Circumcised Counters

Started by GJK, June 30, 2012, 12:09:28 PM

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Crossroads

Quote from: Crossroads on December 22, 2017, 04:40:54 AM
Here in the Nordics we only clip counters :timeout: But we do that with vengeance  :smitten:

O:-)

... I mean, why would you clip mapboards? Makes no sense.

Happy holidays everyone!
Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY

Yskonyn

Circumcise all those bad boys!  :notworthy:
If they want to fight my battles, they better show up in good shape!
"Pilots do not get paid for what they do daily, but they get paid for what they are capable of doing.
However, if pilots would need to do daily what they are capable of doing, nobody would dare to fly anymore."

BanzaiCat

I had a 3mm Oregon Laminations counter clipper that I think I lost in my move. I'd like to get another one but am not sure. 3mm was a bit large but okay for my purposes. Maybe a 2.5mm? Anyone have a 3mm counter clipper and downsize by chance?

Nefaro

Quote from: BanzaiCat on August 22, 2019, 03:48:16 PM
I had a 3mm Oregon Laminations counter clipper that I think I lost in my move. I'd like to get another one but am not sure. 3mm was a bit large but okay for my purposes. Maybe a 2.5mm? Anyone have a 3mm counter clipper and downsize by chance?

My 3mm is still working just fine, although it needs an occasional lubing.   ;)

It shouldn't crap out on me for a long time, but if I were to do it again I would get the next smaller size.  Had intended to do so the first time, but they were out of stock, or something, at the time.

BanzaiCat

Thanks, Nef. That's what I was thinking, too, go a bit smaller so if I clip my older games it won't look so pronounced. 'Preciate it.  O0

Nefaro

Quote from: BanzaiCat on August 23, 2019, 11:47:03 AM
Thanks, Nef. That's what I was thinking, too, go a bit smaller so if I clip my older games it won't look so pronounced. 'Preciate it.  O0

O0

I think the 3mm is fine for most modern counters of regular or large size.  I still occasionally run into the smaller ones, though, and it's just on the edge of too much.  I think the 2.5mm (or is the next smaller size a 2?) would be perfect for all of them.

BanzaiCat

I went ahead and ordered the 2.5mm. If my 3mm shows up eventually then I at least have some counter circumcising diversity.

Philippe

#22
I recently had my third set of Oregon Lamination deluxe corner timmers break.

Normally, after an experience like this I would have a tantrum and never buy anything from them ever again.

But I really like the look of the trimmed counters, so like an idiot I went ahead and bought a fourth clipper.

I've spent some time researching my problem, and apart from the issues that I'm unwilling to discuss in public, I have a few observations.

First, most of my clippers have been of the 2 mm variety.  At the beginning one of them might have been 2.5 mm, but I really don't see how the size would have any bearing on what's been happening.

Oregon Laminations will only replace a clipper if it breaks within 30 days of purchase, so if you buy one of these things be sure to go crazy clipping as much a you can as soon as it arrives.

Second, I'm not the only person who's been having this problem.

All three of my broken clippers broke in the same way.  The bottom handle (which is made of plastic) has a small upper flap that presses down on the cutting mechanism and tends to get sheared off. 

After searching around on YouTube I actually found a video made by someone who was having the exact same issue.

He tried gluing the broken piece back on to the handle (getting the bottom handle off the counter clipper is an odyssey in itself, but good to know how to do), but it promptly broke off the first time he tried to use it.

Then he got fancy, glued the broken piece back on to the handle and bolted it in place by drilling a hole and inserting a metal screw.

This solution looks like it works, but I don't have an electric drill and I gather from the video that the angle of the hole has to be exactly right or you're back to square one.

The best solution that I head of was someone who made a new handle out of hard wood, and that apparently hasn't sheared off yet.

I the meantime I noticed that someone mentioned inserting a block of something to keep the handles from closing completely.

This set off a lot of lightbulbs in the back of my adled brain.

One of my great complaints in life is that I went to a public high school where they tended to separate students by how advanced they were and/or whether or not they were going on to college.

As a result, kids who were academically inclined were deprived of really important life lessons:  if the counsellors thought you were going on to college, you weren't allowed to take shop.

Not that I wanted to at the time, but now I really wish I had been forced to take it so that I wouldn't have to rely on others for really fundamental activities.

Imagine going through life not being able to read -- being innocent of what goes on in a machine shop is not much different.

I became aware of the gaps in my education when I got to know my ex-wife's family:  most of them were plumbers and steam-fitters from South Philly, and during conversations around the kitchen table I often felt left out (but I listened carefully and took notes).

But I digress. 

I'm not that hamfisted.  Between model-making, playing the violin, and handling antiques and ancient artefacts, I tend not to break things.  But there's a growing pile of broken corner clippers that disagrees.

I took a really close look at what's going on. 

The piece attached to the bottom handle tends to shear off when you squeeze the handles all the way shut.

But to clip a corner, the handle only needs to close about two thirds of way.

So my current approach is to insert some kind of prophyllactic block to keep the handles from putting too much stress on the flap that's prone to breaking.

My first crude attempt (not having taken shop catches up with me again) was to fasten a plastic cork from a bottle of Australian wine inside the handles with a rubber band.

The cork was a little too wide and wobbly, so I've settled on a plastic cap from a bottle of Langer's Cranberry juice.  I doesn't wobble and seems to be the right size.

So far I've clipped about a thousand counters without problem. 

I'm going to keep clipping as frantically as I can until the thirty days are up, after which I'll be holding my breathe until my counter-clipping reaches five digits.

I really wish Oregon Laminations would change the design of the inside of their handles so I didn't have to improvise something like this, or better yet, make the bottom handle out of something more durable than cheap plastic.
Every generation gets the Greeks and Romans it deserves.


History is a bad joke played by the living on the dead.


Senility is no excuse for feeblemindedness.

GJK

I have a 2mm and a 3mm OL clipper in the "original" all metal style.  Those are my primary circumcisers and they've clipped many, many counters for many, many years now.  There is a trick to using them properly however.


I also have a 2.5mm in the "deluxe" plastic style but rely on it very infrequently for fear that it will break mid session.  Plus I can't clip as fast with it for some reason.
Clip your freaking corners!
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Ubercat

Be careful how frantic you get. I seem to have picked up some kind of repetitive motion injury in my left thumb from all the clipping I've done in the last few years. Something recently has made it even worse, and I don't think I've even clipped anything in over a year.
"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labelled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago, and a racist today."

- Thomas Sowell

IronX

I can see how that could become a problem, especially with games that have a high number of counters. I try to avoid it by alternating between the left and right hands. Fortunately, a number of games I bought have pre-rounded corners (thank you, LnL).

Crossroads

Quote from: IronX on December 21, 2019, 01:40:51 PM
I can see how that could become a problem, especially with games that have a high number of counters. I try to avoid it by alternating between the left and right hands. Fortunately, a number of games I bought have pre-rounded corners (thank you, LnL).
The new LnL chits are quite neat for sure. LnL making them larger is a blessing as well, my eyesight is not getting better.

I might need to move from GMT trays to their new Ammo Crates, those look really neat as well.
Campaign Series Legion | CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 | CS: Middle East 1948-1985

CS: Vietnam DAR: LZ Albany as NVA (South Vietnam 11/17/65)  
CS: Middle East AARs: High Water Mark (Syria 10/12/73) Me vs Berto | Riptide (Libya 8/6/85) Me vs Berto | The Crossroads (West Bank 6/5/67)  Me vs Berto

Boardgame AARs: AH D-Day | MMP PanzerBlitz2 Carentan | OSS Putin's Northern War | GMT Next War: Poland | LnL Against the Odds DIY