The CPC "speed bump" - a bit out of hand these days (1 Viewer)

4 racks selected at random from my set. Some from July 2018 and some from Feb 2019.

I swear I did notice a few when I first got my set, but looking at these 4 there are pretty much none actually, maybe a couple with a very faint bump.

Damn I love them though
IMG_20190424_173954.jpg

IMG_20190424_174058.jpg
 
Does CPC lathe their chips? I know that the ridges on the rolling edges of chips from BCC were from a lathe, but I never asked if CPC did this.
 
It took me several minutes to even figure out what you were referring to as speed bumps. In my opinion these are nothing new and show up in Paulson chips too. I think it’s simply part of the manufacturing process. I swear it is stuff like this that drove BCC out of the home market. Attached is a pic of my more than ten year old ASM chips and a random stack of Paulson.
22916745-74FF-4541-9464-4B2426C58BDA.jpeg
 
slisk250 said:
You did choose to start this thread with a huge community of potential customers first and at best it isn't very fair to CPC.
Click to expand...

He didn't come in here with pitchforks and torches, he's just asking questions. The issue is beyond just his order and worth making the community aware.

mike32 said:
I swear it is stuff like this that drove BCC out of the home market.
Click to expand...

All the more reason to ask questions and keep the quality of CPC high, IMO. No one wants to see them leave the custom market.
 
I really appreciate you starting this thread @Venturalvn.

I understand it’s not appropriate or fair for members to bash vendors publicly for issues related to their specific order or product without attempting to resolve it with the vendor first but one of my biggest and only gripes with this site is members’ reluctance to have fair, open, and critical discussions about site vendors. Obviously many longtime members/customers have abnormally close relationship with the vendors that tend to occur within small marketplaces for niche products and leads them to want to defend vendors from slander.

This is truly an awesome thing and I’ve seen it executed perfectly and politely on here before when a member has been frustrated at a vendor and decided to react poorly to an issue they’ve had. I’ve also seen numerous instances of members reacting to criticism (some just some unjust) of a vendor like an English mob who’ve just cornered someone accused of spitting on the queen. Note: I don’t think this quite applies to anything said in this thread so far.

I’ve heard the same exact criticisms of some vendors (not CPC) from various members who don’t feel comfortable with expressing their issues publicly due to the response they’ve seen others receive. This reluctance not only hurts other members who now cannot make fully informed buying decisions but also the vendors who may not have been aware of the issue or the negative perception of them or their product and thus cannot fix it.

My point is, ensuring members feel comfortable with discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly, openly and without fear of undue criticism is a great thing that will only make this marketplace better for everyone.

Ok sorry... long winded soap box blowhard digressing speech, over.
 
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WedgeRock said:
He didn't come in here with pitchforks and torches, he's just asking questions. The issue is beyond just his order and worth making the community aware.



All the more reason to ask questions and keep the quality of CPC high, IMO. No one wants to see them leave the custom market.
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Damnit @WedgeRock. Way to make me look like someone who doesn’t know how to express their thoughts without writing an 800 page novel! :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:
 
In reference to my own chips I see added to the list I can honestly say I haven't noticed this. I have been playing and shuffling my chips daily since I got them. It's honestly a speed bump of its own when I'm designing. One hand on the mouse, the other on a tall stack of clay.
That said, I have noticed that the neon colors tend to "drag" more creating lighter streaks across the darker, harder(?) Colors.
But that isn't exclusive to CPC and is most definitely part of the process.
I've also seen a similar issue you've described far worse on BCC chips, most notably the High Rollers. And the end result was chips with 39.9mm to 38mm diameters.
 
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mike32 said:
It took me several minutes to even figure out what you were referring to as speed bumps. In my opinion these are nothing new and show up in Paulson chips too. I think it’s simply part of the manufacturing process. I swear it is stuff like this that drove BCC out of the home market. Attached is a pic of my more than ten year old ASM chips and a random stack of Paulson.
View attachment 279895
Click to expand...

I don’t see any of this issue on either of those stacks.

He’s talking about there being a seam around the circumference of the chip that may be a lapse in the lathing process
 
I'm glad this thread got posted. I've noticed the bump also. It won't deter me from eventually getting my own customs made, but it is unsightly and I'm interested to know more about it. @Venturalvn, if you do decide to take this conversation off the air and go directly to CPC, I hope you'll at least update us here with the results of the discussion.
 
The issue looks to me like an inconsistency in the rolling edge finishing process, which could be due to several reasons.

It could be inattention to detail, inadequate training of the operator, worn-out machinery, or some other variable.

Best place to get answers is from the source. I advise contacting CPC and ask what's causing the condition, and if it can be corrected.
 
Frogzilla said:
I don’t see any of this issue on either of those stacks.

He’s talking about there being a seam around the circumference of the chip that may be a lapse in the lathing process
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My bad I thought he was talking about inconsistencies in the spots! Please feel free to carry on without me.
 
I think edge spot inconsistency is part of being a handmade product, the differences in the clay and overall, an acceptable variable. But we wanted uniform spots, we'd be using dice chips.

He's talking about the battle of the bulge. Look at the pics again.
 
Given how the chips are pressed, they come out of the mold looking like this.
4E98478E-9277-4783-A443-334F57357197.jpeg
EA9BAEFF-13E6-4DDB-B1FF-475BF957E5A2.jpeg

I’m not sure on the specifics, but they essentially get lathed to remove the “flash” or excess material that creates what would be a “part line” on more common molded parts. It appears this is an imprecise, hand-calibrated process with some inconsistencies, potentially due to worn tooling, operator error, or even slight inconsistencies in chip diameter. At the end of the day, CPCs are custom chips made by hand with a great deal of small quirks, but that makes them unique and almost more of an artisan feel. If I want more precise consistent chips, I’ll buy Paulsons - their manufacturing process has been more automated ($$$) for much longer dictated by their production volumes and customer base. Mint, machine produced RHCs don’t do much for me, and custom Paulsons aren’t available (to most of us), so I’ll take my CPCs any day over most mint Paulsons available at that price point.

That said, I’m not in love with the “split” 6d18 spots on my secondary $100s, as you don’t get as much of the contrasting colors as I’d like, but I’m still in love with the chips.
81E23F03-2E26-4802-94F5-00912DCA0E79.jpeg


And yes, a few of my chips (pics posted earlier by Ventura) exhibit this speed bump, but it is barely noticeable, can’t be felt, and will probbaly wear down over time, oh well.
 
kmccormick100 said:
Given how the chips are pressed, they come out of the mold looking like this. View attachment 279958View attachment 279959
I’m not sure on the specifics, but they essentially get lathed to remove the “flash” or excess material that creates what would be a “part line” on more common molded parts. It appears this is an imprecise, hand-calibrated process with some inconsistencies, potentially due to worn tooling, operator error, or even slight inconsistencies in chip diameter. At the end of the day, CPCs are custom chips made by hand with a great deal of small quirks, but that makes them unique and almost more of an artisan feel. If I want more precise consistent chips, I’ll buy Paulsons - their manufacturing process has been more automated ($$$) for much longer dictated by their production volumes and customer base. Mint, machine produced RHCs don’t do much for me, and custom Paulsons aren’t available (to most of us), so I’ll take my CPCs any day over most mint Paulsons available at that price point.

That said, I’m not in love with the “split” 6d18 spots on my secondary $100s, as you don’t get as much of the contrasting colors as I’d like, but I’m still in love with the chips. View attachment 279961

And yes, a few of my chips (pics posted earlier by Ventura) exhibit this speed bump, but it is barely noticeable, can’t be felt, and will probbaly wear down over time, oh well.
Click to expand...

Love the bikes so much.
 
Perthmike said:
4 racks selected at random from my set. Some from July 2018 and some from Feb 2019.

I swear I did notice a few when I first got my set, but looking at these 4 there are pretty much none actually, maybe a couple with a very faint bump.

Damn I love them though
View attachment 279893
View attachment 279894
Click to expand...

I'm quite concerned as to why these are in cardboard boxes and not in a nice birdcage prominently on display somewhere...
 
Thank you to all of you who have engaged in this conversation so far. I am no spring chicken to the chipping game, and can remember specifically issues like misshapen inlays and inconsistent heights/shapes being openly discussed about BCC. As both @mike32 and @WedgeRock stated above, the lack of quality and consistency would eventually factor into their demise.

Of course, with David and co having snatched ASM from the jaws of dREaD and being the last chance of hope at custom clays, the last thing I want is to see QC an issue that would prevent customers from keeping the doors open.

For those that are saying this is the lathe, I honestly thought that could've been the issue the whole time! I don't know a lot about what goes on in the back of the butcher shop, but I think @kmccormick100 pic of the Aces shows this the most clearly. And thank you for posting that!

For those that have this in their set and don't notice - all the more power to you. As I have repeatedly said, it doesn't take away from the fact that I believe the sets that I've cropped from are the most beautiful examples of what can be done on CPC clay.

For my own add ons from 2018, I actually can feel them and can notice them from across the table. Maybe mine were more severe than others, but personally, after sering this across most sets being posted as of late, it's pushing my next set of customs into the zone of playing with plastic or ceramic.

I actually think it would be GREAT news if it's simply the training of certain employees, because that means it's easily correctible! The odd thing that still sticks out to me is that a lot of the examples I see where this is lessened or non existent is the A mold.
 
I don't think this bump is something that should be expected and/or tolerated from a handmade chip.

Split edgespots I can understand, and I even appreciate them. They show that the chips were made by hand and how the materials have been pressed together. This is an unavoidable result of the manufacturing process which is cool.

This 'bump' on the rolling edge is not a result of the manufacturing process. It is an unfinished product or a defect. If these chips have gone through the same lathe as normal chips and have the same diameter (including the bump) as a normal chip, the chip is a defect. Meaning not enough material was used prior to pressing or the cup was set incorrectly and too much material was pressed out during the process, or something to that effect. If the bump protrudes out from the standard size of normal chips it was lathed incorrectly.

In either case, these chips are expensive and a luxury item. They should be delivered to the customer as such. If they were mine they'd be going back.

I may be wrong but I can't imagine how this could be unavoidable from the factory.
 
On a more serious note / tone, what I 've seen in some of the pictures (thankfully not on any of my CPC chips) is not acceptable, but I would have written to the firm's manager first.
 
Since this keeps coming up, and while I appreciate the posts saying to contact them first, let me get this out of the way - I'm not saying that I'm owed anything or giving a negative review to a product I've received. That's not the point of this. I have some of these in my set, and I accepted them.

But the rate at which we're seeing these, and seemingly starting at a certain point and increasing in frequency - something changed and I wanted to discuss it.

For instance, some people have said they don't notice these in their own sets. I notice them in their sets - to me it's very obvious. And I would like to share information and opinions about the last remaining clay manufacturer and the product they provide to the community.
 
kmccormick100 said:
Given how the chips are pressed, they come out of the mold looking like this. View attachment 279958View attachment 279959
I’m not sure on the specifics, but they essentially get lathed to remove the “flash” or excess material that creates what would be a “part line” on more common molded parts. It appears this is an imprecise, hand-calibrated process with some inconsistencies, potentially due to worn tooling, operator error, or even slight inconsistencies in chip diameter. At the end of the day, CPCs are custom chips made by hand with a great deal of small quirks, but that makes them unique and almost more of an artisan feel. If I want more precise consistent chips, I’ll buy Paulsons - their manufacturing process has been more automated ($$$) for much longer dictated by their production volumes and customer base. Mint, machine produced RHCs don’t do much for me, and custom Paulsons aren’t available (to most of us), so I’ll take my CPCs any day over most mint Paulsons available at that price point.

That said, I’m not in love with the “split” 6d18 spots on my secondary $100s, as you don’t get as much of the contrasting colors as I’d like, but I’m still in love with the chips. View attachment 279961

And yes, a few of my chips (pics posted earlier by Ventura) exhibit this speed bump, but it is barely noticeable, can’t be felt, and will probbaly wear down over time, oh well.
Click to expand...
I think this is the answer. That "part line" is naturally raised above the rest of the chip edge. When lathing, I assume the operator has to adjust for each chip or set. When they get to the middle I suspect they can "dig in" a little more to shave down the bump but at the risk of reducing the overall diameter of the chip. I've also seen some chips that are a little concave there which also fits the theory of a little heavier hand. None of it has ever bothered me on my chips but I could see there would be a limit. If is was bulged too much I suppose it would bother me.

BTW the owner of those Ace's is sure one lucky SOB :)
 
I have a set on the B mold, a set on the E&C mold, and a set on the S-Crown mold, and I haven't noticed this at all with my chips. Is there one mold that this seems to be occurring with, or is it happening across different molds?
 
Hopefully it’s easy enough to resolve. I’m sure if the guys at CPC get feedback on this then they’ll up their QCs before sending products out.
They’ll no doubt be disappointed that these have slipped through the net.
I run a small business and I’d be wanting to hear from my customers straightaway if any issues arise.
Has anyone fed this back to CPC directly and given them a chance to resolve?
 

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