Tips coming apart

[HDG]

I had a problem with this a little over two years ago, and now it has come back: I had two foils conk out on me this weekend at the Sunshine State Game because the tip (french - yeah, I know) came apart inside the barrel. When I disassembled them, the collar and the contact were still in there -- the collar was still screwed in -- but the tip and the shaft were nowhere to be found. To add insult to injury one, I promptly broke the blade on one of the weapons I fixed.

I don't know how many touches I cost myself; it was dumb to not ask for a test after the first weird lack of a light. It would be nice if this would result in a constant white light, but that's not how the circuit is set up...

LP here I come.

[qatet]

I used to have that problem when I used French tips. I made a habit of pressing the tip onto a nice hard surface every time I cleaned out the tip or stretched the spring and that really cut down on the number of times I had that happen (and I'm in grad school, so I'd use those things for _years_!)

Switching tips is an expensive process. I only did it (French to LP) when my entire tool kit grew feet (expletive expletive expletive! $500 of expletiving tools! expletive expletive!) at the most recent Reno NAC and I lost my $100 of spare tips and wires.

[remise]

Originally Posted by qatet

Switching tips is an expensive process. I only did it (French to LP) when my entire tool kit grew feet (expletive expletive expletive! $500 of expletiving tools! expletive expletive!) at the most recent Reno NAC and I lost my $100 of spare tips and wires.

Oh God I can feel your pain. I had the same thing happen to me at the Junior Olympics. One of my kids had the unique talent of just looking at a foil and it would malfunction. I brought tools and supplies everywhere because of that. As I have 2 kids, you can imagine what my losses were. One child fenced with a French set-up, the other totally LP.

I kept 4 complete spare points and wires for each child. I lost everything....tools, tips, wires, test box, etc.

[HDG]

Originally Posted by qatet

I made a habit of pressing the tip onto a nice hard surface every time I cleaned out the tip or stretched the spring and that really cut down on the number of times I had that happen (and I'm in grad school, so I'd use those things for _years_!)

I did just that the night before the event because I noticed that the gap was abnormally large. That should have told me to swap out those two tips then and there.

[Purple Fencer]

When i first started, the little flange at the end was screwed on...then they went to a simple pressure fit...which doesn't work as well.

You should get a nail punch and swage the tip....meaning you need to punch the end of teh shaft so it deforms and keeps the flange tightly on.

Sport 8 DOES swage their tips, but it sometimes isn't a very good job. the German tips are not swaged at al...I have a habit of doing them mysekf when I get them in stock.

[HDG]

Originally Posted by Purple Fencer

When i first started, the little flange at the end was screwed on...then they went to a simple pressure fit...which doesn't work as well.

You should get a nail punch and swage the tip....meaning you need to punch the end of teh shaft so it deforms and keeps the flange tightly on.

Sport 8 DOES swage their tips, but it sometimes isn't a very good job. the German tips are not swaged at al...I have a habit of doing them mysekf when I get them in stock.

These suggestions make sense, but as a consumer, I don't like the idea of needing to alter off-the-shelf equipment to ensure that it functions properly.

[Purple Fencer]

Originally Posted by HDG

These suggestions make sense, but as a consumer, I don't like the idea of needing to alter off-the-shelf equipment to ensure that it functions properly.

Oh I know...as an armorer it ticks me off to have to do the finishing work that should be done at the factory....another example of quality slide, unfortunately.