Important info on LP epee tip adjustment

[Alex_Paul]

While at the Nationals I realised that a lot of people in the US did not know how to adjust our Epee points correctly so I have made a how to guide available here: http://www.leonpaul.com/armoury/epee...structions.pdf

The key issue is:

"One important difference between Leon Paul tips and those made by other manufacturers is that you should never wind the spring on and off the tip to set the travel as there is not enough friction between thread and spring to hold it in place. To set the travel the spring must be wound the whole way on to the point. The pictures below show the point with the outer insulation cut away so that you can see the inside. There is an annular groove after the thread inside the tip which is high lit with arrows. When you wind the spring in to the annular groove it locks onto itself and the spring can not be removed without using force. The picture in the middle shows the spring half way down the thread, when the spring is half way on to the thread it may give correct travel however; as you can see the spring is free to wind both on and off the thread. If you assemble the point with the spring only half way on to the thread it will very quickly need re adjusting as the spring will wind on or off as you fence. The picture on the right shows the spring fully wound on to the point and locked into the annular groove correctly.

Once the spring is locked in place it should be the correct length to pass the travel test however, it may be that the spring is a bit short. If this is the case then do not try to wind the spring off the thread, instead the spring should be stretched. When you have stretched the spring re test it to ensure that the travel is correct, you do not need to re assemble the point to test it, you can simply place the point in the tip without the pressure spring or screws. When you have the correct spring length you must check to ensure the spring is sat properly on the thread as in the picture, if the spring is at an angle or not correctly seated on the thread then after a few bouts the spring will move and the travel will be wrong."
The pdf above has pictures and some more details which should help explain this and I will add it to the LP armoury page here: http://www.leonpaul.com/armoury/epee/epee_trouble.htm

[rac]

Thank you sir.

[passata_sotto]

Thanks, Alex
My son loves his LP epée - this information will help our armourer a lot.

It was nice meeting you at Nationals - your whole crew was great but now my son has a wish list of gear a mile long

[Mike O]

Alex,

Thanks for the info.

I love my LP Mask
I love my LP glove
I love my LP test box and shim.
I love my carbon fibre grips and wouldn't think of fencing with anything other than an LP epee blade......but.........I really dislike the design of these tips.

The challenges that I'm having with them are the following:

1. When I thread the spring onto the tip often there's no noticeable "click" when it seats in and so there's no way to be sure that it's locked into place and that it won't thread out or in on it's own during use. (The odd thing is that with other tip/spring combinations it sometimes does "click")

At that point a) it sometimes begins to thread on crooked, I guess because it's threaded down slightly too far and b) even if it is straight and looks salvageable I then have to stretch the spring like crazy to get it long enough to make contact and get a light on my test box.

2. Stretching the spring out is a fairly difficult task and often I have to trash 2 or 3 springs before I get it to the length needed, because they end up angling to one side when well seated on the tip (and I've checked to be sure that they are seated properly and not like photo "B" in the photo in your instructions.

Honestly, everything else I've purchased from LP seems so well thought out and designed that I'm surprised that you guys came up with this. I had total confidence in the product when I shelled out the cash and rewired almost all of my epees with the points.

The lack of ability to make fine adjustments as it is threaded on so that it barely passes shims and the fact that the only way to adjust is by stretching the spring seems, in my humble opinion, like really poor design. I really miss my German points, with the ablility to make precise, fine adjustments and the fact that they never moved. Even if I have a moment of Zen and get it precisely where I want it, the fact that I got it there by stretching it pretty much insures that with a little use it's gonna comform in the direction of it's shape before I stretched it.

Again, I've wired all but one of my epees with LP points and wires, so any help you can offer would be tremendously appreciated. I hope this didn't degrade into too much of a rant. I genuinely just want you to be aware of my customer experience with this.

I really do welcome any guidance you can offer, or helpful tips from anyone else.

Thanks,
Mike

[DangerMouse]

I've had the same problems. If you use FWF german contact springs on the LP points, the setup is really easy and they stay put. I switched away from the LP points for over a year and just recently switched back after I discovered that the german contact springs actually work.

[Mike O]

Thanks for the info DM! I'll try my German springs.

[Alex_Paul]

Hi... sorry for the delayed reply, I have been away for the last week.

When you wind the spring on there is a very faint click that you can just about feel. The easiest way to check if it is wound on correctly is to gently try to un wind it, if you grip the spring gently and try to unwind it you will find that it just rotates between your fingers and will not unwind. You should not be able to wind the spring on too far as long as you wind it on gently.

When the spring is fully wound on to the point gently try to unwind it to check that it does not come off. The spring should then either be the correct length or fractionally too short. You should only need to stretch the spring by 0.5mm or so to get the correct length. The stretching process should be fairly straight forward, I can't think of the last time that I trashed a spring by mistake but I guess that I have done a lot.

Once they are set up correctly I use mine for about 6 months without needing to give them any adjustment.

Let me know how you get on with the German springs.

Alex

[Redblade]

It's threads like this that make me shake my head at the nature of our sport. Such a small, inconsistent detail to cause so much frustration. Oy.