Custom Bats Cricket Forum
Companies => Off-the-shelf companies => Bellingham & Smith UK => Topic started by: GDP1964 on November 02, 2014, 02:43:51 PM
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B&S are looking to receive and commission there machine early December.
The machine can be fully automatic or manually operated
Certain areas of the bat can be targeted for longer periods of knocking
Different firmness of knocking can be adjusted to certain areas of the bat
The total no of hits can be adjusted per bat
After speaking to Paul Bradbury in Australia his comment to me was that any bats he has made and has been put through his machine his return % has been ZERO
An option of knocked in service will be added to our site any bats bought through our site will attract a £10.00 pound charge
Any bats not purchased through us will be charged out at £20.00 inclusive of return postage
Any manufacturers interested in bulk price please don't hesitate to contact me
Regards
Gary
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That is a great price . So do you oil the bats before knocking ?
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Yes all our bats will be oiled before knocking in if its not one of ours and it has a scuff sheet attached we obviously won't oil
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After speaking to Paul Bradbury in Australia his comment to me was that any bats he has made and has been put through his machine his return % has been ZERO
I would argue this is a mute point.
This could be more of a comment on his returns policy than the quality of the machine knocking process.
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We are not saying your bat won't break crack or split because it been through the machine what Paul was saying that all bats that were made by him and the customer requested the knocking in service he is yet too have one returned
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Interesting stuff would a short video be available, rather than posting here which I appreciate is probably not something you'd be keen on maybe show at the vitas event with the kit launch?
Thanks!
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I will post a video here and on our web site once the machine is installed hopefully we can compare a non knocked in bat and a knocked in one at Vitas can't promise though
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Would there be a discount if I sent 4 bats at once?
All oiled & scuffed so would just need to be left unattended on the machine (I would've also knocked the toe and edges myself so an even knocking is all they'd need) :)
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B&S are looking to receive and commission there machine early December.
The machine can be fully automatic or manually operated
Certain areas of the bat can be targeted for longer periods of knocking
Different firmness of knocking can be adjusted to certain areas of the bat
The total no of hits can be adjusted per bat
After speaking to Paul Bradbury in Australia his comment to me was that any bats he has made and has been put through his machine his return % has been ZERO
An option of knocked in service will be added to our site any bats bought through our site will attract a £10.00 pound charge
Any bats not purchased through us will be charged out at £20.00 inclusive of return postage
Any manufacturers interested in bulk price please don't hesitate to contact me
Regards
Gary
Hi Gary, how does it round / "bone" the edges?
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Hi Gary, how does it round / "bone" the edges?
Do you personally bone all the bats knocked-in in-store Paul, or does everyone who works in the shop get to bone their fair share?? ;) :D
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I have a silly question, since nothing is a 100% lets say this eliminates the returned bat by 95% then would the avoided cost of a returned bat (not usable again) and having to ship out a new one, customer service impact (time, money and reputation of brand/ retailer) not justify having this service offered free of charge? that would/attract more customers increasing sales and profits!!
I am not financially/economically savvy but having worked on large capital projects I know that sometimes the putting in a little extra value add for no extra cost to customers will diminish the expense incurred by returned product and gain you more customers.
Don't know if what I am trying to say here makes sense to anybody but to summarize eat the cost of the machine knocking, offer it as a value add, gain more customers and recoup more in avoided cost of damages bat.
Good to have a machine like this nonetheless, would love to see it in action via pics or video
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Not a bad idea Tushar. Perhaps limit that offer to your own bats though, otherwise you'd get everyone sending in 3rd party bats and you'd end up knocking in bats all day. You could still charge for bats that you didn't make/sell.
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Paul I will answer your question once the machine arrives and has been
commissioned.
Imran my intention is to be knocking in bats all day wether they are mine or a 3rd parties
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@ B&S: Is this same machine from some company in India and machine is called Knock knock?
@Tushar: I think you can find the video of the machine at work on this website.....I am not sure if B&S is talking about the same machine or not.
http://www.smarttechindia.com/ (http://www.smarttechindia.com/)
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The very one
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Would this be useful for a bat that is ridiculously hard pressed? Ie would this eventually "open the bat up"?
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Would this be useful for a bat that is ridiculously hard pressed? Ie would this eventually "open the bat up"?
I dunno, feels wrong to knock in a bat purely to 'open it up'. I think netting with it is more effective, as this will loosen the glue in the handle, which will make the bat vibrate less, and essentially make the bat feel better on a whole. If a bat is a dud, no amount of knocking is really going to make it any better. You may as well get as much value for money as you can out of a firmer pressed bat and use it in the nets when you've had it prepared properly. One thing I've found is that if you face a new ball with a GM, it makes a cracking sound!
I think that there was an article which was talking about how older bats which were slightly firmer pressed took a while to delaminate, but was worth the playing in as it showed that the bat was at its very peak. (I think it may have been Ramprakash talking on bats) Many professionals also like it when the handle is just about to go, which is when the bat feels like it performs the best.
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I tell you what, this machine would pay for itself pretty quick. At their price roughly being 2000 GBP, 20 quid a bat would pay back pretty fast, not including LHP etc. If I did not live in a London flat I would buy the machine and undercut the market...... if only...
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Here in USA, a store is charging between 50 & 90 dollars for knocking using this machine..... tempted at first then thought, its off season would take my own time to knock the new Aldred which i got couple of months back......but bigger question would be how long you should be knocking the bat on the machine?
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Is this the same machine hammer cricket got recently I saw a video of theirs
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Paul I will answer your question once the machine arrives and has been
commissioned.
Imran my intention is to be knocking in bats all day wether they are mine or a 3rd parties
Please do, Gary. I have spoken to a couple of people who have got them and they said that it couldn't be done on theirs. Just curious if knocking-in machines may have moved on.
We probably spend more time on the edges than any other part of the bat when knocking-in bats, so if a machine can't save us from the majority of our work when doing the job, I doubt we would ever invest in one...
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Andy I have spoken to 5 different people and the feed back was that they feel the machine was beneficial to there Buisness B&S are purchasing this machine to better there product and provide a service to others who don't have the time to prepare their gear. I am not trying to sell these machines we are only purchasing one .
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I do believe hammer have purchased one although I can't confirm it
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If it's good enough for Paul Bradbury then it's good enough for me
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Andy I have spoken to 5 different people and the feed back was that they feel the machine was beneficial to there Buisness B&S are purchasing this machine to better there product and provide a service to others who don't have the time to prepare their gear. I am not trying to sell these machines we are only purchasing one .
I understand that, Gary, and I think it's better to provide this service than no service, but in my opinion it isn't a complete knocking-in service if it can't round the edges! Personally I wouldn't feel comfortable in taking a customer's money for a knocking-in service, handing them the bat when done and telling them: "it still needs an hour on he edges - did you want to buy a mallet to do that yourself?"
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I understand that, Gary, and I think it's better to provide this service than no service, but in my opinion it isn't a complete knocking-in service if it can't round the edges! Personally I wouldn't feel comfortable in taking a customer's money for a knocking-in service, handing them the bat when done and telling them: "it still needs an hour on he edges - did you want to buy a mallet to do that yourself?"
You could always round the edges Paul before you put a bat on the machine, would still be quicker..
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The edges and toe are the weaker point of the bat and we spend more time knocking those areas than the middle
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So would it still not be quicker to use the machine for the face of the bat and then use the mallet for the edges? Might take a bit longer than using the machine for everything but it's still an improvement on doing it all by hand.
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I want to see a video of this machine in action. The only ones I can find have been recorded on a potato.
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IJC raises a very valid point. I am sure BS would have thought about it also and may be already plan to do the rounding edge bit manually. It doesn't have to be 100% machine knocked it.
As long as the bats are getting fully knocked in.
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I may have missed it, but has Gary actually said he isn't going to round the edges? he's purchased the machine to benefit the business and improve the product. if he decides to round the edges or not that's his choice. its also his choice how he uses the machine etc. I remember Paul Bradbury telling me at the trade show that retailers were wanting it done on his bats. he told them that he hasn't had any issues and if they want them wounding they can do them themselves.
I must admit ive looked at these but its just not beneficial to me at the moment. it does look a good bit of kit and id be interested to see it working if you get chance Gary?
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So would it still not be quicker to use the machine for the face of the bat and then use the mallet for the edges? Might take a bit longer than using the machine for everything but it's still an improvement on doing it all by hand.
Good point, but I think my main issue is that if I pay a four figure sum for the machine, and then another four figure sum to get it shipped to London, I would be a bit miffed if this machine only does about half of the knocking-in job for me...
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I understand that, Gary, and I think it's better to provide this service than no service, but in my opinion it isn't a complete knocking-in service if it can't round the edges! Personally I wouldn't feel comfortable in taking a customer's money for a knocking-in service, handing them the bat when done and telling them: "it still needs an hour on he edges - did you want to buy a mallet to do that yourself?"
Is it a handpicked mallet :D
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Good point, but I think my main issue is that if I pay a four figure sum for the machine, and then another four figure sum to get it shipped to London, I would be a bit miffed if this machine only does about half of the knocking-in job for me...
Depends on how you look at it Paul. You might say that it allows you to knock in twice as many bats as you only have to do half the work manually. And a four figure sum for machine and shipping is less than the salary you pay someone, who you could now have selling or distributing instead of knocking.
I guess it just depends on how you look at it and what value you see it adding to the business.
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Depends on how you look at it Paul. You might say that it allows you to knock in twice as many bats as you only have to do half the work manually. And a four figure sum for machine and shipping is less than the salary you pay someone, who you could now have selling or distributing instead of knocking.
I guess it just depends on how you look at it and what value you see it adding to the business.
don't forget about the storage and maintenance costs, too! At least human beings can round the edges... :)
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don't forget about the storage and maintenance costs, too! At least human beings can round the edges... :)
I'd have thought it cost more to store and maintain a human though, Paul??
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I'd have thought it cost more to store and maintain a human though, Paul??
Depends on the human, and where you store them... :)
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I guess I should have assessed thee machine before posting so once it has been put through its paces a up date will follow
Regarding edges my whole life working with cricket bats a 5 min either side with the wife's rolling pin is all I have ever done and have found that this is more than enough to play with this only my thoughts though
Regards
Gary
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I guess I should have assessed thee machine before posting so once it has been put through its paces a up date will follow
Regarding edges my whole life working with cricket bats a 5 min either side with the wife's rolling pin is all I have ever done and have found that this is more than enough to play with this only my thoughts though
Regards
Gary
I use the rolling bin and bath method mate :D
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Knocking in a new bat today .. Will use the rolling pin :)
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I use the rolling bin and bath method mate :D
I have always used the bath method and have never had an edge crack...As Gary said 5 minutes or so is all it takes then hammer face, toe and right to the edge with the mallet
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The Machine arrived on Friday un packed Friday night and assembly started Saturday was very pleased that the bench holding the machine has passed the test to date electrics very quickly connected not so quickly was the righting up greasing and cleaning of various runners and shafts . Next up was the old faith full bat being used as the Guinean pig clamping hitting and adjusting served it purpose well as to date 10 bats have been put through and in my op ion much better after than before .
The Edges can be done as the head can be tilted to various angles it travels from toe to splice and then traverses approx 10 mm from shoulder to shoulder and then travels from splice to toe and so on until the width of the blade has been covered .
You set the hardness of the hit by moving the hammer up or down and the speed of the machine is controlled by a dial .On one particular huge ASSEGAI 3 star which was quite soft it did leave marks across the entire blade a slight sanding made it smooth again .
Overall very pleased and CONFIDENT IT DOES THE JOB
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Sounds like a result... I personally would love to see a vid of this in action. more personal curiosity than anything else.
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I will attempt one me and technology not well suited😃
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sounds good Gary. i imagine it'll be really useful