Sparx Skate Sharpener - At home sharpener

[colins 246]

44 minutes ago, gogovs said:

Today I received my Sparx edge checker and was shocked how my edges were uneven. I always thought I was getting a good sharpening. Is this that bad as it looks?

 

Well, I've seen much worse. One line off is probably not noticeable, you're at about a line and a half. A few clicks should get you dialed right in - just follow the instructions that came with the edge checker.

colins

 

[218hockey 50]

4 hours ago, gogovs said:

Today I received my Sparx edge checker and was shocked how my edges were uneven. I always thought I was getting a good sharpening. Is this that bad as it looks?

 

That's from your SPARX machine?

[Axxion89 32]

10 hours ago, DarkStar50 said:

Comparing an appliance that you can buy for $100 and makes your daily cup or two or three of coffee to a $900 machine sharpening your skates once a week or every two weeks is not the comparison you want to make.

 

And that edge needs to be level in that picture.

There's nothing wrong with comparing the business model of one company to another & scaling it up. There are plenty of industries out there where the initial investment is breakeven or small profit but the support / accessories make most of the profit.

If Coffee machines don't suit you, car sales is a much bigger ticket item & work the same way for dealers. The Ford dealer doesn't make much selling you a Ford Focus but he makes a lot with the services & accessories that go with it (floor mats, oil changes, warranty work, etc.)

The main reason I compared it to a Keurig is because it's basically the same premise, its an easier / more convenient way to do something. A Blademaster or Blackstone machine with a competent sharpener can do a better job than a Sparx with the flexibility of doing any hollow you want when you want but the Sparx will let any Joe Schoe sharpen their skates at home that's good enough for a majority of people & all they need to do is buy Rings (K-cups) after X amount of sharpeners & that's it

[aintitthelife98 28]

6 hours ago, 218hockey said:

 

That's from your SPARX machine?

I'm guessing no since he posted a day or two ago about coupons/discounts as he was still undecided on buying one. 

[IPv6Freely 2092]

6 hours ago, 218hockey said:

 

That's from your SPARX machine?

No.

[DarkStar50 679]

1 hour ago, Axxion89 said:

There's nothing wrong with comparing the business model of one company to another & scaling it up. There are plenty of industries out there where the initial investment is breakeven or small profit but the support / accessories make most of the profit.

If Coffee machines don't suit you, car sales is a much bigger ticket item & work the same way for dealers. The Ford dealer doesn't make much selling you a Ford Focus but he makes a lot with the services & accessories that go with it (floor mats, oil changes, warranty work, etc.)

The main reason I compared it to a Keurig is because it's basically the same premise, its an easier / more convenient way to do something. A Blademaster or Blackstone machine with a competent sharpener can do a better job than a Sparx with the flexibility of doing any hollow you want when you want but the Sparx will let any Joe Schoe sharpen their skates at home that's good enough for a majority of people & all they need to do is buy Rings (K-cups) after X amount of sharpeners & that's it

I understand the point you are making and it is valid. I wasn't clear about mine by referencing the coffee machine analogy. The market for coffee machines and then K-Cups is huge as well as your car sales point. My point, made not clear at all by me, was just the smaller size of the market for Sparx. That will be the challenge after the first wave of sell-through. Axxion89, sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Axxion89 32]

3 hours ago, DarkStar50 said:

I understand the point you are making and it is valid. I wasn't clear about mine by referencing the coffee machine analogy. The market for coffee machines and then K-Cups is huge as well as your car sales point. My point, made not clear at all by me, was just the smaller size of the market for Sparx. That will be the challenge after the first wave of sell-through. Axxion89, sorry for the misunderstanding.

Ok I know what you mean now. Yes it is an interesting model from that point because end users are for sure going to expect these machines to last quite a while & the only profit source are the rings. If I had to guess, I am assuming that Sparx is banking on users sharpening their skates often & users sharpening multiple pairs of skates with different hollows (families, friends, etc.) to burn through the most rings. I can for sure say that since I got my Blademaster, I've sharpened my skates much more than I used to but the main beneficiary of that will probably be the steel industry

[WhosUrDaddy 2]

Has anyone experienced a loss of balanced edges with the Sparx machine?  When I first got it and set it, it was beautiful.  Now, it doesn't seem to provide that consistency anymore.  I've checked the centering via the centering wheel a number of times.  Wonder if it's the clamp?  Just me (senior size) and my son's (junior size) skates.  Frustrating once you get used to perfect edges.

LS2 and LS3 runners...

Edited May 29, 2017 by WhosUrDaddy

[IPv6Freely 2092]

1 minute ago, WhosUrDaddy said:

Has anyone experienced a loss of balanced edges with the Sparx machine?  When I first got it and set it, it was beautiful.  Now, it doesn't seem to provide that consistency anymore.  I've checked the centering via the centering wheel a number of times.  Wonder if it's the clamp?  Just me (senior size) and my son's (junior size) skates.  Frustrating once you get used to perfect edges.

LS2 and LS3 runners...

Nope, mine remain consistent. I check probably every other time (any time I'm not in a rush). 

[weasel 3]

12 hours ago, WhosUrDaddy said:

Has anyone experienced a loss of balanced edges with the Sparx machine?  When I first got it and set it, it was beautiful.  Now, it doesn't seem to provide that consistency anymore.  I've checked the centering via the centering wheel a number of times.  Wonder if it's the clamp?  Just me (senior size) and my son's (junior size) skates.  Frustrating once you get used to perfect edges.

LS2 and LS3 runners...

I have not. How far off are they? Do you have a pic? Bent steel maybe?

[weasel 3]

What Fire Ring would you recommend for a 4'10" 90# kid? He's been skating on mainly 1/2 or 5/8 ROH.

[stevebalchunas 32]

On 5/29/2017 at 9:07 AM, weasel said:

What Fire Ring would you recommend for a 4'10" 90# kid? He's been skating on mainly 1/2 or 5/8 ROH.

Why are you switching over, if you don't mind me asking?

If he/she is used to 1/2 and 5/8 and you don't want a huge change, I'd try starting at 3/8 FIRE. If you try 1/2 or 5/8 FIRE, it's going to feel like a big change for him/her. I guess, as long as he/she understands the change they are going to feel, you could jump straight to a 1/2 FIRE. 

Have you considered moving to a shallower traditional hollow first? Maybe a 3/4"?

[stevebalchunas 32]

On 5/28/2017 at 8:31 PM, WhosUrDaddy said:

Has anyone experienced a loss of balanced edges with the Sparx machine?  When I first got it and set it, it was beautiful.  Now, it doesn't seem to provide that consistency anymore.  I've checked the centering via the centering wheel a number of times.  Wonder if it's the clamp?  Just me (senior size) and my son's (junior size) skates.  Frustrating once you get used to perfect edges.

LS2 and LS3 runners...

Can you provide a little more data? My first suggestion would be to make sure you're always running enough cycles. A lot of customers are getting comfortable running 1 or 2 cycles after every hour or two, but that's not a good hard rule to live by. If you've lost an edge bad, you may need to run 4-6 cycles to properly reset the edge again (or more). You should always inspect the blade after each skate and judge how many cycles are needed by the amount of damage to the edges. 

If you really are getting different height readings, can you let us know how much they are off and what you are using to determine that? Are you changing wheels from skate to skate? What exactly is different from before when it was "perfect" and now when it is unbalanced? 

Sorry for all the questions! 

[WaukeshaTG 2]

Steve, one question regarding operation.  

 

My wheel seems to spin 'slow' for the first 1/4 inch or so.  It's not up to speed when it hits the blade.  Is this normal operation?  It's been doing it from the very beginning.  Does it on all skate sizes.  It only does it starting out, when coming back left to right, no problems.  I only ask as it seems the wheel 'bounces' a bit when it first makes contact with the blade.  No ill effects on the sharpening, as far as I can tell.  

[stevebalchunas 32]

35 minutes ago, WaukeshaTG said:

Steve, one question regarding operation.  

 

My wheel seems to spin 'slow' for the first 1/4 inch or so.  It's not up to speed when it hits the blade.  Is this normal operation?  It's been doing it from the very beginning.  Does it on all skate sizes.  It only does it starting out, when coming back left to right, no problems.  I only ask as it seems the wheel 'bounces' a bit when it first makes contact with the blade.  No ill effects on the sharpening, as far as I can tell.  

Yup, this "soft start" is normal operation. The wheel senses the blade and then quickly jumps up to full speed. There's some fancy engineering reason for this; basically, it's to make the transition from not touching to touching the blade as smooth as possible. This protects the components inside of the sharpener and the initial contact point on the blade from extra wear.

*If it bounces, try lowering the height by a setting or two. Are you sharpening toe to the right? If not, try that direction. One of those two should help you out. If you happen to have a higher than normal desired contact point you're trying to hit, you may have to live with a bit of bouncing. If it were too violent, the sharpener would shut down from an overcurrent error. 

Edited May 30, 2017 by stevebalchunas

[WhosUrDaddy 2]

7 hours ago, stevebalchunas said:

Can you provide a little more data? My first suggestion would be to make sure you're always running enough cycles. A lot of customers are getting comfortable running 1 or 2 cycles after every hour or two, but that's not a good hard rule to live by. If you've lost an edge bad, you may need to run 4-6 cycles to properly reset the edge again (or more). You should always inspect the blade after each skate and judge how many cycles are needed by the amount of damage to the edges. 

If you really are getting different height readings, can you let us know how much they are off and what you are using to determine that? Are you changing wheels from skate to skate? What exactly is different from before when it was "perfect" and now when it is unbalanced? 

Sorry for all the questions! 

Thanks for the reply!  I will document my runs and post.  I'll also re-run a few more passes.

[weasel 3]

On May 30, 2017 at 10:55 AM, stevebalchunas said:

Why are you switching over, if you don't mind me asking?

If he/she is used to 1/2 and 5/8 and you don't want a huge change, I'd try starting at 3/8 FIRE. If you try 1/2 or 5/8 FIRE, it's going to feel like a big change for him/her. I guess, as long as he/she understands the change they are going to feel, you could jump straight to a 1/2 FIRE. 

Have you considered moving to a shallower traditional hollow first? Maybe a 3/4"?

I just wanted to see if there were any benefits to that type of hollow.

[Leif 161]

Hello Steve

Do you have any idea when the Sparx will be available in the UK, and at what sort of price point? As I understand it you do not ship direct from the States, but you will have a UK distributer.

[stevebalchunas 32]

19 hours ago, weasel said:

I just wanted to see if there were any benefits to that type of hollow.

If you wanted to send in some steel we could put a 1/2 or 3/8 FIRE on them and ship 'em back. There's definitely (according to almost all of the skating instructors I've ever met) a benefit to a shallower hollow in general. It's just a bit of a change, so I'd hate for you to try a FIRE cut and then have them not like it and feel like you're out $50. But, like I said, if you're going to give it a go, start with 3/8 or 1/2 FIRE. 1/2 FIRE is a good middle of the road place to start, then you could go up in down in bite from there. 

Let me know if you'd like to ship us some steel. 

[stevebalchunas 32]

11 hours ago, Leif said:

Hello Steve

Do you have any idea when the Sparx will be available in the UK, and at what sort of price point? As I understand it you do not ship direct from the States, but you will have a UK distributer.

Well, the honest answer is we're spending time on this almost daily, but it's hard and there are a lot of moving pieces. Russ talks about it a bit in his video here. I don't want to put a date on it since we do that a lot and tend to miss our targets. It's coming, we're just not sure when. 

As for pricing, our goal is to keep it as low as possible, similar to what it is priced now in the states. That being said we know there are going to be costs associated with us actually getting our product over there and distributed, so I'd expect to see that also rolled into the price. I'm sorry if it seems like we're playing a broken record on this one, but we haven't forgotten about our European friends. 

[Leif 161]

9 hours ago, stevebalchunas said:

Well, the honest answer is we're spending time on this almost daily, but it's hard and there are a lot of moving pieces. Russ talks about it a bit in his video here. I don't want to put a date on it since we do that a lot and tend to miss our targets. It's coming, we're just not sure when. 

As for pricing, our goal is to keep it as low as possible, similar to what it is priced now in the states. That being said we know there are going to be costs associated with us actually getting our product over there and distributed, so I'd expect to see that also rolled into the price. I'm sorry if it seems like we're playing a broken record on this one, but we haven't forgotten about our European friends. 

Thanks Steve

I realise these things are dependent on people outside of your control, but do you have a handle of whether or not you expect to start supplying UK/European customers this year, or next year, or the year after?

[stevebalchunas 32]

7 hours ago, Leif said:

Thanks Steve

I realise these things are dependent on people outside of your control, but do you have a handle of whether or not you expect to start supplying UK/European customers this year, or next year, or the year after?

I think once things start to fall in place they'll end up moving really fast, but until then, I'd say we're probably at least 6 months out. I hate giving dates, so plan on 2019 and then be pleasantly surprised if we beat that? :)

[Leif 161]

2 hours ago, stevebalchunas said:

I think once things start to fall in place they'll end up moving really fast, but until then, I'd say we're probably at least 6 months out. I hate giving dates, so plan on 2019 and then be pleasantly surprised if we beat that? :)

Thank you.

[gogovs 10]

After receiving bad and overpriced service from "No Icing", I decided to pull the trigger on the Sparx sharpener. I will be ordering in next couple of days to make sure it gets here for my birthday :-). I guess it was meant to be that way.

[stevebalchunas 32]

12 hours ago, gogovs said:

After receiving bad and overpriced service from "No Icing", I decided to pull the trigger on the Sparx sharpener. I will be ordering in next couple of days to make sure it gets here for my birthday :-). I guess it was meant to be that way.

I've only heard good things about them, must have caught them on a bad day. Either way, I'm sure it will be amazing to now control the whole process yourself :). Please report back with any questions or shoot me a note at steve@sparxhockey.com if you need anything at all.