Thank you Mark. By the way, I have a Walther PPK, but my name is Walter. Must have been some sort of Freudian slip LOL.

Thanks again,

Walt

mark76 wrote:


The upgraded ball joint arm rods are thicker than the original arms. The rods on the new arms are too thick for the "subway" straws to slide over them. If, as I believe, the rods that are currently part of the Pro Pack 1 set are the same as the arms I got a few years back, the Subway straws will fit on them.

I used the straws all of the time after I read about them. The only trick was keeping them from sliding around. Usually just forcing them down over the section that is flattened for the pivor does the trick. At one time I put a small tie wrap at the bottom and pulled it tight. I also put graphite on the outside of the straws to make the stone holders slide more easily. I think they made enough of a postive difference that I was willing to put up with the minor problems that I had with them.

Phil

The PP1 does not come with the ball joint modification, but with the old style pivot arms with modifications to remove the play (washers, etc.). At least according to my understanding. I was wondering if these old style arms had been increased in diameter?

Thanks,

Walt

So am I !
Maybe later I can find the thread and post a link. Clay was asked if the upgraded ball joints would be the standard going forward. He specifically said that this was not going to happen for the foreseeable future.
I believe they have (or had at the time) enough inventory on the old arms to avoid having to re-order in the near term.
He did not specifically say anything about rod diameter nor adding washers to the joints. This is the first that I have read about the last one. That used to be an additional feature. Either you did it yourself, or WE would do it for a small charge.

Of course, with WE's policy of constant product improvement, I would not be surprised if both the thicker rods and washer mod were now standard. I just have not seen this stated anywhere on the site nor AFAIK has it been mentioned in any of the threads here on the boards.

Walt, let me suggest that you go to the source on this one. Give them a call or send an email message and ask the question. Then, you will know and you can let us know what the actual situation is. So far all you are getting is speculation...and to me anyway, confusing statements.

Phil

I think that I will call and inquire about the rod diameter. When I placed my order, I was told that the standard arms were all being modified with washers to take out the play, and that the ball joint option was an upcharge.

I seriously doubt if the arm diameter is any different than the original, as I suspect they are trying to move the existing inventory by modifying the pivots with washers. It probably depends on when they run out of the original parts. I will call them and post what I find here.

I beat you to it. I emailed Clay when this came up... he just answered me a bit ago.

The current arms in the PPI (or original arms) are still the slightly smaller diameter, so you may be able to fit the straws over them. It'll be that way unti they get thru the current batch.

You're also correct, they're going to start checking and modding the arms that have excessive play before they ship.

cbwx34 wrote:


Now that is good info, right from the source. Being me, I would wonder what "have excessive play" means.. and if Clay may be opening Pandora's box. Will some people be unhappy because the joints they recieve have no washers... ??
(Even though they may not have "excessive play" according to some as yet unspecified criteria).

Phil

Hey, thanks for the update. This is exactly as I had suspected, except I have no way of knowing how much NOS of the thinner rods they had on hand.

Thank you very much for running this down for me.

Walt

PhilipPasteur wrote:

I don't think so... I would say "all" but some don't need them. My own arms were an example... I didn't think the play was much, but I took them up last time I went. We put washers in, they were so tight after, we took washers out.

So, if it'll take a washer, I'm pretty sure it'll get one.

You, Curtis, I judge to be a rational person, as well as a pragmatist. Not sure about that being the case for everyone. From you post, even though your joints did not need them, you felt that it was neccessary to try adding washers. I am sure that, if the joints need washers, they will get them. I haven't seen Clay do anything that he did not do his absolute best to do right. That is not what I was talking about. I was talking about perception ...and how many phone calls, email messages, and postings here may result when the folks that think modded is better, regardless, end up getting joints with no washers.

I hope you are right when you say "I don't think so..."!
Just an anecdote, a recall of some recent events...
We replaced monitors at our corporate office a while back. We got two different brands because I could not get 160 of the exact same kind quickly enough to make the schedule. All of them had the same resolution and were the same size. Refresh rates and DPI, identical, every spec that anyone could actually percieve, the same. I got nailed in the hall on numerous occasions with people unhappy because they didn't have penguins on their monitor. Us humans often neglect reality and worry more about what someone else got, rather than functional equivalency.

We shall see.

Phil