Fencing.Net - Your Guide to Fencing & Fencing Equipment

Cyranox11 · 07-25-2002, 06:21 AM

Hi Guys,
I have performed a search on this bb and checked (somewhat hastily) in my copy of the rules but I still cant find an answer to this question: What are the allowable tolerances (in ohms or whatever) in terms of lame conductivity for an fie sanctioned competition?
I know I have seen it specified in the rules somewhere but now I cant find it.
Thanks in advance for the answer.
Later
Cyr

damianip · 07-25-2002, 07:43 AM

From the US rules:

<blockquote>quote:<hr /> The lamé material used must be of conductive thread in both warp and
weft. As regards electrical conductibility it must conform to the following
requirements.
(a) The electrical resistance measured between any two points of the lamé
material must not be greater than 5 ohms. The resistance will be
measured by using a 500 g copper or brass weight which has a
hemispherical end with a radius of 4 mm. This weight, placed on this
end and moved about on the lamé, must maintain continuous contact
with a maximum resistance of 5 ohms.
(b) In no circumstances must the use of a conductive jacket be allowed if
it has holes in it, or patches of oxidation or other defects which may
prevent the registration of a valid touch.
(c) A conductive jacket which is considered to be unusable will be so
marked with a very visible colored paint by a member of the SEMI
Committee of the FIE.<hr /></blockquote>Paolo

neevel · 07-25-2002, 11:54 AM

As an addendum, if you don't have your own lame test weight, the end of a standard bananna jack lead pressed against the lame will be give a reasonably accurate reading. For a new lame, you shouldn't see more than 1 ohm (remember to allow for any residual resistance in your leads, if your meter doesn't have a zero-adjust). Anything above 4 ohms indicates a) you really need to wash the lame, b) you need to patch it (if its a small spot), or c) it's time to get a new lame and retire the current one to practice use.

-Dave

Puppet Master · 07-25-2002, 12:24 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by damianip:

[quote] The resistance will be
measured by using a 500 g copper or brass weight which has a
hemispherical end with a radius of 4 mm. This weight, placed on this
end and moved about on the lamé, must maintain continuous contact
with a maximum resistance of 5 ohms..<hr /></blockquote>This means the diameter of the weight probe is 8 mm,
so if you had a very small dead spot it could still pass?

damianip · 07-25-2002, 12:43 PM

<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Puppet Master:
 <blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by damianip:

[quote] The resistance will be
measured by using a 500 g copper or brass weight which has a
hemispherical end with a radius of 4 mm. This weight, placed on this
end and moved about on the lamé, must maintain continuous contact
with a maximum resistance of 5 ohms..<hr /></blockquote>This means the diameter of the weight probe is 8 mm,
so if you had a very small dead spot it could still pass?<hr /></blockquote>Not really. Since the end is hemispherical, it makes tangent contact with the lame at theoretically infinitesimally small point. In reality, this is not true, but the point of contact is small, although there are still some averaging effects from the probe.

The point of the weapon also offers an averaging effect with its size.

However, you are correct in that very small dead spots will get by the test, but the effect on the real world performance of the lamé will be negligible.

Paolo