Post by kon on Aug 22, 2011 11:24:52 GMT -6
It's a new year. Yay!
Our friends in the valley posted on another thread that they're starting a club. Starting a club is expensive, not least because boxes and reels can be expensive.
I've been using VSM boxes run on Thinkpad R32 and similar level laptops for several years now. They work fine. By "fine" I mean that they have time, priority, score, big lights and everything a $1500 box has. I've also been using bungee cord reels for several years now. They work better than fine, they're much less prone to break than 'real' reels.
I am on occasion told that bungee reels are not suited for clubs that have to set up and tear down every practice. This is not correct. My club sets up and tears down every practice. The current record for setting up two strips, including running the power cord, attaching the bungee reels, powering up the laptops and starting VSM, is 4:32, held by Clint Mayhew if you care. I've done it in 4:40 or so. That's not running up and down the strip, just walking quickly. The tear down record is about 5:10 for two strips. This is not measurably slower than setting up a Favero box with two Uhulman reels.
The best setup I've found is having the two laptops on a cart with wheels, rolling the cart out, locking the wheels and running the cords.
Costs are about $300 total per strip. That's $185 or so for the VSM, about $40 for a used laptop on ebay, and $60 or so for parts to make the bungee reels.
If you think this would suit your club please contact me. You can come see how they work, I can show you how to build the bungee reels, whatever you like. There's no reason to be spending $1500 on a box any more. Maybe if we can get the cost of setting up a club down to a reasonable level we can get some more clubs fencing...
K O'N
Our friends in the valley posted on another thread that they're starting a club. Starting a club is expensive, not least because boxes and reels can be expensive.
I've been using VSM boxes run on Thinkpad R32 and similar level laptops for several years now. They work fine. By "fine" I mean that they have time, priority, score, big lights and everything a $1500 box has. I've also been using bungee cord reels for several years now. They work better than fine, they're much less prone to break than 'real' reels.
I am on occasion told that bungee reels are not suited for clubs that have to set up and tear down every practice. This is not correct. My club sets up and tears down every practice. The current record for setting up two strips, including running the power cord, attaching the bungee reels, powering up the laptops and starting VSM, is 4:32, held by Clint Mayhew if you care. I've done it in 4:40 or so. That's not running up and down the strip, just walking quickly. The tear down record is about 5:10 for two strips. This is not measurably slower than setting up a Favero box with two Uhulman reels.
The best setup I've found is having the two laptops on a cart with wheels, rolling the cart out, locking the wheels and running the cords.
Costs are about $300 total per strip. That's $185 or so for the VSM, about $40 for a used laptop on ebay, and $60 or so for parts to make the bungee reels.
If you think this would suit your club please contact me. You can come see how they work, I can show you how to build the bungee reels, whatever you like. There's no reason to be spending $1500 on a box any more. Maybe if we can get the cost of setting up a club down to a reasonable level we can get some more clubs fencing...
K O'N