Resistance on blade

[Enoch]

I'm rather new to wiring blades- I wired my second ever last night. The first was several years ago under the supervision of a coach.

Anyway, after I glued the wire in, I checked the resistance with an ohmmeter, and found that I did NOT have infinite resistance between the end of the wire (near the tang) and the blade.

My question: what likely caused this? And how do I fix it? My assumptions are that the insulation got stripped somewhere or I have a break in the wire (at any rate, bare wire is touching the blade), and that to fix it I will have to rewire with a new wire.

Thanks for your help.

[mollusk]

Did you also put the tip in? If you did then it should make continuity between the wire and the blade. Check for continuity with the tip depressed. With the tip depressed you should get an open circuit (infinite resistance).

[tiger fencer]

Probably the worst problem to have after a wiring job.
But why are you asking the forum, you've answered your own post!

Things to look out for when wiring:

1) Make sure you're not stripping the wire when gluing.

2) Use a "soft" setting tool, like a plastic fork tong, or your fingernail. Don't use a metal object with sharp angles, like a screwdriver.

3) Only go over the wire 3 or 4 times after you put on superglue. The more you go over it the more likely you'll strip it somewhere, whatever tool you use. The red French wires seem to have "loose" insulation. Use German if you can.

4) I recommend threading the barrel on first and then putting the wire through the barrel. Especially if you use locktite on the barrel threads.

If you do thread the barrel on with the wire inside it use the section of wire that you'll cut off. If you pinch it it won't matter.

[Enoch]

Well, I think I figured out where the break was. I slowly pulled out the wire, starting at the tang and testing occasionally. Was still getting some resistance even when I pulled it out all the way to the barrel.

My thinking was that if the short was anywhere short (pun not intended) of the barrel, I would get infinite resistance once that section of wire was pulled away from the blade, as electricity would not be able to flow between the wire and the blade. Since there was still a short somewhere, I assume that there was a short where the wire goes into the barrel, or within the barrel itself. I've since stripped the blade, and I'll rewire it when I get more foil wires.

Question: had I found the fault nearer the tang, would it have been possible to re-insulate? Say, by coating the offending portion with clear nail polish or the like?

Thanks,
James