Leaf springs

Well I'm goin to stir up a hornets nest now, I think)

We are hearing a lot just lately about the length of Paralympic athlete blades like Oscar uses.

Nobody seems to mention the characteristics of the leaf springs which could possibly vary considerably and thus give some athletes more of an advantage than the length of the springs.

I don't know if there are standards for blade deflections etc that they all have to conform to but the speed and bounce that some of these athletes have aquired when sailing through the field makes the mind boggle.

Look at the Brit in the 200m, Richard Whitehead, they way he sailed through the field on his blades defied belief.

Comments please on leafspring characteristics would be welcome!!

Len. P.

I imagine they are very carefully tuned, they have to match the athlete's rhythm. The fact Oscar P's performance was Olympic final, but not a medal suggests to me they are pretty fair. I would have no problems with an 'open' class.

I thought the 'catchup' of the guy who beat Oscar yesterday in the 200 accused of having blades that were 'too long' is reminiscent of Ussain Bolt being 'too tall' to sprint. Apparently Oscar has to have 'Olympic approved' blades which are shorter than 'Paralympic' ones, so he's not complaining about cheating, but unfairness.

Perhaps narrow carbon fibre blades would be good for suspension.

Neil

What has this to do with ME???

Totally off topic. Let;s not bring politics etc into this arena!!!!!

Have you ever seen a Carbon Fibre fishing rod explode? Though they are excellent and springy for fishing , if they come under extreme load they shatter and break into shards.

With regard to the athletes, I think it is amazing that they have been able to get off the wheelchairs or false legs and run in a race.

There is no two ways about it, it is just a race and there should be no moaning about blade length and if you lose start training with longer blades.

Recently there were TV pictures of an 'Able' man who was running and leaping about with blades, my first thought was that it is a long way to fall if you stumble ! It must be very tiring with them on.

Clive

The ME question is, can we use carbon fibre "blades" as leaf spring replacements in our model world?

i use old eclipse hacksaw blades ground to the appropriate width for miniature loco springs. not sure i would want the 'bounce' with carbon fibre type blade material!

cheers,

julian

Can't see any technical reason why not, although it is rather expensive

... Look here for stock sheets.

More serious stuff is "Filament Wound" to put the strength/stiffness where it is needed. At the other end of the range: "Pultrusions" need to be used carefully; because these have all the filaments running in the same direction.

If you want a "tough" version, go for Carbon Kevlar mix [although ready-made sheet does seem difficult to find]

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 04/09/2012 23:39:08

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 05/09/2012 00:08:22

Carbon fibre fishing rods take quite a bit of punishment - at least the beachcasters do.

Neil