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justthemaid
climber
Los Angeles
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 27, 2007 - 05:18pm PT
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(Cross posted by popular demand)
I recently bought a new set of (#1-#5) ballnuts through the mail. I ended up sending one of them back to be exchanged. Mountain Gear exchanged it quickly with no hassles but I thought I would post my observations for educational reasons.
First let me premise by stating that I although I haven't done much welding, I DO have extensive experience at soldering, and have done so professionally for 15 years.
The ballnut I returned seemed to have the following problems:
1) The welds where the cables insert into the head looked bad. Specifically, instead of a nice smooth, welds with the solder flowing smoothly from the cables to the base of the nut, the joint had slightly rounded edges where the cables inserted into the holes. This indicates to me that the nut wasn't hot enough for the welds to adhere properly.
When doing regular soldering, a joint that looks like that can usually be cleanly separated from the underlying metal (not good). My concern was that the cables could simply tear out of the head.
Sorry the shadows at the base of the cables make this a little hard to see.
2) You'll also notice the two weep holes on the top surface above where the cables are inserted are not really clean or flush.
3) The nut itself was heavily pitted with tons of inclusions. Maybe a bad casting?
Here's a picture of a good one:
Notice the nice flowing joint that ramps smoothly from the cable to the base of the nut. Not too little and not so much solder that it causes a stiff/weak part at the base of the cables. The two weep holes on the top are smooth and flush. The casting seems cleaner without all the pitting.
Would this piece I returned have had a catastrophic failure? I have no idea. Perhaps not, but why worry about it. It was easier to just exchange it.
This is just a reminder to check any new gear you buy whether it be nuts or cams or whatever.
Stay safe out there.
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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May 27, 2007 - 05:21pm PT
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Gracias.
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maldaly
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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May 27, 2007 - 07:51pm PT
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Hey Gang,
As soon as that BallNutz comes back to us I'll pull test it to failure and report back here. I've seen better looking brazes, but I've also seen worse. All of the BallNutz are proof tested to 1/2 their rated strength. In this case that would be to 4kN.
More as soon as we get it back.
Mal
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justthemaid
climber
Los Angeles
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Topic Author's Reply - May 27, 2007 - 09:11pm PT
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The braze definitely could have been worse. There's probably enough solder on there to hold but why risk it?
For my $ I'd rather have one that is perfect, not just OK.
Let me be clear- I'm not trying to slander Trango in any way. I'm a huge fan of these nuts and totally trust them. This is the only one I've ever seen that looks even remotely suspect.
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justthemaid
climber
Los Angeles
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Topic Author's Reply - May 27, 2007 - 09:31pm PT
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Locker darling...
Shhh...I thought we agreed to keep the pillow talk to ourselves. ;)
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Brian
climber
Cali
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May 27, 2007 - 09:42pm PT
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Everyone please take note:
(1) Mal's reply:
Hey Gang,
As soon as that BallNutz comes back to us I'll pull test it to failure and report back here. I've seen better looking brazes, but I've also seen worse. All of the BallNutz are proof tested to 1/2 their rated strength. In this case that would be to 4kN.
More as soon as we get it back.
Mal
(2) CCH's reply:
Notice any difference?
There is no failure related to this Ballnut, but Mal is on top of it. We all agree climbing is dangerous, that good (even great) gear can fail under the right (wrong?) conditions. No one (at least not me) is demanding that any other human being be perfect (medical doctors, climbing gear manufacturers, and other high responsibility people are as human as the rest of us).
All I want is for people to try to do what's right--and Mal seems to do that as consistently as anyone I've met.
Brian
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