Winston Tongco
Oakley Beginner
- 16
- 53
We'd do just that.. Thanks guys for the help (& for the private messages)! watta sigh of relief
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HELP!!! Badman hinges
- Thread starter Winston Tongco
- Start date
Winston Tongco
Oakley Beginner
- 16
- 53
Planning of getting a Madman myself but with what happened to my Badmans and yours .... i'd stick with my Mars for now
That's the best bet. Stick with the Mars. Madman should be going on sale soon as well. you can probably pick one up for a fraction of the price in a few months if you're still set on getting one.
As far as your Badman, I agree with everyone else. Go through warranty. It sucks that Oakley has known about this problem and refuses to do anything about it. Winston Tongco
Oakley Beginner
- 16
- 53
I got my Mars Crater for about $120 way back 2005... & now some are selling as high as $995.. As you can see, there's value keeping these original X-metals..
I'd be having these mixed emotions with what's happening with the current X-metals if it won't live up to its current value.. but then again.. value or no value, if it feels good wearing it, who gives a funk.........
Let us know what happens with Oakley warranty.
I doubt these current "X-Metals" (NeXt Metals as we call them), will hold their value. But you are right as long as you are happy, that's all that matters.
They are already marked down to around 280.00 now... Winston Tongco
Oakley Beginner
- 16
- 53
For those who have time to read. A brief history on how X-metal started..
"When it came to X Metal, we didn't even know of the problems. All we had to work with was the dream of an artistic metal frame."
In the early '90s Jannard conceived of sunglasses with sculptured metal frames that weren't made out of the usual wire or stamped alloy. After years of intermittent research split among his employees, Jannard settled on making the glasses out of an alloy from the titanium family because titanium is lightweight and hypoallergenic, and it has a better strength-to-weight ratio than other metals. "Then we had to find somewhere to manufacture it."
Jannard plunked down about $7 million in 1996 for all the X Metal equipment and the 62,000-square-foot facility, which used to be a golf-club factory.
"But we were still asking ourselves if we were going to be able to really make these frames," says Reyes, the company's goateed vice president of R&D.
Most businesses that use titanium farm out the manufacturing because working with the metal is so tricky.
"I tried to discourage Jannard from fooling with it. None of his people had casting backgrounds," says Bob Geisendorfer, a consulting metallurgist who has specialized in titanium for three decades. "Apparently that wasn't going to get in his way."
Jannard wanted control of the process so Oakley designs wouldn't be hobbled by any manufacturing restrictions. After much trial and error, X Metal frames were born in 1997, using a technique called investment casting.
The entire assembly is dipped into a series of tubs containing particles and polymers that ultimately harden into ceramic coatings. "Now comes the climax," says Reyes. We walk into a dark, industrial workspace where men wear silvery fire-retardant suits and welding masks. They're milling around in front of giant furnaces, concrete bunkers, and enormous steam machines.
"We call this place Hades," Reyes says.
"Four hundred fifty thousand watts of power!" exclaims Reyes. On the screen we watch the 4,600-degree alloy pour into a funnel feeding the gates that channel X Metal into the molds. When the tree comes out of the cylinder, it's white-hot.
The process is far from over. After computer-controlled drilling, belt sanding, and a temple-by-temple inspection for air bubbles on a $100,000 real-time X-ray machine, the lenses are popped in and the finished products are boxed up. About 70 employees at the X Metal facility put out 7,000 to 10,000 pairs of sunglasses a month, which is slow. (Some low-end, offshore sunglasses factories produce as much in two days.)
"But that isn't the only reason we pursued X Metal," says Reyes. "It was the thrill of trying to invent a material, an aesthetic, and a manufacturing process all at the same time."
Read full article here
Supreme O Winston Tongco
Oakley Beginner
- 16
- 53
Let us know what happens with Oakley warranty.
We'll do that.. I'll send it over to my sis who lives/goes back & forth to California & Vegas.. see what happensSimilar threads
