pole tip protector

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lonestar
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Unread postby lonestar » Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:41 pm

patybobady wrote:Yup, that's it, got one of those, I have been tracing it onto the pieces of pvc pipe. I got the angles, just trying to see how to cut/saw lengthwise without lopping off a finger. Do I need to use a vice?


I've clamped them vertically in a vice and cut straight down the middle in half with a hacksaw.
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Unread postby patybobady » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:04 am

So you cut the piece of pvc pipe in half and tape the half on the pole? (a half circle) How does it snap on to the pole? (like the picture shows)
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Unread postby AVC Coach » Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:57 am

I've clamped them vertically in a vice and cut straight down the middle in half with a hacksaw.


You dang Texans are too tuff! I set my table saw at a low height (just enough to cut through the PVC) and run it through twice. Once I cut a long piece, I'll chop the strips down into 8" sections with my compound miter saw.

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Unread postby lonestar » Tue Mar 25, 2008 8:54 am

AVC Coach wrote:
I've clamped them vertically in a vice and cut straight down the middle in half with a hacksaw.


You dang Texans are too tuff! I set my table saw at a low height (just enough to cut through the PVC) and run it through twice. Once I cut a long piece, I'll chop the strips down into 8" sections with my compound miter saw.


Not tuff, just resourceful! Believe me, if I had access to a table saw I would use one. Great idea, by the way.

I don't use pvc b/c I feel it's too heavy. I've used pieces of broken poles the same way which are much lighter. Depending on the mandrel of the broken pole and the mandrel of the poles you're putting them on, they sometimes snap on easily if the curvature is right. Usually when the broken pole mandrel is slightly smaller than the pole you're putting it on. Still, a wrap of tape at the top and bottom of the protector is sufficient to keep it on there even if it doesn't snap on.

Like I said earlier though, I don't even use them anymore, all our poles go through hundreds of jumps a week, and we've never broken one at the bottom.
Any scientist who can't explain to an eight-year-old what he is doing is a charlatan. K Vonnegut

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Unread postby spike gibeault » Tue Mar 25, 2008 9:11 am

i borrowed a pole from a school that didnt use it, and the top was so heavy, it had over a half an inch of tape from the bottom, to a foot up...completly useless. none of our poles have a protector there and the are not damaged
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Unread postby lonestar » Tue Mar 25, 2008 9:32 am

It's funny how high schoolers wrap like 18 layers of tape around the bottom to "protect" it, only to see a hole rubbed through it all and the bare pole exposed anyway!

Added weight for no purpose.

Also people who never take old tape off the grip end, and just keep retaping overtop the old tape...you have to go on an archaeological dig to find fiberglass sometimes!
Any scientist who can't explain to an eight-year-old what he is doing is a charlatan. K Vonnegut

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Pole Protector

Unread postby pitchervy » Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:14 am

The easiest way I have found is to purchase one of those black tubes that they put in a golf bag. They cost about a buck. Take pair of scissors, cut the tube into four equal parts. Slice each one length ways and attach one with a piece of tape at each end of the protector on the pole. Its cheap, thin, light, easy and very durable. I didn't invent it, I saw it at a masters meet a few years ago and have been using it ever since.

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Unread postby pistolpete » Mon Apr 28, 2008 3:47 am

I had a vaulter break a pole where the end rubs the box a few years ago. She did a back flip into the pads. It was an old Spirit pole and it had just worn through the fiberglas over the years. So I have my vaulters tape the poles down there.


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