Improvement to Leon Paul's X-Change mask

[pkt]

All,

Look at the improvements I made to the Leon paul X-Change mask.
http://www.fencing101.com/Photo_Gall...er&id=109_0915
http://www.fencing101.com/Photo_Gall...er&id=109_0916

Two advantages:
1. Full coverage of the back of the head against those pesky, bloody, whip-around hits. When a hit draws blood, that means concussion. In my case, it caused a miniscule blood clot on my brain which causes epilepsy = short circuit of my brain's electrical circuits. [My epilepsy's under medical control.] So, if you've been hit at least once in the back of your head please consider doing this. No, I have not taken out a patent on this adaptation.
2. Now, I can easily slip in and out of the mask without having to undo the straps and the mask still sits perfectly.

The skull plate costs me CAD30 plus a bit of labour to cut the two slots in it so the strap sits properly. The labour involved drilling a line of holes and then filing them to the shape of a slot. If you have a tool like a Dremel - which I don't have - it'll take no time to put the 2 slots in.

OK, OK, if you don't like your hair sticking out through the holes you can always tape them up. I have straight hair, part of being Chinese.

PK

[whtouche]

Interesting.
At first I was thinking that's silly, but you mentioned the concussion and blood clot and epilepsy and it seems more serious now.

Very ingenius of you to design something like that. I've been tagged on the back of the head a couple of times, but the disc back there usually catches it. As for taking it on and off without having to undo the straps, I can do that now pretty easily.

Couple of questions:
1) Does this make the mask much heavier? That's a pretty intense looking pad, tho it's foam so I don't imagine it's that much of a difference.

and 2) How did you make this? It looks like some pre-made piece of foam that maybe you took out of something else, but I could be wrong? Either way I assume it had to be modified to allow the straps to fit through.

Very interesting indeed.

[pkt]

whtouche,

I didn't design this.

I just borrowed the skull plate from a [ice-]hockey goalie's mask and adapted it to fit the X-Change mask. So it is well padded as is.

The hockey goalie's mask uses 5 sets of straps to affix the skull plate to the front of the mask. A pair of slots on the skull plate are used for each strap. You can clearly see these slots in the fotos. In order to fit the X-Change mask's existing strap & velcro to the skull plate, I had to cut a couple of slots in the plastic shell so it sits properly on the back of my head. Furthermore, the original hockey straps are only 1-inch in width, so I had to widen the existing slots if I decided to use them.

The skull plate [pls don't call it a skull cap in deference to our Jewish friends.] is made of a hard plastic shell and 1/2 inch foam underneath, so it's no more than a few oz. in weight. So, given that the X-Change mask is lighter than a regular electric sabre mask, gaining a few ozs for the extra protection against concussion is well worth it.

As I wrote originally, since I do not own a Dremel-type tool, and the wheel-type tool for a drill is about CAD15, I decided to drill a row of holes then cut and file them into slots. The plastic is fairly easy to work with.

If you've been tagged a couple of time already, I highly recommend you to do something similar because whoever tagged you before will tag you again. And again.

The disc would not have covered the spot where I got hit again and again.

You do not have to spend the money as I did. Any piece of large enough piece of hard palstic and a bit of closed-cell foam will do the job. Heck, a piece from a milk jug will do. it'll look like a milk jug, but it'll do the work...

I just wanted it to look right and be comfortable. Furthermore,I don't know what the equipment testers will say to this modification. So I'll bring the original disc with me to the next tournament, just in case...

I'd appreciate an opinion form some of the qualified weapons people to let my know if this will invalidate the FIE approval the S-Change mask has. I don't see any problem but...you know the FIE rules.


PK

[DHCJr]

That is a good question and I am guessing here, but I don't think there will be a problem. The specifications talk mostly about the mesh and leave the rest, including the safety retaining devices to the manufacturers. Appendix A 2.2.4

I have heard of the Leon Paul mask being incorrectly failed because they didn't have a tang. The pictures in the rule book shows a tang, but the rule Appendix A 2.2.4 does not. If there is a problem, I would use the last sentence from the rule above.

It tells clearly how the mask can be tested to check if it is legal.

[pkt]

Thank you DHC Jr. It's most helpful to get the info from someone as esteemed as yourself.

I'll print out your response and keep it with my gear unless of course Barry can give me a definitive answer before my Dec 5 tourney.

Best regards,
PK