600 grit stone from the Wicked Edge package creating a different edge?

[clayallison]

Okay, I'll bite (a little)

It's a shame WE don't seem to understand the importance of a quick response, this is an old problem that still haunts them.
Considering emails can be sorted via many device types in many locations. (even countries)

It's not that we don't understand the importance, it's just that we have limited resources as a young company and we're still building our team. The biggest challenge we face is the constant growth and change. Right about when we think we've got things organized in the best way, demand spikes and all our plans fall short. We're interviewing for a couple of positions now and hoping to find some terrific people to fill them.

Going to a knife show shouldn't mean the WE business sales and support machine is turned off for weeks?

No, it shouldn't, nor does it. Admittedly we were much slower during and immediately after Shot Show, but we didn't shut down completely.

I still scratch my head wondering why the full potential of this company is not exercised.
Often out of stock of certain items and poor communications and quality control, but great at customer support "after" the event.
Why they can't get it together?

I won't touch this; it's way too complicated and seems a bit of a snake pit.

Do they simply not order enough of each, is the supply time not predictable?
I guess when Clay is confident the product is final and complete he might order in large quantities.

We order in quantities numbering in the thousands, so it's definitely not a matter of confidence. The challenges are anticipating the demand and the unpredictability of the supply times. As our relationship with our suppliers is more seasoned and everyone knows what to expect, things will get smoother, are already getting smoother. Lately we're measuring back-orders in weeks, not many months as we used to.

All that said, Billabong is correct in that there is plenty of room for improvement and we're always working at it. We're not perfect, never will be, but we will keep trying to get closer and we are 100% committed to making sure our customers are satisfied and we'll do whatever it takes to ensure it. Of course it's easier to ensure it on the front of the transaction than on the back and ultimately more satisfying for everyone.

 

[Billabong]

All that said, Billabong is correct in that there is plenty of room for improvement and we're always working at it. We're not perfect, never will be, but we will keep trying to get closer and we are 100% committed to making sure our customers are satisfied and we'll do whatever it takes to ensure it. Of course it's easier to ensure it on the front of the transaction than on the back and ultimately more satisfying for everyone.

If you are 100% commited to satisfaction, then surely you would have made tighter tolerances a priority for a better univeral joint and thicker arms (0.25) the standard for all of the WEPS by now?
Surely this is a tooling issue, can't your Chinese connections sort this once and forever, or do we need to wait for this relationship to "season" as you call it, not just offering an additional system upgrade costing $145.

Or are you going to check and adjust each set of arms that have "excessive play" as it's called by your forum gurus and include Subway straws as the arm diameter doesn't get a fix as yet?
Who knows how many is in a batch, you mentioned "thousands" in your last post.

http://wickededgeusa.com/index.php?...id=9204&limit=10&limitstart=10&Itemid=63#9240

"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. " (Quote from link to WE forums)

 

[clayallison]

The universal joints are comprised of a stainless steel rod that guides the stone and two extruded aluminum pieces that are held together by two stainless steel pins. Because of the way aluminum extrusions change as they cool coming out of the dies, holding tolerances lower than +/-0.008" is tricky. Most extruders won't even agree to tolerances so tight and will only guarantee +/-0.015". We've found that for our universal joints, extra room of more than +/-0.003" at the connection between the guide rod and the aluminum hinge allows too much play for some people's liking. We have a nice fix that we're implementing on all units going out now. For the moment, we're disassembling the units, completing the fix and then reassembling them before we ship them out. Future runs will include the fix directly from the production floor. For anyone that feels their arms have excessive play, they can send them in and we'll perform the modification free of charge.

 

[Billabong]

We have a nice fix that we're implementing on all units going out now. For the moment, we're disassembling the units, completing the fix and then reassembling them before we ship them out. Future runs will include the fix directly from the production floor. For anyone that feels their arms have excessive play, they can send them in and we'll perform the modification free of charge.

Can you detail the "fix" please Clay?

Is it the usual addition of a washer etc?

What do you advise with the thinner arm diameter, still Subway straws?

edit -
Wouldn't life be great for everyone if you could simply substitute the standard arms for the new upgrade ball joint ones and keep the base model RRP around the current $275.
If you remove the two paddles/stones from the basic kit @ $275, we get a price of $145 left for the sharpener alone, the same price as the ball joint upgrade kit.
Clearly including the upgrade kit as part of the basic kit is out of the question.

Is reducing the price of the upgrade kit possible?
It is made up of more components, thicker (threaded) arms, new "L" brackets, ball-joints and a longer angle bar.
Can't see a price reduction offered here.

So the universal joint "must" stay to keep the price affordable.
The minimum spend to move away from them is a base kit @ $275 plus $145 for the upgrade. ($420)
Not cheap in my opinion.

Is it likely the diameter of the standard arms will be made the same as the upgraded version? (1/4")
I would like to think so, but for now?

Perhaps if new, thicker standard arms were made so a hand machined fit is required to reduce any slop, arms hand fitted/filed to fit each uni joint.
So, deliberately too thick at the joint end to start.
If only the uni joint was threaded and tight like a hand tool socket set type.