Company worth is very subjective based on reputation, inventory, outstanding collections and yearly income. The most simple aspect is most recent yearly gross income and often this is nearest to the final buy-out. With Dave sick for so long the income may have dropped dramaticly, not to mention all the other issues of late, and this could create a very big divide between the percieved value by the current owner and a prospective buyer. I would not want to purchase any of the existing stock, either; just the tools, design and rights to the name. Therefore you do not have an income until you make your own cams and that de-values the price further.

Sorry, hadn't checked Gunks in a while...

Yup, broke what, 30 or so of them up at R&S ages ago? Results got posted over on RC and I think there is a link here in this thread as well.

I've got a big pile more that people sent me sitting at home as well, but I've had some technical issues with the puller that have kept me from doing it. Basically certain brands of cams would deform/scrape the knurling from the fixture, resulting in me having to redo the knurling over and over again. Total PITA as it takes ~2 days of machine time for each plate to do it. By the time I found a way around the problem (case hardening the fixture) Dave@CCH's health took a turn for the worse and I wasn't about to kick the guy when he's down by doing more testing. I figure doing it now while Nadia's trying to sell the company is also inappropriate, so for now I don't think I'll be doing much more with this. I'll probably break the ones I have when I find myself with time to kill and playing with the puller anyway, but I doubt I'll publish the data.

-a.

That sounds like an appropriate approach. Thanks for the work you've done.

Not to resurrect a fading thread...but alot has been said overe the year(s) about this cam or that (and, their inherent reliability/unreliability), the question remains as to which cams are folks using these days?

So...what's on your rack?

(I admit to still having some rigid stemmed Friends, an Alien or two and a few smaller TCU's)

Aric - maybe break some non-Alien cams. As I'm sure you recall, the dearth of tests on TCUs and other small cams was one of the criticisms of your earlier work. I totally respect your sensitivity re. Nadia and CCH, but I don't see how busting a few other units would be an affront.

Aric - please do alert people when you've got results to report, even if you're not going to formally publish them. I'm still interested! And while the timing might not be great in terms of reporting or publishing, you can certainly continue to do the work on your own private time, regardless of current events. Mike's suggestion is also good.

AOR, I was completely turned off of Aliens by the cross-sectioned picture; we'll NEVER know what's inside any given unit. Scott and I have been using BD C3s, but we're not crazy about them; they're certainly not a replacement. I have a blue Metolius 4-cam (Mastercam?) in the green Alien range, that I've been steadily liking more and more. Might pick up the ones smaller and larger. I guess one of the benefits of coupledom is that we can justify two sets of things.

I've added .3(x2) and .4 C4s to replace my green(x2) and yellow aliens. They work great.

I also added R&G C3s... don't like them much, they seem very unstable and tip out too easily for my tastes. I guess I could always clip them with a long runner but that doesn't always make sense.

The B&Y Mastercams work well enough. I miss the range, but they're fine.

I also have the B&Y Zeros, but never use them much when I had my aliens. Probably should start using them again.

For small gear, 90% Aliens (all tested by me), then Metolius TCUs, BD Micro camalots, and one of the new Metolius Mastercams.

GO

@Mike & Julie- Have no fear; I'll absolutely be breaking and reporting on the non-CCH stuff (got quite a pile of that too). Probably won't be terribly soon seeing as I have a baby coming on Monday, but it's on the short list.

-a.

You go Aric! Much luck and praying it is a great event for you all.