Look on my fencing dummy, ye mighty, and DESPAIR!!!!
I bought Rudy Volkmann's Big Book of Fencing, in part because of the plans for the fencing dummy. The directions looked scary. Volkmann's dummy requires measuring, cutting, and welding.
What do you do if you're as industrious and committed as Volkmann, but you don't have his drill press or table saw? Wing it. There was a lot of experimentation, but the next one will be easier.
Went through 3 springs for the wrist until I found one that was stiff enough. Amazingly enough, it works very well. Just got a good workout against it.
Very nice work; maybe you should start selling them online!
May I ask why the pronounced V shape? It looks a little wider up top than my typical opponents...
Then again, it really makes it look more intimidating. I say remove the bracing at the base of the post and replace it with tank treads and program it to slowly circle your house at night, then you'd have a really scary sentry droid.
Originally posted by Sildar May I ask why the pronounced V shape? It looks a little wider up top than my typical opponents...
The dummy has shoulders, but no cross-brace at the hips. If I'd given it more of a square torso, the planks for the chest would have been hanging off into space in the low-line. So I chopped off the "loose" corners, leaving the chest as two triangular planks. I justify this to myself by saying "who hits low outside anyway?", as it's the furthest target. (Low-line binds are now frustrating.)
The shoulders are big, but I was thinking the dummy would be ambidextrous. You can change the dummy's handedness by scootching a little to the left or right. Each shoulder was supposed to be a whole chest. I was planning (but forgot) to make mask-rests in the middle of each shoulder -- putting the mask in the middle of a shoulder gives it much more realistic proportions on that side.
I like the idea about the tank treads. In my dream-salle, I'd have it on remote control, and I'd chase the fencers up and down the strip from the hot-tub. And the crossed mats on the chest look very Samurai / Obi Wan Kenobi. I gave myself a great lesson with this guy today.
Price -- about $30 for the arm, $15 for the wood, $5 for the nuts & bolts. Mask, belle and blade are "found" objects. I could probably create a new one in 1/2 a day, now that I know what I'm doing. I can put up a "How-to" if anybody is interested.
Originally posted by webmaster How did you attach the spring? Got the part numbers/mfg info for what you used for the arm pieces?
Okay, I'll make a how-to guide. I love making those. It'll be a few days.
Since I was experimenting as I went along, I went through a lot of different parts. I'll have to visit the hardware store and write the stuff down again. No big deal, since I'll be making another dummy soon.
I got ideas for the arm and spring by talking to the True Value guys. At first, I just pretended I needed something stiff and bendy for some "legitimate" work. As soon as I confessed that I wanted to make a human arm, he said, "Oh! We've done that!" and had some good ideas.
The spring on the wrist is not as pretty as Volkmann's, but it takes about 20 fewer steps. The spring is a "Servalite HH1" very stiff spring... it's shaped like a football (thinner at the corners than in the middle) and is the stiffest True Value hardware had.
Attached is a super close-up of the spring construct that hopefully is clear.
Originally posted by webmaster How did you attach the spring? Got the part numbers/mfg info for what you used for the arm pieces?
Quick answer: the arm is composed of three 1/2 x 12 3/4" turnbuckles which have threaded loops at both ends. I believe these are used by non-fencers to tie down large loads (they're rated for 350 lbs each).
Buy 3 (about $7.80 ea): 2 will be the biceps, one will be the forearm. Take the loop off the end of the forearm -- stick this loop through the block of wood you're using as the torso. Mount the two bicep turnbuckles on either side of the loop in the torso and screw together with washers and nuts-&-bolts. Then stick the forearm at the end of the bicep, screw together.
When making the joints, use washers and some rubbery gasket seals (from plumbing). That way you can tighten the joints so they're stiff, but still mobile.
The secret to the joints is slipping in a 1" plastic tube ($.15 ea from the plumbing aisle) so that all the arm-parts and washers stay aligned. After I did this it started working like it looks.
I'll stick this all in the how-to. After I bring the dummy to the club, I can see how durable the thing is.
Technical info those who care: I wouldn't recommend the "Servalite HH1" spring that I ended up with.
Though it was the stiffest I could find, it's too narrow. The spring winding is pushed aside around the nut, causing the spring to bend sideways, causing the blade to point sideways. The more I use it, the more annoying it is. A larger spring (1 1/8" interior circumference) coupled with trimmed washers will work perfectly -- I have such a spring, but it wasn't stiff enough.
I just ordered the Big Book of Fencing and I had no idea that the content was so complete as to even include plans for a Dummy! I was just going to do something lame like draw the outline of a fencer on my garage wall *laughing*
I wonder how difficult it would be to take one of those sewing mannequins (I think they make some of them with arms and not just the torso...) and bolster and dress it up in whites and attach the Foil... and mask...
There would probably be quite a bit of modification involved in making it resilient enough to take the pounding, but I just thought it would be more visually accurate to have a fencing dummy that was positioned and looked similar to this:
I just like the idea of realism... Maybe after I get all the tools on my wishlist...
I was even gabbing with a friend of mine who has quite a bit of experience in robotics and as is his wont, he went off on all the things that could be done by creating just a robot foil arm... He was talking about placing a light emitter on foil point with sensors mounted on or behind the dummy and depending on where you thrust, the appropriate parry would be employed by the robot *laughing* Of course this is far from the realm of "weekend projects", but then again, he and a group of his friends spent an entire semester and built a robot arm that could "almost" play ping pong... They couldn't get the tracking of the ball right...
Originally posted by Feanor
I wonder how difficult it would be to take one of those sewing mannequins (I think they make some of them with arms and not just the torso...) and bolster and dress it up in whites and attach the Foil... and mask...
Great minds think alike! I started my research on eBay looking at partial mannequins similar to this.
One of the fencers at my club was thinking of putting a lame on a mannequin torso, hooking it to a scoring box, and using it as a flick-dummy. That idea seems like overkill to me -- a padded 2x4x6" stuck to the wall is probably enough for flicks.
A curved, proportional target would be nice... very nice... very very nice... I can imagine using my timber post as the base. Then cutting the mannequin into 2 halves (front & back) and fitting them over the post... with an "arm post" coming out of the mannequin's shoulder. Then mounting the articulated arm to it. Then gluing the mannequin together and covering with carpeting foam to keep the details. You could approach this "Bayer Dummy" from a realistic angle and get real target areas. Cool.
I call my dummy 'Sasha'. Using Rudy's design I put a glass hat display that is in the shape of a head on the tapered post. Inside I mounted a photograph. Even through the fencing mask you can see the eyes... realistic.
Originally posted by WoodsideDr How much can I pay you to build one for me? Oh, to have enough time on my hands to construct my own...
Actually, I'd be interested in making a few for sale. Once I stress-test this one, fix any usability problems, and change the target shape to something more conventional, I should have a Mark II model.
Blade-fencing.com is the only supplier I could find with one for sale, "Maestro arm" for $300.00. I could do it for $60 over cost, or about $170. I did a full part-by-part price-list for the how-to guide, and it was actually pretty expensive: $111.98. (Includes new guard $8 and Chinese blade $5, no mask.)
There's also the problem and cost of shipping -- I have no idea (UPS won't ship anything 6' long).
When I create the how-to, it might start looking like a short job. Volkmann's fencing dummy instructions in his book are also quite definitive.
Linear Mode
