Balanced Body Contrology, Manual

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Safety First: A guide to proper maintenance
and safe use of your Pilates equipment.
For over 35 years, Balanced Body has been introducing
safety-related innovations to Pilates equipment. Many of our
improvements are now industry standards, resulting in Pilates
equipment that’s safer today than ever before.
Safety depends on proper maintenance and safe use, in addition
to the quality of the equipment. This guide was created to help
you use and maintain your equipment for optimum safety. Please
read it through carefully and keep for future reference. If you have
any questions, give us a call.
Failure to follow these instructions
may result in serious injury.
ALL EQUIPMENT
Springs
Spring inspections are critical to maintain your equipment in
safe operating condition. All Balanced Body springs should be
replaced at least every two years. Certain environments and
usages can shorten the expected life of the springs and you may
need to replace the springs more frequently. Therefore, it is very
important to inspect springs on a regular basis since worn or
old springs lose resilience and may break during use. Injury may
result if a spring breaks during use.
During use, do not allow springs to recoil in an uncontrolled
manner. This will damage the spring and shorten its expected life.
Inspect springs for gaps and kinks (weekly or monthly,
depending on frequency of use).
Look for gaps and kinks
between the coils when the spring is at rest. It is not unusual
for the spring to have a very small gap on the tapered end (a
gap is sometimes created during the manufacturing process).
However, there should be no gaps in the body of the spring. If you
see any gaps or kinks in the body of the spring, discontinue use
and replace the springs immediately. See
Figure 1 . Additionally,
corrosion anywhere on the coils will shorten the life of the spring.
Discontinue using the spring immediately if you see any rust or
oxidation during inspection.
Kink
Figure 1
Quick Link Clips
Inspect clips for wear (monthly). Check the Quick Link clips on
a monthly basis to ensure they are properly secure. Do this by
turning the hex coupler nut on the clip to the right to tighten. If
you are fi nding the hex coupler nut continues to need tightening
after multiple inspections, use a 7/16” wrench to tighten the hex
nut, or increase the inspection frequency to every other week. See
Figure 2a .
NOTE: DO NOT USE YOUR STRAP IF THE HEX COUPLER NUT IS
NOT THREADED ONTO THE HEX END.
Snaps
Inspect snaps for wear (monthly). First, verify that the snap hook
is working properly. If the snap hook does not retract and return
properly, discontinue using the spring immediately and replace
the snap. Eyebolts can cause excessive wear on snap hooks.
If the hook shows a lot of wear, discontinue using the spring
immediately and call Balanced Body to replace spring or snap.
See Figure 2b.
Figure 2a
Figure 2b : Good snap: no wear on
hook. Bad snap: excessive wear on
hook.
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