New breed swivels

[operator3]

So I just got back from the machine shop. It's looking pretty good for us. Here's the details.
*the ball will be %5 larger to give us a little more life out of our plastic housings. And, the ball will be made out of steel.

*the price as you can imagine depends on how many we have made. For a run of 25, the price will be $16 each. For a run of 50, the price drops to $14 each. There will be an additional charge of %3 for pay pal users. They will include a set screw. You will need to source yoir own hooks though. I suggest a little trip to home depot to source out the right hook/hardware for your needs. For those of you interested, send me a message and we will work out the details. Let's see if we can get a run of 50 going to save us some cash.

I could have gotten them a little cheaper, but we would have had to drop to a lower quality metal(which I'm not really willing to do).

[Biff]

O3, First, thanks for going out of your way for the forum.

A few questions -

Am I right that the ball will be complete except for the eye hook and S hook? In other words, a hole drilled for the eye hook, and a hole drilled and tapped for the set screw???

Also, will the ball look like the Watkins ball in the attached AK pic (tapered on one end)?

Finally, what about shipping costs?

Sorry to be a PITA, but I want to cover all the bases.

[operator3]

The ball will be just like the watkins only %5 bigger. It will come tapped with a set screw. as far as shipping, I don't think it will cost anymore than $2 to ship each one. I will bag them up in little brown bubble envelopes. Hope that helps.

[Biff]

The ball will be just like the watkins only %5 bigger. It will come tapped with a set screw. as far as shipping, I don't think it will cost anymore than $2 to ship each one. I will bag them up in little brown bubble envelopes. Hope that helps.

Thanks, O3. I'm in. Check your PMs. Let's see how the numbers shake out.

Anything is better than dealing with Fitness-Equipment at this point.

[jimcaher]

Thanks for taking the initiative on this. Be careful measuring your balls (there are just too many punch lines here).

My 20+ year old Everlast flat-ended balls, are too big to rotate freely in the plastic housing. Make sure that the Everlast ball you're measuring from will work. Watkins balls seem to fit just fine in the plastic housing. And if you cement it in, the threaded stem and hook from the plastic ball will work in the Watkins ball.

Jim

[Tim]

You will need to source yoir own hooks though. I suggest a little trip to home depot to source out the right hook/hardware for your needs.

I'm probably in ... BUT ... does Home Depot have these hooks? We'd need an eye hook and an S hook already connected, right? I have no access to tools /machinery and unless it comes already connected I'll be out of luck. Does that make sense?

Thanks for taking the initiative on this. Be careful measuring your balls (there are just too many punch lines here).

Somebody had to say it

The ball will be just like the watkins only %5 bigger. It will come tapped with a set screw. as far as shipping, I don't think it will cost anymore than $2 to ship each one. I will bag them up in little brown bubble envelopes. Hope that helps.

You may want to check and make sure... you might be surprised how much these metal swivels weigh. I shipped some several years ago, but in all honesty I don't recall what the shipping cost.

[operator3]

I just figured that's what it would cost. I'll see if I can take one to the post office and see what it would cost to send to California. At thus point, I just need to know who all is in so I can get a good idea of the numbers. As far as the hook hardware, I think I've come up with the perfect solution. Ive been grinding on a simple threaded loop with a file so that I can get the bag loop in. This will make it a single hinge movement. Wraping it with tape should keep the bag from coming off and keep it pretty quiet. I don't have much by way of tools either. I've got some car tools, but they don't really help much. If I can get to my buddies shop tomorrow I will finalize the loop aspect of this project. I really do think that adding a loop to the ball swivel is a great idea. Best of both worlds.

[spinsmashpop]

I'll be down for ordering a couple. At worst, it'll be a cool thing to have as it is coming from one of us directly....
At best, it'll be a great new swivel I'm psyched to use!
Your time and enthusiasm to this is much appreciated!
BAG ON!
Oh yeah.... 'NEW BREED SWIVELS' is a cool name!
If I ever make one or have something to do with a swivel, I am simply going to call mine ...
'THE SWIV'

[Speedbag]

Thanks for taking the initiative on this. Be careful measuring your balls (there are just too many punch lines here).

My 20+ year old Everlast flat-ended balls, are too big to rotate freely in the plastic housing. Make sure that the Everlast ball you're measuring from will work. Watkins balls seem to fit just fine in the plastic housing. And if you cement it in, the threaded stem and hook from the plastic ball will work in the Watkins ball.

Jim

are you screwing the threaded stem into that steel ball? How do you do that without a threaded hole?

I have lots of plastic ballhooks (ball, threaded stem and Hook) from taking them out and using the plastic housing with steel balls from everlast swivels. If those will work in the hole inside the swivel ball developed by Operator3, I could use a bunch of them, (just to use up my plastic balls, threaded stems and hooks).

Operator3, maybe you could post a picture of a mock up swivel.

[jimcaher]

The threaded stem on the hook from the plastic ball is a little too small to be held securely in the Watkins ball. I'm pretty sure that JB Weld has solved the problem. First I put a thin layer of grease on the ball so no Weld sticks to it. I also unscrew the set screw and grease it. Then thread it back in part way. Apply JB on the threaded stem insert in the ball and allow it to cure for a few hours. Then tighen the set screw and let it set overnight. It seems to be very secure. Oh, don't forget to insert it in the plastic base before putting stem in the ball.
Jim

[Speedbag]

The threaded stem on the hook from the plastic ball is a little too small to be held securely in the Watkins ball. I'm pretty sure that JB Weld has solved the problem. First I put a thin layer of grease on the ball so no Weld sticks to it. I also unscrew the set screw and grease it. Then thread it back in part way. Apply JB on the threaded stem insert in the ball and allow it to cure for a few hours. Then tighen the set screw and let it set overnight. It seems to be very secure. Oh, don't forget to insert it in the plastic base before putting stem in the ball.
Jim

Yes, that would make a big difference!

got it.

thanks.

[operator3]

I've found that the best way to keep a threaded hook in the plastic ball, is pretty easy. Does take a little work though. You can either flatten out the top of the ball, and add a lock nut with some loctite. Or you can do what I did, and dremel a little recessed spot for the nut to lay inside the plastic ball. Then loctite.

Looks like I might have to do a few runs of a good hook/loop design from the machine shop.

[operator3]

So should we do some kind of sign up list? Is there any way to do that on the forum?

[Tim]

So should we do some kind of sign up list? Is there any way to do that on the forum?

Sadly , no there isn't a way to do that here. There are polls, but it doesn't have a detailed breakdown

You could just have a post that you edit with the person's name and total number of swivels, and have people PM you, just keep editing the post. I can make it a "sticky" so it stays near the top ...

[operator3]

Thanks Tim. So let's just get it started like this.

*bigugly bear: 1
*Biff: 2@ $16, or 3@ $15
*Griffin: 1

Anyone else, please message me as soon as your sure your in. Our goal is a run of 25, but I guess we could still do it in a smaller batch.