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TGreene
Trad climber
Jonesboro, Arkansas
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 30, 2006 - 03:55pm PT
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
The Orange CCH Alien cam that was reportedly involved in the Paradise Forks incident, has turned out to be dated 10-05, rather than the highly publicized date of early 2004. This information has been verified the by the Coconino County Sheriffs Depart both verbally and in photographic form, with Dave Waggoner of CCH, during CCH’s own internal investigation. It is however still unknown if this unit was clearly dimpled.
The window of the recall was 11-04 to 12-05, thus any Alien cams date coded during this period should be tested, dimpled or not.
CCH will tensile test customers’ Aliens, of any manufacture date at no charge, to ensure that they will withstand a fall. Testing is done to 2/3 the rated tensile strength. After testing, all cams are currently being identified with a “Tensile Tested” stamp on the main swage above the loop. We will test and return cams to our customers within 1 week of receiving them.
Please attach your complete contact information to each unit being returned for testing, to facilitate a speedy turn-around.
Dave Waggoner
Colorado Custom Hardware Inc.
115 East Lyon Street
Laramie, WY 82072 USA
(307) 721-9385
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andanother
climber
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Aug 30, 2006 - 04:03pm PT
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The window of the recall was 11-04 to 12-05
wow. that one sentence should be enough to keep anyone from buying another Alien ever again.
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Forest
Trad climber
Tucson, AZ
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Aug 30, 2006 - 04:15pm PT
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I have to disagree. Obviously, all the aliens made during that window are not crap or we'd have a whole lot more failures. This says to me that they are erring on the side of extra caution, which is a good thing.
Now, I've got serious issues with the way CCH has handled some issues, but it sounds like this one is being handled well at this point.
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TGreene
Trad climber
Jonesboro, Arkansas
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 30, 2006 - 04:26pm PT
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I've been working VERY closely with CCH in regards to the investigation and PR surrounding this reported failure, and we are only now making an official statement, because it was vital that CCH have as much verifiable information as possible.
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Aug 30, 2006 - 04:30pm PT
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Just curious:
Did they (CCH) recall all aliens from that period or just the dimpled ones?
Did they (CCH) suggest the testing of all aliens from that period or just the dimpled ones?
Thanks,
Tom
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Aug 30, 2006 - 04:44pm PT
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So I went and reread the original recall notice...they (CCH) do not suggest non-dimpled cams have problems or should be suspect....
from http://www.aliencamsbycch.com/recall/faq.html
1) Which CCH cams are affected by the recall?
You can identify the defective cams by looking for a small center punch dimple at the base of the round ball (where the axle goes through the cable eye). If your cam has this punch dimple, it should be returned to CCH for a replacement or repair. Mail your defective cams to: Colorado Custom Hardware Inc. ATTN: Brazing Recall 115 East Lyon Street Laramie, WY 82072
6) Have there been any reported or tested stem brazing failures of cams without the "center punch dimple?"
No, cams without the center punch dimple have not been found to have brazing issues and are not included in this recall.
so is this new info? are now all aliens from that time period suspect?
Thanks,
Tom
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Forest
Trad climber
Tucson, AZ
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Aug 30, 2006 - 04:46pm PT
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Hmm. That's bad. I stand corrected.
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TGreene
Trad climber
Jonesboro, Arkansas
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 30, 2006 - 04:52pm PT
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[/me mode]
I simply can't answer that for ya... I wish I could.
The recall notice on their website does state 11-04 through 12-05 and mentions the dimpled units, but it also takes into account all units sold during that period, by mentioning "about 4,100" units.
Also, being that the recall was initiated because of a failed Orange, and this latest is also Orange and within the same date coded range.........
It's critical to note that IT IS NOT YET KNOWN IF THIS WAS DIMPLED OR NOT, yet CCH is pro-actively widening the scope of their own recall to stipulate that all cams manufactured during that period should be tensile strength tested.
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climbingbuzz
Trad climber
SF, CA
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Aug 30, 2006 - 05:40pm PT
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Why is the above information (ALL cams made from Nov04 - Dec05 are included in the recall) not on the CCH website?
The website states:
"No, cams without the center punch dimple have not been found to have brazing issues and are not included in this recall."
Why would Waggoner not change his website before this information winds up on an Internet forum?
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shogun
Trad climber
MSP, MN
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Aug 30, 2006 - 05:50pm PT
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cch is notorious for being slow to update their own website. seeing as tgreene posted this a few hours ago. i would treat tgreene's post as an update to the cch recall notice on their site. you can always call the number given on the post if this recall update affects you.
-=glenn=-
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TGreene
Trad climber
Jonesboro, Arkansas
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 30, 2006 - 05:56pm PT
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Eventually (as in whenever I get the requisite server info) I'll be redesigning their website to be as up-to-date as possible, in regards to just about every aspect of CCH and Aliens.
This too was heavily discussed this morning.
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andanother
climber
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Aug 30, 2006 - 06:13pm PT
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It's really unfortunate that guy is still making cams, and apparently will continue doing so.
Overall, most people in the climbing community are very respectful of each other. And this guy is really taking advantage of that. It sucks.
He's making shitty produsts and putting lives at risk, just for a buck. The world is plagued by people like this, so I'm not that surprised.
But he really stands out in the climbing community as being a greedy scumbag.
I imagine the only reason this recall has been enacted is because (hopefully) someone finally threatened legal action against CCH.
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up2top
Big Wall climber
Phoenix, AZ
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Aug 30, 2006 - 08:25pm PT
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Dave has needed a PR person to do the talking for CCH for years, now. I will continue to use any and all of my CCH cams, and will likely buy from him in the future, but he could have avoided a lot of the confusion and uncertainty the climbing public has had with CCH this past year if he recognized that he is an incompetant boob when it comes to dealing with the public. He needs a spokesperson to handle public statements and to handle the decision making process of how they deal with QC issues.
Ed
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Stoney Point
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Aug 30, 2006 - 08:33pm PT
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Seems to me one could make a hydraulic jack to proof load their cams.
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Aug 30, 2006 - 08:35pm PT
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I don't know that 'hydraulic jacks' are what's called for.
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Aug 30, 2006 - 08:50pm PT
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Well, I picked through my rack and rechecked my aliens. All 18 of them.
2 are in the affected date range.
1 has no date at all.
15 outside the date range.
Trying to decide if I should send in 3, or if I should send in 18...
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John Mac
Trad climber
Littleton, CO
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Aug 30, 2006 - 10:02pm PT
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Send them all in!
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John Mac
Trad climber
Littleton, CO
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Aug 30, 2006 - 10:02pm PT
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Send them all in!
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TGreene
Trad climber
Jonesboro, Arkansas
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 30, 2006 - 10:23pm PT
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I agree, but I wouldn't worry about sending them in twice! ;-)
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TGreene
Trad climber
Jonesboro, Arkansas
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 31, 2006 - 01:31pm PT
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The original photo's and documentation as provided to CCH by the Sheriff's Department were forwarded to me this morning...
I have resized and cleaned up the images for clarity, but have also included the original images exactly as I received them, as links below. A close examination of the 2nd image would indicate the distinct possibility of it actually being a dimpled Alien.
http://www.great-river.com/cch/082606_1%20(20).JPG
http://www.great-river.com/cch/082606_1%20(31).JPG
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