OPS shafts vs Combo shafts

[fastmiele 59]

I keep on reading postings people say that OPS are the same thing as shaft and blade except they are fused. With different degrees of heating you can pull out the blade and insert another tapered blade and supposedly you got another OPS again.

I have been playing around with some broken Easton, Mission and TPS pro stock and retail OPS and had not much success. I tried heating up the the shaft alot and got a friend to clamp it down on a machine shop vice clamp. No matter how much heating and pulling we could not get it out. I think the resin is just too strong. The only trick I haven't tried is the rebar technique. So I ended up cutting the sticks at the fuse point and used a dremel to remove as much of the stuff inside. Upon completion I matched up the tenon to the end of the shaft and it doesn't fit. Even if I could file/dremel more graphite out and fit the tenon inside I am pretty sure there will be a bulging and eventually crack the shaft. From the pictures I have seen of people's handywork I think they end up cutting another 1-3inches off the from the fuse point to make it fit. So from this I am guessing that there are two different things that may be happening:

1) when you cut off 1-3inches extra from the fuse point, you lost some of the kick point.

2) the OPS and shaft/blade combo is not the same. The OPS shaft has a more narrow diameter inside the shaft and blade tenon compared to the retail shaft/blade combo (which is why people have to cut off another 1-3 inches to make the tapered blade fit).

What do you guys think ? Is it the same ? Perhaps there are different diameter sizes inside the shaft/blade OPS's ? Which would explain why some people can heat up a OPS and pull out the blade and put another blade on.

[quasi 0]

Not all OPS are fused two piece sticks. The only ones I know for sure are fused two pieces are the Dolomite and XX. If you can't remove the blade, I believe your only options are too cut the shaft higher up, like you mentioned, or flip the stick around place a standard blade at the top, although this screws with the kickpoint.

[fastmiele 59]

perhaps I am getting myself a bit confused. What is the difference in process between in bonding between a Domomite and Synergy ?

Don't they both take resin and apply it the tapered blade tenon and fit into the shaft for bonding ?

[Jarick 5]

I suppose it would depend on if there was a resin that was cured chemically or if it was a type of glue that was hardened by temperature. So if a stick was "fused" together with a resin, it would probably be as hard or harder than the materials themselves. If the stick was put together with type of glue, the blade could be heated and removed.

The only two OPS I've tried to turn into shafts were a Bauer Vapor XX and Bauer Endure. In both cases, I had to cut the stick above the tenon and shorten the kickpoint.

[fastmiele 59]

I suppose it would depend on if there was a resin that was cured chemically or if it was a type of glue that was hardened by temperature. So if a stick was "fused" together with a resin, it would probably be as hard or harder than the materials themselves. If the stick was put together with type of glue, the blade could be heated and removed.

The only two OPS I've tried to turn into shafts were a Bauer Vapor XX and Bauer Endure. In both cases, I had to cut the stick above the tenon and shorten the kickpoint.

you just gave me an idea and helped me answer one of my own questions. The answer is NO, the shaft and blade from OPS are not the same shaft and blade used for a combo. I lined up the cross section of the cut shafts alongside my tapered Mission L-2 shaft and noticed the inside width and length are more narrow. Therefore there is no way I can insert a tapered blade in, the only way is to cut maybe another 2 inches off. No wonder people pay so much for a Synethisis shaft.

Now, my question is for those people who are able to heat up OPS's like a Mission M-1 and XN 10 and able to take out the blade. What kind of shaft/blade do you have ? Are the inside walls more narrow compared to retail shafts ? Can you put in a regular tapered blade ?

[DamnLocust 0]

I've converted mission (M-1, Fuel Pro stock) , easton (si-core), bauer (newer Vapor XX) , and warrior (Dolomite) OPS into tapered shafts.

the missions, eastons, and bauer I had to cut at the fuse point and chisel away. For the dolomites, a bit of heat and the blades come out. I actually just salvaged 2 blades from broken dolos tonight, and have transferred a blade from a shaft-broken dolo to one that had a broken blade. I haven't used heat to pull a TPS yet, but It has been said to be possible. Someone was able to pull a blade out of a pulse, but with both of my missions I had to cut.

The key when you cut and chisel is to make sure that you take out everything. There are a lot of layers to the carbon which need to be removed, and you also need to remove the resin that remains in the shaft. You can usually see where the shaft ends, and the blade begins in the cut. The carbon is black and the resins are usually white or grey. Are you sure that you cut high enough on the OPS to be above where the blade hosel ends and the tenon begins? If you don't see the joint where the resin is on the cross-section, you haven't cut high enough.

The shaft diameters are the same regardless of whether it was an OPS or a tapered shaft. The tenons of tapered blades from different manufacturers can vary as well, so it is best to mate up the manufacturer's blade to OPS/shaft whenever possible.

[Gixxer 0]

I converted a silver synergy to a two piece. (Next time I retape the blade I can take a picture of it if you want.)

I tried heating it up and pulling out the blade as discussed in other threads but it didn't budge. So I cut off the blade at the fuse point then carefully drilled, chisselled, filed out the old hosel. That took one hour. Lots of black carbon dust. Used a flashlight to look up the shaft inside to be sure I removed all of the old hosel material. (Be careful you don't damage the inside of the shaft by removing too much material off the inside walls.)

I cut off about 5 mm off the end of the shaft to verify the shaft thickness was the same all around. It was ok so I put in my tapered Koho blade with a ~0.5mm shim (which is strip of an antifreeze jug). It fits really good. (I need a ~0.5mm shim with these Koho blades when I put them into a synergyII shaft as well.)

I saved a piece of the white bonding material resin and heated the sh*t out of it to see if it would melt. It didn't melt or even soften so I am assuming Easton used some sort of resin to fuse the blade to the shaft.