Sparx Skate Sharpener - At home sharpener

[darkhors 88]

26 minutes ago, colins said:

 

The ring should not be dragging, stuttering or stalling at any point across the length of the profile. If it is, there's too much pressure/drag being encountered.

Use the risers and adjust the height until you get a nice smooth consistent sound (pitch) from the ring the entire length of the profile. I've been sharpening that way with my Sparx for three years now, my profiles are perfect and so are my Step and LS3/LS5 steel.

I agree here. I've had a Sparx for just about a year and the only time I run into "issues" is when I mess up the height of the starting point. I'm very detailed when it comes to things like this, so I try to get it perfect and once in a while I'll have to stop it after the first cycle to readjust the starting point because I'm just a hair to high. Other than that I haven't had any issues with it. It works just as it should and I've had multiple people in my league tell me how much better their skates feel then when they were getting them done at one of the local shops. To be fair (said in British accent), we don't have anyone in the area that I would consider to be a Professional skate sharpener, but we do have 1 or 2 people who have been doing it for a long time. That said, one of our guys is getting older and sometimes it seems like he's off just a bit so there's a very small bit of inconsistency. 

The thing with the Sparx that I really like is that it doesn't change the profile of the blade unless you have the height adjustment too high. I have Blacksteel on my skates and I never have an issue with them. The only time I get out of pitch sounds is when someone gives me their skates and the blades are totally #$#@$ up with huge nicks and such. Once it levels the edge out though, it's back to the neutral pitch sound that we're used to. Having 5 pairs of skates to sharpen in the family makes it worth the time and money to have one of these.

[colins 246]

4 minutes ago, darkhors said:

I agree here. I've had a Sparx for just about a year and the only time I run into "issues" is when I mess up the height of the starting point. I'm very detailed when it comes to things like this, so I try to get it perfect and once in a while I'll have to stop it after the first cycle to readjust the starting point because I'm just a hair to high. Other than that I haven't had any issues with it. It works just as it should and I've had multiple people in my league tell me how much better their skates feel then when they were getting them done at one of the local shops. To be fair (said in British accent), we don't have anyone in the area that I would consider to be a Professional skate sharpener, but we do have 1 or 2 people who have been doing it for a long time. That said, one of our guys is getting older and sometimes it seems like he's off just a bit so there's a very small bit of inconsistency. 

The thing with the Sparx that I really like is that it doesn't change the profile of the blade unless you have the height adjustment too high. I have Blacksteel on my skates and I never have an issue with them. The only time I get out of pitch sounds is when someone gives me their skates and the blades are totally #$#@$ up with huge nicks and such. Once it levels the edge out though, it's back to the neutral pitch sound that we're used to. Having 5 pairs of skates to sharpen in the family makes it worth the time and money to have one of these.

 

100% agree with everything darkhors wrote here, my experience has been pretty much identical.

 

colins

[218hockey 50]

6 hours ago, stick9 said:

This goes back to my point. It's not the machine, it's not the steel, it's the user. The ring is set to high, period.

Again, this is not the machine. It's a user adjustable setting. When set properly the machine functions as intended. 

It kind of is the machine. Can't it sense the combination of horizontal and vertical movement to account for this? I don't want a huge point or multiple bumps and valleys on the ends of my expensive steel. Now if it's my sharpener and I'm the only one using it for a single pair of skates then no problem.

I think this would be an issue in a commercial setting for sure. No smart person would ever get their skates sharpened at our arena. It's a city building with random city employees different nights of the week that certainly aren't hockey people and certainly don't know how to sharpen skates, yet we still give these employees the crash course on the Wissota sharpener. So I hear people talk about getting an automated machine and all of our problems will be solved. You can teach someone how to sharpen skates perfectly in five minutes, right? I think this issue with the wheel height would be real. It would probably take longer to set that up than to actually sharpen, if anyone would care to even check the height and steel. Probably not at all, they'd just put them in and push the button.

[stick9 890]

3 hours ago, 218hockey said:

It kind of is the machine. Can't it sense the combination of horizontal and vertical movement to account for this? I don't want a huge point or multiple bumps and valleys on the ends of my expensive steel. Now if it's my sharpener and I'm the only one using it for a single pair of skates then no problem.

I think this would be an issue in a commercial setting for sure. No smart person would ever get their skates sharpened at our arena. It's a city building with random city employees different nights of the week that certainly aren't hockey people and certainly don't know how to sharpen skates, yet we still give these employees the crash course on the Wissota sharpener. So I hear people talk about getting an automated machine and all of our problems will be solved. You can teach someone how to sharpen skates perfectly in five minutes, right? I think this issue with the wheel height would be real. It would probably take longer to set that up than to actually sharpen, if anyone would care to even check the height and steel. Probably not at all, they'd just put them in and push the button.

Adjusting the height takes a few minutes. Litterly move the ring to where it almost makes contact with the toe (gotta press and hold a button) and turn a dial to set the height. If someone's unwilling or too lazy to do that, they shouldn't be sharpening skates.

The points at the toe and heel are vastly overstated and pale in comparison to things like uneven edges and ruined profiles. 

[taymag 0]

22 minutes ago, stick9 said:

Adjusting the height takes a few minutes. Litterly move the ring to where it almost makes contact with the toe (gotta press and hold a button) and turn a dial to set the height. If someone's unwilling or too lazy to do that, they shouldn't be sharpening skates.

The points at the toe and heel are vastly overstated and pale in comparison to things like uneven edges and ruined profiles. 

I love how you assume the issue is people are too lazy to move the wheel lol, I am set on setting 4 which is too high, if I move the wheel down it is too far down, pretty simple stuff, the wheel needs 1/2 settings in my opinion

[Grimstarr 1]

When changing hollows, is it really necessary to do 10 passes as Sparx recommends?  I know I should probably follow the advice, but i don't want to take off more steel than I need to.

[Sticktape 8]

When changing hollows I usually use the black marker technique, when the marker is all gone, give it a couple more passes to be safe.  Usually 4 to 6 passes will do it 

[Cedarwork 5]

28 minutes ago, Grimstarr said:

When changing hollows, is it really necessary to do 10 passes as Sparx recommends?  I know I should probably follow the advice, but i don't want to take off more steel than I need to.

I have found that I can change hollows without that many cycles. I use a Sharpie to mark the bottom of the steel. Then you can see when you’ve fully formed the new hollow. 

[VegasHockey 1280]

2 hours ago, Cedarwork said:

I have found that I can change hollows without that many cycles. I use a Sharpie to mark the bottom of the steel. Then you can see when you’ve fully formed the new hollow. 

Same. Usually 2-3 at most. 

[Leif 161]

7 hours ago, Grimstarr said:

When changing hollows, is it really necessary to do 10 passes as Sparx recommends?  I know I should probably follow the advice, but i don't want to take off more steel than I need to.

It depends on how different the hollows are. I swapped between 1/2” and 5/8” using the Sharpie method and I’m sure one pass was enough going either way, you could do two to be completely sure. It might depend a bit on the wheel pressure, which might depend on the height setting, but that’s a guess. 

[stick9 890]

Yeah, I'd agree, depends on what you have and what you are going to. I switch between 3/4 & 11/16 and 2-4 passes is good enough. 

 

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

5 hours ago, pgeorgan said:

How did they ruin their steel with a Sparx? 

The machine wasnt calibrated properly. Or something was very wrong with it.

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

Just now, pgeorgan said:

Interesting.

Well, in the absence of any further information, we can't determine if it was due to human error, or not. 

They followed the instructions.  Place skate in slot. Close slot. Push button.  Besides I thought these eliminated human error? 

I have roughly 7 customers that have these. ALL come for profile and adjustments during the season. They are not perfect machines. 

If you have  no knowledge of skate sharpening things can go wrong. 

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

4 minutes ago, pgeorgan said:

It would be impossible to know exactly what they did and if they did it correctly. Eg, alignment, setup, etc... 

Too many variables. 

I've had no issues with my Sparx. If the machine chewed up my steel due to a warranty issue, I'd send it in for replacement and kindly request they send me new steel, as well. 

They didnt even know it was an issue. As i have seen with others from the US that came in. Not everyone knows what's good and bad. 

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

6 minutes ago, pgeorgan said:

You'd be surprised at the number of players that are completely uneducated on profiling and sharpening. In fact I'd say well over 95% of players I've played with over my lifetime fit this description.

If their LHS railroaded their skates, they wouldn't know the difference. 

Why would I be surprised at the number of players no knowing what they use? I have been sharpening for 30 years! 

poorly educated staff regardless of the machine is the issue in every shop. 

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

5 minutes ago, pgeorgan said:

Maybe I miss understood, in which case, I'm not really sure what the point of contention is. 

I feel confident that my Sparx machine is working correctly and I'm definitely advanced enough to detect any major issues once I am out on the ice.

If any warranty issues should arrive, I'll deal with them appropriately.

So far, I have no reason to return the product. I don't foresee a warranty issue changing that.  

I was simply referring to my clients and some of the bad experiences they have had. That's all. 

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

14 minutes ago, pgeorgan said:

If someone suspects they've got a malfunctioning Sparx machine, step 1 should be contacting Sparx, not going to a LHS (unless you're in a pinch).

I have to take these claims with a grain of salt if the exact issue was never determined/shared with you.

Regardless, using one sharpener over another does not solve quality control issues of the modular components of either. I suspect those are all outsourced to specialized suppliers.  

1. They did not realize there was an issue till pointed out. 

2. They contacted support and made adjustments.  And purchased new steel. 

3. I'm pretty sure having used ever machine under the sun and sharpening for as long as I have with multiple championships I can help sort it out. 

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

15 minutes ago, pgeorgan said:

1. This harkens back to my original comment about whether or not its truly an issue if the skater is none the wiser. A solution in search of a problem. 

2. I would be very interested in what the issue/resolution was. Human, machine, or both.

3. Nobody is contesting that.

Point being, if you make a $1000 investment, you should get that sorted out. In the absence of specifics, no real determination can be made one way or the other.

1. The skate blade was pitched 2/32nds backwards.  That's a major problem. Child had knee and back pain. Thought it might have been the skates. 

 

2. I installed proper steel. Step steel profiled and sharpened. 

 

3. they called the company and walked them through adjustments.  

The child still feels my sharpening is better so I advised on what to do to make it feel closer to mine. 

 

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

21 minutes ago, pgeorgan said:

1) That sounds serious.

2) Why not just re-profile the existing steel? Thank god for modern holders and trigger systems, I guess.

3) Sparx machine won't alter the existing profile, so this sounds like user error. 

1. It was 

2. Orginal Bauer steel was to low. 

3. Never been sharpened anywhere but the S machine. And I have seen multiple machines not set properly do the same thing. So yes they can ruin a profile. 

A machine of any type not set up properly or not running properly can do damage. Regardless 

Giving the machine the label of perfection is just silly. Saying it's less likely for the S machine to make a profiling error when running properly is a more correct statement. 

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

6 minutes ago, pgeorgan said:

I'm still confused as to what "setting" they used to ruin a profile, assuming that's what actually happened. 

Nobody is arguing that Sparx is "perfect'. That's a straw man argument. However, it does presume the owner can follow simple instructions. I found them to be incredibly simple and other owners I've talked to have had similar 

No idea what setting they used. They said they followed the in box instructions. Dows it really matter? 

 

And what do you mean if that actually happened?? It happened!!! 

[VegasHockey 1280]

1 hour ago, pgeorgan said:

I'm still confused as to what "setting" they used to ruin a profile, assuming that's what actually happened. 

Nobody is arguing that Sparx is "perfect'. That's a straw man argument. However, it does presume the owner can follow simple instructions. I found them to be incredibly simple and other owners I've talked to have had similar experiences. 

You could ruin the profile if the grinding ring engages the steel too early as its then removing material from areas that should not be sharpened. 

[marka 526]

26 minutes ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

You could ruin the profile if the grinding ring engages the steel too early as its then removing material from areas that should not be sharpened. 

Howdy,

Hard to see how that would pitch the blade back 2/32 or whatever it was.

 

Mark

Edited December 2, 2019 by marka

[Leif 161]

39 minutes ago, SkateWorksPNW said:

You could ruin the profile if the grinding ring engages the steel too early as its then removing material from areas that should not be sharpened. 

I don’t see how that would ruin the profile, you just get a bit of metal ground away from an area you don’t skate on. But if someone really is so stupid that they can’t set the height, it probably is best for all concerned that their blades are trashed and they are kept off the ice and out of harms way.

Incidentally, young children probably shouldn’t use the Sparx, but I’m sure a 13 year old would be fine as long as mum and/or dad showed them how to use it first. 

[oldtrainerguy28 478]

4 hours ago, Leif said:

I don’t see how that would ruin the profile, you just get a bit of metal ground away from an area you don’t skate on. But if someone really is so stupid that they can’t set the height, it probably is best for all concerned that their blades are trashed and they are kept off the ice and out of harms way.

Incidentally, young children probably shouldn’t use the Sparx, but I’m sure a 13 year old would be fine as long as mum and/or dad showed them how to use it first. 

I'll make sure to tell the parents that. Thanks. 

[Leif 161]

3 hours ago, oldtrainerguy28 said:

I'll make sure to tell the parents that. Thanks. 

That reads like sarcasm. Not sure why it was needed.