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Mr.Piccolo22 · 10-15-2007, 04:06 PM

I did a search for this problem I didn't come up with a thread that talked about this problem.

Start to finish:
I re-wired an epee blade with French wire. Tested the wire to make sure that it didn't get cut at the tip when I screwed it down on the blade. Works fine. Glue the wire down and let it dried. Tested the wire again, and light comes on like it should.

Here comes the problem. I go to test it for shims and it fails horribly. So I shorten the spring down and it still fails. So, out of curiosity I put in a tip with no spring and it still goes off. Have any of you seen this before? And how do you fix it? Thanks for your help in advance.

Mr.P

Fechter1 · 10-15-2007, 04:21 PM

Does it register with no tip? If yes, definite short. If no, see below.

Did you perhaps leave a spacer in the barrel when you rewired? Some wires come with spacers, which can be overlooked when cleaning/prepping the barrel for the new tip.
Which brand wire was in there before, which brand did you use for the rewire?

HDG · 10-15-2007, 04:21 PM

Contact not seated properly all the way down at the bottom of the barrel would be my guess.

brtech · 10-15-2007, 04:37 PM

Yeah, if you are getting a connection with no spring (tip out, no connect, tip with no spring, connect), then the contact is hitting the screw that the spring goes around, which means the cup is not seated all the way down in the barrel.

You should use a point setting tool, which is marked with the right depth to make sure it's in the right place. If thats the problem, you will probably need to rewire it again.

yeoldearmourer · 10-15-2007, 05:18 PM

point setting tool will help alot

Mr.Piccolo22 · 10-16-2007, 09:42 AM

I am getting the tip out, no connect, tip with no spring, connect. I know I am not using a tip setter but I am using an inside precision hex driver and I know I fully pushed it down till it could not move any more. My only other thinking is that the barrel is stopping it from fully sitting down. Sorry for not stating this before, I am recycling the old tip.

One suggestion I got was to use a hammer and try to tap it down further in the barrel.

Fechter1: It was a French wire that was in the weapon before, and I didn't see anything in the barrel before I put the new wire in.

Thanks for the help.

Fechter1 · 10-16-2007, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Piccolo22

One suggestion I got was to use a hammer and try to tap it down further in the barrel.

I wouldn't use a hammer... Brute force and epee tips don't mix very well. Granted, since you're probably looking at a rewire, it's probably not going to hurt unless you physically deform the barrel...

Quote:

Fechter1: It was a French wire that was in the weapon before, and I didn't see anything in the barrel before I put the new wire in.

Was it a white wire with a black cup (top end where the contacts emerge)? These are the wires that have the aforementioned spacer, which is not easy to see, and which likes to stick around inside the barrel...

To be honest, that's what it sounds like to me (I've had the same thing happen to me a few times...). In this case, it looks like it's a rewire for that particular blade.

SJCFU#2 · 10-16-2007, 02:37 PM

Just to add to what Fechter1 has already stated, if the old wire was from Prieur (white wire/black cup)then it had a plastic spacer (which is most likely still sitting at the bottom of the barrel). If the new wire was from Sport 7 (red wire/white cup), then there is no spacer because the plastic cup is larger. And because the cup is larger there is also no room for an old spacer at the bottom of the barrel.

As a personal practice, I try to leave the tip intact when removing it from the blade (also helps to keep the tip, screws and springs from getting lost). Then when I do take the tip apart, I examine the cup as soon as it comes out to determine whether or not there is a spacer still in the barrel, and of there is one then I remove it immediately.

Mr.Piccolo22 · 10-16-2007, 03:00 PM

I was working in an assembly line I had about 9 blades I had to re-wire. Clean the tips out, clean the blades, ect. I have notice that a few of them did have a black cup. I only seen the white cup and red wire wire style, never knew that the black cup had a spacer in it. Well, I will let you all know that the case is by this coming Friday when I have a chance to look back at it. Thanks for the help!

Mr. P

twisterfencing · 10-18-2007, 12:29 AM

Piccolo:

If I was a betting man, (which I am not) I have run into this problem before.

Fun question:
The last time this blade was rewired, did it have a funny looking collar (two separate pieces) to the base of the contact? If so, when you pulled the contact out of the barrel, you may have only pulled out one piece, not both. Not seeing the second collar, when you pulled the wire through the barrel of the rewire, it felt great and tested fine.

The new contact base is now resting on the old collar and now the distance from the tip and contact spring is too close.

Cool test: put the weight spring in the barrel, now try and screw the tip in with a normal contact spring. Feel kinda funny? Like you have to really push/squeze the thing in?

You found your problem.

Gary Spruill

Armorers: Notes; French wire, bet he used the old duel collared, white french wire from last rewire or came that way from vendor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Piccolo22

I did a search for this problem I didn't come up with a thread that talked about this problem.

Start to finish:
I re-wired an epee blade with French wire. Tested the wire to make sure that it didn't get cut at the tip when I screwed it down on the blade. Works fine. Glue the wire down and let it dried. Tested the wire again, and light comes on like it should.

Here comes the problem. I go to test it for shims and it fails horribly. So I shorten the spring down and it still fails. So, out of curiosity I put in a tip with no spring and it still goes off. Have any of you seen this before? And how do you fix it? Thanks for your help in advance.

Mr.P

HDG · 10-18-2007, 12:54 AM

Is anybody still making them this way?

twisterfencing · 10-18-2007, 01:01 AM

HDG:

Yes, too bad, they still do.

I even ordered some french epee wires from Sports 7 and got them in this way. I wanted to send them back, yet knew that shipping would make it not worth it.

I have just gotten into a habbit when I pull out a contact from an epee barrel, I look at the thickness. Really thin ones means I have to go digging for that extra collar.

I have lots of young armorers that come to me and say "Gary, for some reason,,,I just rewired this epee and now the tip will not go down all the way"? Guess what? They did not know. Its one of weird things.

Gary Spruill

Quote:

Originally Posted by HDG

Is anybody still making them this way?

Mr.Piccolo22 · 10-19-2007, 01:45 AM

Well, it was a spacer in the barrel which caused it. So, I went back through all the other barrels that were still not being used and popped out all the spacers that were in there. Like what was stated, I never knew that there was a spacer being put in. I have never came across them before, so I didn't know. But now I do.

And Knowing is half the battle... Yo Joe!

Thanks for all your help.

yeoldearmourer · 10-19-2007, 09:55 AM

Older type of french wire was a two piece affair and you had to get the spacer out. the wire was white