Clueless On Eppe Problem

[Downtown]

A friend of mine had a problem with her epee and asked me to take a look at it. It is dead as a doornail.

I tested it with a buzz box and body wire. I tested the buzz box and body cord on another weapon to make sure they were working.

I replaced the tip, spring and screws. I did not replace the barrel or rewire. I did check the barrel to see it was tight.

I checked the wires at the socket. I took the grip off to see if it had been tightened and cut the spaghetti.

I took a magnifying class and looked at every bit of wire and the contacts inside the barrel. I cleaned the barrel with a Q tip.

When I looked at the wire I could see a few tiny spots were the glue was not covering the wire, but I could not find a place where it was broken.

What else can I look for without rewiring?

Note: Rewiring is a last resort. I am a crap armourer and it takes me on average 2 wires per rewiring job, as I genearlly botch the first one.

[LordShout]

Take the tip/springs out of the barrel and hook it up to the box. Gently insert a tipscrew driver into the barrel and manually connect the two wires. If no light goes off than you're probably up the creek.

Did you check in the spaghetti or just look at the outside? Do you have an ohmmeter? If you do than I would check for conductance between all of the lines to see if you've got a grounding issue.

[Purple Fencer]

LS mentioned the only basic check you didn't do...see if the spring moved up and wasn't making contact. That's the most common one I see when it's dead.

[shlepzig]

Purple got problem #1 Contact Spring not in contact with posts. Assuming you replaced the tip with a properly adjusted tip, this is probably not the problem.

#1.5 Early on, you should verify the socket isn't hopelessly corroded (look for green or any other color gunk inside the socket). This can look like a failed weapon, when it is really just failed hygene.

LordShout got #2 Check for continuity up and back down between the two wires.

and #3 Check to see if there are shorts between line 1 and 2 and the blade.

The wire may be broken at the bell-guard/grip area (pinched), or in the barrel (just broke). This will show up if in test #2: Short between both posts and see if that triggers the buzz box. If it does, your wires are OK, if it does not, you will probably re-wire. You can do a continuity test with a meter on each wire to verify, but it is fiddly and probably wont tell you anything other than one or both of them is broken.

Before looking for shorts.
#2.5 is double check that the wires in the socket are still making good connection. Pull the wires out from under the sockets, and either clip to multi-tester leads (preferred), or slide into buzz box, and insert (gingerly) a plug behind them to ensure contact, repeat test.

-Shlep.

[Downtown]

Thanks all.

[Downtown]

Thanks guys.