Re: ShopTalk: shaft flex v.s. frequency

[Bernie Baymiller]

Charlie,   Yes, I've been in contact with Dave on the calibration problems...tough nut to crack, but I like Dave's initial thoughts on an adjustable arm to which the spring would be attached. I sure don't have any more than a shade-tree-mechanic's background in the kind of math those engineers are getting into.   I did a little experimenting with shaft profiling with my NF2 over the first 10" of the tip and came up with some interesting curves. The shafts that I hit best plotted out in a lazy S-curve. The worst were much more linear. Kind of fun, but not sure what I learned from it.   On the other hand, shaft matching is absolutely a breeze on this machine. I can match, align and mark a customer's broken shaft for trim in under a minute, I think (never really timed it, but it's fast)...just look at the original deflection in my computer records, snap in the shaft and slide it to the same deflection, mark for tip trim and NBP/spine alignment and I'm ready to trim. Little more figuring for a set of irons...choose base shaft, figure tip sensitivity, choose slope and figure target deflections....then it is as fast as above. A lot of fun to do, too...as long as I don't have to make a living doing it. :-)   Deflection seems to be a lot more intuitive process than frequency...measures the amount the shaft bends automatically on the weakest side of the shaft...just what you want to aim at the target, since the shaft wants to bend that way. It's also a great tool to judge the quality of a shaft, since it not only locates the NBP and spine locations, but also tells you their magnitude in a few seconds. Players may like the feel of Harrison, UST and Graffaloy shafts, but they sure are poorly made for the money. I've seen many proprietary shafts under $15 that are better built and more consistent shaft-to-shaft. On the other hand, SK Fiber's Pure Energy shafts that I use seldom have a spine magnitude over .006" deflection, or about 2 cpm. You can stick this shaft in the hosel in any alignment and it will perform well.   The NF2 is certainly worth every cent I spent on it. If we can lick the calibration problems and compare numbers, we can set our own standards for deflection and say to hell with the shaft industry's lack of them.   Bernie Writeto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]   From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2002 7:16 PM Subject: Re: ShopTalk: shaft flex v.s. frequency Bernie    Dave T I believe is working on something to remedy the dial indicator issue. The Nuefinder I believe is not only faster than frequency but is also more indicative of how the shaft actually performs. You have to remember that frequency alone is only measuring the stiffness from the butt end. Unless you match both tip and butt frequency you are only getting half the picture. I was so cpm orientated that until it was explained to me how a shaft has to be matched along its length and that the tip was as or more important than just butt frequency. My friend Steve who is an engineer as well as a clubmaker is probably more knowledgeable in shaft geometry than most who work for the shaft companies. I am fortunate that he is able to communicate it to me (a non-technical) in language that I can understand   Charlie B