Are there screw-less epee tips?

[lfortier]

Just wondering- are there any screw-less epee tips out there? If so, how much are they, who sells them, and are they good? I am constantly plagued by missing outside screws at the most inconvient of times (i.e tournies) to the point where I'm red carded.

[Sarah]

Yeah, there are some screw-less epee tips, but I don't know much about them. A friend had one and she loved it!

[wflaschka]

Before the bulletin board tanked recently, I think there was a thread about this... at least, you can read it on google's cache: gooooogle.

And sword-masters.com has them for sale.

Looking at the pictures, I finally understand how the screwless thing works.

[Craig]

woo hoo - another archive of the site.

* Craig goes to dig up more past threads *

Moving this over to the armory.

[edew]

I've bought and installed the screwless schermasport foil tip last week. The installation was quite painless. It took a brief while (at the store, American Fencers Supply in SF) to put the rubber o-ring onto the tip at the right place.

Other than that, the wiring process takes the same amount of time and effort.

Screw the tip component into the barrel and you're all set.

I've used it a bit and it seems to work pretty well. The travel is smooth and the lack of bulging screws a la Uhlmann removes all worry about banged up screws that can't be taken out. The barrel is supposed to be stronger and should not dent as easily as the Uhlmann (or the Prieur).

I've also got a set of the Sport-7 french model. The Sport-7 is like the Prieur, but with better materials and better workmanship. It has a metal sleeve instead of the plastic sleeve like the Prieur. It does have the Prieur-like collar to screw the screws in, and the screws do screw in flush with the side of the barrel. The screws aren't interchangeable with the Prieur, apparently.

So the Sport-7 is supposed to be harder than the Uhlmann or the Prieur, has all the benefits of the Prieur, all the benefits of the Uhlmann (good - several years back - quality control and workmanship), without all the headaches of each.

The Schermasport is more expensive, about twice the cost of an Uhlmann. But, if it lasts twice as long, it's cheaper in the long run, no?

[neevel]

There are two companies currently making screwless points
that I know of.

The Estoc points (both foil and epee) don't seem to have
been very well liked by most people I know who've tried them-
durability has been the main issue.

The Schermasport points are better made, but are also
quite pricey (about twice the cost of an Uhlmann point). They also use a solid contact post that you file to adjust the travel, instead of a contact spring. This means that if you make a mistake and file it too far, or if it gets worn, you need to replace the whole tip rather that just the contact spring.

You might try using a tiny amount of threadlock compound (Loctite blue or purple, not the red) on your screws.

Keep in mind also that point parts have to be viewed as
a consumable items-- if you're trying to nurse along old, beaten-up points with worn threading, you can expect a fair number of
problems.

-Dave

[sallearmourer]

The first thing you do on a Schermasport epee tip is to pull the wire tight and cut the contact on the wire even with the plastic cup before fileing down the post on the tip it helps to prevent over filing the contact post. Once the tip is set you don't worry about. Now the important thing is doing it right is taking your time with it. I take a aveage of 30 mintues to set one part of that is screwing and unscewing the tip for adjustment.

Tim

[RMasque]

If you decide to get a screwless epee tip, just be warned...

It's hard to find replacement parts (or it has been for me), and few of the "big" vendors carry them.

It's the typical, "it's so new it can't get repaired unless you do it yourself or send it back to the maker" syndrome.