Sparx Skate Sharpener - At home sharpener

[Leif 161]

I bought two grinding rings from Monkey Sports in Europe. The sales page say each will sharpen 60 pairs of skates on average. The 1/2" packet says it will sharpen 60 pairs of skates. The 7/16" says it will sharpen 40 pairs of skates. Have they changed the wheels recently? Do I have an old inferior wheel? Or have they changed how many passes equate to one complete sharpen? 

Edited September 3, 2019 by Leif

[VegasHockey 1280]

That's weird .  Maybe a typo? 

[stick9 888]

9 hours ago, Leif said:

I bought two grinding rings from Monkey Sports in Europe. The sales page say each will sharpen 60 pairs of skates on average. The 1/2" packet says it will sharpen 60 pairs of skates. The 7/16" says it will sharpen 40 pairs of skates. Have they changed the wheels recently? Do I have an old inferior wheel? Or have they changed how many passes equate to one complete sharpen? 

All mine say 40, that includes 3 different hollows and one Fire.

Edited September 3, 2019 by stick9

[VegasHockey 1280]

14 hours ago, Leif said:

I bought two grinding rings from Monkey Sports in Europe. The sales page say each will sharpen 60 pairs of skates on average. The 1/2" packet says it will sharpen 60 pairs of skates. The 7/16" says it will sharpen 40 pairs of skates. Have they changed the wheels recently? Do I have an old inferior wheel? Or have they changed how many passes equate to one complete sharpen? 

Does it say this on the website or the box itself? 

[Leif 161]

1 hour ago, Nicholas G said:

Does it say this on the website or the box itself? 

The 7/16” box says 40. The 1/2” box, as well as the Spaxx and Monkey Sports web site say 60. Apparently they used to do 40 pairs at four passes per skate per sharpen if you loook back to oage 7 of this thread. So either I have old stock, or new sock in an old box. It is possible all that has changed is the RFID chip ie they decided they could cut more pairs. Alternatively the cutting surfece of the ring might have been improved. I have contacted Sparx. 

[SparxHockey 30]

Hey guys - Steve Jones here from Sparx. Thought I would make an "official" Sparx Hockey account to answer any questions that have (or will) come up! We recently changed some of our marketing language around pairs of skates per Grinding Ring. We initially based the 40 pairs of skates on everyone doing four cycles, but based on the actual useage of our entire customer base - specifically the home user -  they are doing far less passes per sharpening (which makes sense, because if you are sharpening more often, you can easily do fewer passes as a quick touch up.) We have seen rings last 80-90 pairs of skates and on the other hand, we've seen some last 40 pairs based on four cycles as originally estimated, but the actual average is closer to 60 for the home user. Again, it all depends on how many cycles you are doing per sharpening. 

Hope that helps clarify any confusion - it was a running change on packaging, so there are definitely some boxes with the old language still out there!

[Deuce 1]

1 hour ago, SparxHockey said:

Hey guys - Steve Jones here from Sparx. Thought I would make an "official" Sparx Hockey account to answer any questions that have (or will) come up! We recently changed some of our marketing language around pairs of skates per Grinding Ring. We initially based the 40 pairs of skates on everyone doing four cycles, but based on the actual useage of our entire customer base - specifically the home user -  they are doing far less passes per sharpening (which makes sense, because if you are sharpening more often, you can easily do fewer passes as a quick touch up.) We have seen rings last 80-90 pairs of skates and on the other hand, we've seen some last 40 pairs based on four cycles as originally estimated, but the actual average is closer to 60 for the home user. Again, it all depends on how many cycles you are doing per sharpening. 

Hope that helps clarify any confusion - it was a running change on packaging, so there are definitely some boxes with the old language still out there!

Does the machine take into account how long the pass is? Meaning, if I sharpen size youth 13 skates only with it shouldn't the ring last more passes than if I sharpened adult size 12 with it?

[colins 246]

42 minutes ago, Deuce said:

Does the machine take into account how long the pass is? Meaning, if I sharpen size youth 13 skates only with it shouldn't the ring last more passes than if I sharpened adult size 12 with it?

 

No it doesn't. A pass is a pass. And you get 320 per ring, however many 'pairs' you want to translate that to for marketing or whatever - it's 320 passes.

colins

[Deuce 1]

3 minutes ago, colins said:

 

No it doesn't. A pass is a pass. And you get 320 per ring, however many 'pairs' you want to translate that to for marketing or whatever - it's 320 passes.

colins

If that's the case seems like those of us who sharpen youth skates only are leaving life on the ring when the 320 passes are done.

[Leif 161]

4 hours ago, SparxHockey said:

Hey guys - Steve Jones here from Sparx. Thought I would make an "official" Sparx Hockey account to answer any questions that have (or will) come up! We recently changed some of our marketing language around pairs of skates per Grinding Ring. We initially based the 40 pairs of skates on everyone doing four cycles, but based on the actual useage of our entire customer base - specifically the home user -  they are doing far less passes per sharpening (which makes sense, because if you are sharpening more often, you can easily do fewer passes as a quick touch up.) We have seen rings last 80-90 pairs of skates and on the other hand, we've seen some last 40 pairs based on four cycles as originally estimated, but the actual average is closer to 60 for the home user. Again, it all depends on how many cycles you are doing per sharpening. 

Hope that helps clarify any confusion - it was a running change on packaging, so there are definitely some boxes with the old language still out there!

Thanks Steve, that clears it up. I also heard from Lisa, your colleague, equally helpful. 

[VegasHockey 1280]

14 hours ago, SparxHockey said:

Hey guys - Steve Jones here from Sparx. Thought I would make an "official" Sparx Hockey account to answer any questions that have (or will) come up! We recently changed some of our marketing language around pairs of skates per Grinding Ring. We initially based the 40 pairs of skates on everyone doing four cycles, but based on the actual useage of our entire customer base - specifically the home user -  they are doing far less passes per sharpening (which makes sense, because if you are sharpening more often, you can easily do fewer passes as a quick touch up.) We have seen rings last 80-90 pairs of skates and on the other hand, we've seen some last 40 pairs based on four cycles as originally estimated, but the actual average is closer to 60 for the home user. Again, it all depends on how many cycles you are doing per sharpening. 

Hope that helps clarify any confusion - it was a running change on packaging, so there are definitely some boxes with the old language still out there!

Makes sense. We have two units at our stores and we get between 44-65 skates sharpening sales per ring. 

[smcgreg 81]

So, I had a couple pairs of skates sharpened with a Sparx yesterday.  I watched while they were doing it, and on one pair, the sound while the first couple passes were done was uneven, then it sounded like the sound got more even on the last two passes. In contrast, the other pair sounded more even from the start.

 

So, the question is, is the sound during the passes indicative of the condition of the skates?  The guy commented that the first pair were worse than the second and they were my sons, who is older and skates harder, or is at least harder on his edges, than his younger sister (the second pair). 

 

Thanks,

[VegasHockey 1280]

1 hour ago, smcgreg said:

So, I had a couple pairs of skates sharpened with a Sparx yesterday.  I watched while they were doing it, and on one pair, the sound while the first couple passes were done was uneven, then it sounded like the sound got more even on the last two passes. In contrast, the other pair sounded more even from the start.

 

So, the question is, is the sound during the passes indicative of the condition of the skates?  The guy commented that the first pair were worse than the second and they were my sons, who is older and skates harder, or is at least harder on his edges, than his younger sister (the second pair). 

 

Thanks,

That's about right. Blades that are more worn or damaged are considerably louder and sound like they have more chatter than blades that basically just need a fresh edge versus repairing a damage. 

[smcgreg 81]

14 minutes ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

That's about right. Blades that are more worn or damaged are considerably louder and sound like they have more chatter than blades that basically just need a fresh edge versus repairing a damage. 

Ok, that's interesting.  Confirmation bias is always nice 😉

[IPv6Freely 2092]

Yup. You should hear what it sounds like when I sharpen mine with all the post damage...

[snaily 0]

I'm considering buying a sparx but wondered if anyone here has any experience of it for sharpening figure skate blades (we are a household or 3 figures and one hockey). I'm aware it will require some adapters and it won't do things like side-honed or tapered blades but just after any real world experience of it on figures. Also interested if the blade alignment tester will work on figure skates as well.

Thanks.

 

[VegasHockey 1280]

4 hours ago, snaily said:

I'm considering buying a sparx but wondered if anyone here has any experience of it for sharpening figure skate blades (we are a household or 3 figures and one hockey). I'm aware it will require some adapters and it won't do things like side-honed or tapered blades but just after any real world experience of it on figures. Also interested if the blade alignment tester will work on figure skates as well.

Thanks.

 

We sharpen both hockey and figure skates and the Sparx works well for general figure skate steel. Nothing high end or special like a Jackson Ultima Matrix or high end Paramount blade.

[snaily 0]

16 minutes ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

We sharpen both hockey and figure skates and the Sparx works well for general figure skate steel. Nothing high end or special like a Jackson Ultima Matrix or high end Paramount blade.

thanks, useful to know.

[snaily 0]

29 minutes ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

We sharpen both hockey and figure skates and the Sparx works well for general figure skate steel. Nothing high end or special like a Jackson Ultima Matrix or high end Paramount blade.

Can I ask what the most common ROH you use for figures and how you test if the edges are level?

[VegasHockey 1280]

54 minutes ago, snaily said:

Can I ask what the most common ROH you use for figures and how you test if the edges are level?

7/16 and 1/2 seem to be 90% and I used a BlackStone BAT Gauge 

[snaily 0]

26 minutes ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

7/16 and 1/2 seem to be 90% and I used a BlackStone BAT Gauge 

Thank you very much.

[Cedarwork 5]

My neighbor skates with a 90/50 FBV in our local beer league. Any first hand experience out here on which Fire ring, if any, would provide him with a similar skating experience? Thanks. 

[althoma1 574]

I usually use a 90/50 FBV and tried the 3/4 Fire ring at a Modsquad event. The Fire ring felt like it had a bit less bite, but I actually liked that as I like the 90/50 better after I have skated on it a game or two (which means I should probably go with a shallower FBV cut, but 90/50 is the shallowest one readily available around here). If he wants the same bite as the 90/50 then maybe try the 5/8 FIRE, but if he doesn't mind having a little less bite then try the 3/4 FIRE. 

Edited October 14, 2019 by althoma1

[darkhors 88]

9 hours ago, althoma1 said:

I usually use a 90/50 FBV and tried the 3/4 Fire ring at a Modsquad event. The Fire ring felt like it had a bit less bite, but I actually liked that as I like the 90/50 better after I have skated on it a game or two (which means I should probably go with a shallower FBV cut, but 90/50 is the shallowest one readily available around here). If he wants the same bite as the 90/50 then maybe try the 5/8 FIRE, but if he doesn't mind having a little less bite then try the 3/4 FIRE. 

I came from a 100/50 FBV and I absolutely love the 5/8's FIRE. He may think it's not quite as much bite, but it's there. I've never had an issue holding an edge because of my skates. If I blow a tire, it's because of me, not the skates. I've actually been switching people over to the 5/8 FIRE from 1/2 ROH in my beer league and they're loving it too.

[rh71el2 3]

1 hour ago, darkhors said:

I came from a 100/50 FBV and I absolutely love the 5/8's FIRE. He may think it's not quite as much bite, but it's there. I've never had an issue holding an edge because of my skates. If I blow a tire, it's because of me, not the skates. I've actually been switching people over to the 5/8 FIRE from 1/2 ROH in my beer league and they're loving it too.

Agree with this 100%.  I'm more of an agility guy on skates so I like being able to cut sharply on the ice.  I had a perfect 100/50 FBV cut every time at a local pro shop and gave it up for convenience of Sparx.  I played around with 3/8, 1/2, and 5/8 FIRE since my kids were still in the experimenting phase so I bought those to try.  3/8 gave me super fatigue (I had to try it) so I went to 1/2 FIRE thinking that was the 100/50 equivalent but it still was too much fatigue in the legs.  I had little confidence in the 5/8 FIRE thinking I'd be sliding all over the place since I'm only 160lbs, but after trying it, I'm in love.  Absolutely no sliding during tight turns.  I got my kid on it (from 3/8) and have noticed a significant difference in getting to pucks (no look of fatigue and great bite in the change of directions). If kids can go from one extreme to another, it means it's just all about adaptation.

For a guy coming from a shallow 90/50, they may also want to experiment with the 3/4 FIRE to start.

Edited October 14, 2019 by rh71el2