Topic: So why are the Tornado feet shaped like they are?

[Old Meister]

 

[nogravity]

from what i've been told and seen for myself.. its mostly for the sweet spot on the foot.. thats why the toe of the foot has different ridges than the rest of the foot.. I was taught to hit the ball in to the table rather than thru the ball like on other tables..

[bbtuna]

I assume you mean the curved front part of the toe?

that story has been told on here by Edgeer I believe...whoever it is can jump in when they please

if i remember right they were hoping the curved front would help the backpin but it wasn't a tested theory...it actually made shooting the backpin harder and had another negative side effect in not letting the vast majority of people hit accurate consistent angles

[EDGEER]

Bingo! You are correct Charles.  But things may be changing, I hope.  Only time will tell if we get our angles back or not.  I made samples of a man with chaffered front  edges instead of the current round edges and they have been well recieved by Dave.  He asked me many questions about them.  If anyone that shoots banks, a push kick or does chip passes and would like to try them out and are willing to provide feedback let me know and I will send a couple to you to test.   I will post pictures tomorrow.



The one on bottom is original, the one on top has been milled with a 45 degree chaffer.



Here is the final version.

[Old Meister]

I'd love to give them a try Ed.

[bbtuna]

Ed,

definately send them to me and I can tell you about banks, angles, kicks, backpins and will give you all the feedback you want

how does the cross-cut on the face of the man change, if at all, and how does that impact brush passing because that will the the first thing people ask

so you mean it has a straight edge on the front I assume correct?

also, on the very edge of the man, there is a ridge that outlines the edge, does that need to be there or can the cross cut go all the way to the edge...I ask because it makes an impact on my back pin occasionally

same with the verticle ridges in the mans foot but i wonder how much that benefits the brush and wouldn't want that to be impacted while trying to fix the other

anyway, you can email me at backpintules@yahoo.com and i will provide address etc

call me any time
charles

[grandmaster]

I assume the back of the foot was made deliberately for catching passes as was the original assymetrical foot on the browntop rubber handle Dynamo circa '83. I think Johnny Lott designed it. The front of the Tornado foot with it's straight/curved edge for whatever reason made it difficult to shoot certain shots. This easy to use back side of the man has led to the dominance of the front pin. Once in a while a greenhorn will put a man on backwards, it works, try it. I prefer it for the brush pass this way. Maybe the answer is to go back to a symetrcal foot with a front to match the back?

[EDGEER]

That would be way to radical of a change.  I don't know if Dave Courington is serious but I think he is.  On the samples I made I increase the knurled part of the face another 3/16" to increase the sweet spot.  Who knows at this point but it looks promising.  Even with these modifications a back-pin is still goning to be tuff.  There are a lot of things working against the Tornado Back-pin, hard balls, slick plastic men and hard slick surface.  I was amazed at how soft the man material is.  Dave has been concerned about the edge mushrooming because the ball is so much harder than the man.  I think that the greater area of impact will offset the mushroom poetential. However, these modified men do make 3-rod banks possible again.

[bbtuna]

I am okay with the material of the man/ball/surface...I get plenty of control that way but the curve just creates a number of issues i won't get into here

as a matter of fact, i need to change my 32 man every so often because i wear the groves away and whenever I change it, it is amazing to me how much grip the table can have when everything is fresh...just changed my 32 as well as my 21 and 22 and it has been fun

love to help with the test, just let me know

[BruceNardoci]

Deleted. Sorry, posted reply on wrong thread.