> 1. The most likely cane tip failure is for the metal to wear
> through around the circumference of the bottom of the cane tip.
> After it does so, the bottom "peals off." One solution to this
> problem is to thicken the gurdle of metal around the circumference
> of the cne tip. This should affect the responsiveness of the cane
> very little. If maintaining the dimensions of the tip is critical,
> perhaps the thickened metal could replace some of the rubber in the
> tip. Doubling the thickness of this gurdle will double the
> lifetime of the tip.
>
The problem of the metal of the cane tip wearing thru and
the tip coming apart is the only failure I have noticed in the
tip itself. As I said earlier, however, in fiberglass canes,
the screw upon which the tip fits tends to come unglued/unscrewed.
The only solution is to epoxy it back in when possible. In
my last fiberglass cane (which is five years old), this was
not possible as the screw came partway out and I can neither
pull it all the way out nor push it back in where it's supposed
to lodge. But back to the cane tip. I wonder if John's solution
of thickening the metal skirt might not increase the weight of
the cane sufficiently to alter the center of mass of cane/tip
to a noticeable degree? Experiments along this line might be
worthwhile.
-- Mike Freeman, < K 7 U I J > Internet: mikef@pacifier.rain.com ... We have an equal opportunity Calculus class; it's fully integrated!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Dec 02 2012 - 01:30:03 PST