one's hard]
- supple materials, antibacterial coatings?

NB: Before loads of people pop up telling me that wiring weapons is easy, take an armoury course etc - I'm already perfectly capable of doing it, and *I* don't find it hard - but many people are totally intimidated by armoury.

[Smyles]

Possible solutions:
- "closed" frame on sockets so there's nothing to unbend
- recessed grub screws
- harder metal!
- some kind of twist-lock fixing?
- [this one's hard]
- supple materials, antibacterial coatings?

1. Probably going to be at least a bit more expensive to manufacture, don't know if enough people would be willing to pay the extra money
2. Try LP points
3. Try LP points
4. Try LP points (I've yet to have any problem with them loosening, used to happen alot with any other points I've tried!)
5. Wiring's easy etc.
6. I find fabric softener works for me

[rory]

1. Probably going to be at least a bit more expensive to manufacture, don't know if enough people would be willing to pay the extra money
2. Try LP points
3. Try LP points
4. Try LP points (I've yet to have any problem with them loosening, used to happen alot with any other points I've tried!)
5. Wiring's easy etc.
6. I find fabric softener works for me

I also use LP points. However, they still deform (less, but they do), I've had more instances of tips flying off. I now use the old-style plastic-sheathed tips as they're more robust and are better with the new timings too.

[Beowulfman6]

I would like to see lames made with blade traps that could actualy stop a broken blade. This would mean putting 350N or 800N material in the collar and blade trap under the lame material. Lets face it, lame material is weak and I wouldn't trust my blade trap to catch an intact foil, let allone a broken one.

[seven6ty]

I'd like it all to be cheaper plz, thnx.

[swordwench]

Most importantly, I would like to have *somebody* design jackets to fit short-waisted, well-endowed fencers. Not everyone out there is tall and skinny and blessed with gorilla arms!

I would outlaw all velcro, or at least have it re-designed to NOT stick to everyting in my laundry basket but its other half. It's the saran wrap of the clothing world. I would particularly like to outlaw the velcro on my Uhlmann plastron, which chafes my neck, and whose velcro chest-strap came far too short to fit around my chest, requiring time in front of a sewing machine. (Memo to me: must remember to replace this with metal buckles sometime...) For an otherwise fine piece of equipment, this is a real annoyance.

Some means of dropping your knickers to use the bathroom - without having to remove every other layer of clothing - would be a real plus. For us chicks, that is.

Slots in tip screws that don't require reading glasses to see would be nice.

[Fechter1]

I was going to say I wish my jacket had less material on my weapon arm. When I bought my newest jacket (the LP competition range) I got a size smaller than my practice jacket, but the sleeve still seems too big around so that it bunches up around my elbow and gives extra target in epee. My arms aren't unusually thin either.

I actually had that poblem in one of my old Uhlmann jackets. I just folded over the end of the sleeve inside the glove to prevent the bunch-up effect. Worked pretty well, too.

[Morion]

I would like a mask that doesn't try to tear my hair out in one way or another every time I remove it!

[Purple Fencer]

I would like a mask that doesn't try to tear my hair out in one way or another every time I remove it!

A problem that I -- sadly -- no longer have to deal with....

Suggestions are being noted, by the way.

[jdoiv]

a fencing bag that will make me blueberry belgian waffles so I'm well fed and ready to fence!

[GorillaSmile]

I just want tip springs that don't have to be streched or worried about in any way shape or form.

[seven6ty]

Ah yeah, that reminds me!

It would be so nice if you could adjust the contact or weight spring in your weapon with a screw on the end of the tip. Like tightening or loosening this screw would adjust the springs. That'd be nice, no more openning up the tip constantly.