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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
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 2
.
Figure 2: Good snap: no wear on hook.
Bad snap: excessive wear on hook.
EYEBOLTS, NUTS AND BOLTS
Tighten all equipment bolts and screws (monthly)
. Verify that all
eyebolts, nuts and bolts are tight. See the section titled “How to
inspect and tighten nuts and bolts.”
ROPES AND STRAPS
Rope and strap wear (quarterly)
. Ropes should be replaced if you
can see the core of the rope through the outer lining, or if the
ropes are fl attened. Straps should be replaced as soon as any
fraying is noticed. Be sure to check the sections of rope or straps
that attach to the clips and run through the pulleys.
REFORMERS
Check springbar hooks or eyebolts (quarterly)
. Balanced Body
makes two different springbar systems:
»
Revo Springbar. Make sure springbar hooks and handle
are tight.
Standard Springbar. Verify that the nuts securing the springbar
hooks are tight. See section titled “How to inspect and tighten
nuts and bolts.”
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