Ultra Leicht kit for Henry Circus Diabolos

[JC]

In the other thread "Finesse gen 2 or henrys circus with tuning kit by akrobat" http://www.diabolo.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9975#9975 I got two beautiful feedbacks from JGherkin and jelen. Many people who tested them were amazed by the easy weight (my personal meaning is that this could be also an advantage for women and I hope to see more women playing in future diabolo ) and the nice design. Nobody which had bought one of them came and wanted the money back, and one was also stolen from the traders table.
I am playing only with one diabolo and so it would be helpful for me that I could get more feedback from other people which are playing with two and more.
I also gave some kits to very good players that they should test them very hard and when I will get a feedback from there side I will keep you informed. My last point is that in the next three or four days you could find my web site under the new adress http://www.diabolonet.de

[Matt_]

i wish i'd gone to EJC, i would've picked one up...

so has anyone else tried these? i was wondering what other people would think of it...

[JGherkin]

Just feeling curious here, JC, what are your reasons for replacing the round pieces of metal (are they just a large extra washer?) with plastic ones? Is there some kind of mechanical reason involving material types acting upon one another or is it just to lessen the weight on the diabolo?

[JC]

Hi JGherkin,

the reason for the replacing of the big washers (50X6,4mm) made out of aluminium to the plastic ones (45X6,4mm) was the weight reduction (about 50%). The big washers are necessary anyway.
A positive secondary effect is, that you have now only two different materials to connect the diabolo; aluminium and POM, therefore you could get no e-corrosion. The orignal ones uses steel (axe), alu (big washers) and brass (small washers and the hat nuts).
One kit which I mounted on the EJC for an italien guy I found this effect (the hat nuts and the small washers out of brass) had a nickel surface which was peeling away, but I don´t know wheater he lives nearby the seaside or the diabolo falls inside the sea?
By the way the weight of the original kit is 88g, the modfied by me 38g.

In your last statement for the kits you mentioned that you regret that they are only in black. If I would make a second series perhaps I will manufacture some in white colour.

[Jim Brennan]

About 2 weeks ago I purchased 3 Ultra Leicht Kits from JC.   He sent them out right away and I received them in 4 days!  I had tried contacting the 4erlei site about their hubs, but never received an answer.

I was basically sold on the profile picture on the web site:
http://www.diabolonet.de/

The kits turn Henry Circus diabolos into a grinder's dream as well as making finger grinds so possible.  The kit makes the throat of the diabolo a smooth transition into an inner circle as seen in the profile picture.  They fit nicely leaving no rough edges.  Converting my diabolos was fairly easy, but I did need to tighten them firmly.

The open axle allows for a wrap on the axle with-out the usual 'Henry' wrap-up.  Running two seems a little different, but I do agree that over-striking for correction often doesn't cause complete failure.  I'm still getting used to two of them.

This is my first experience with a wide open hub[1], so I can't compare.  I'll have these with me in Davenport, IA USA for their regional festival November 4, 5, & 6.  I hope to check out other styles while there.

Later,
Jim
|)><(|

[1] Well, I do have one of the first Finesses with the wide axle, but I think the Ultra Leicht Kits in the Circus are much better.

[kai-kaffeepause]

It´s really good with the new axle. I played my henrys circus about 10 years and some things are very easy with the Ultra Leicht Kit. the lower weight is also very nice....so pimp up your diabolo with this stuff.
Kai

[JGherkin]

I may have discovered one possible downside to these but I'm not sure.  I was playing around with alot of vertax on the last bristol weekend and when dropped when completely vertical I often found the nuts loosening.  Enough to become completely undone after maybe only 3-4 completely vertical drops.  However seeing as this was the first real load of vertax I've played with it may happen with original axles as well.  Probably look into putting some locktight or something on them.

[Chiok]

I saw this happen and it looked kinda cool with the top cup still spinning.  I've got to be an expert on Loctite by now with the amount of it I've seen at work.  If you never ever want it to undo, put Loctite 638 on it, or 603, for a good hold, 243.  Of course it'll mean you'll have to leave your diabolo alone for 12 hours while it cures, but it'll never come undone on you (hopefully).  Of course you could just do them up tighter, screw threads can take alot of abuse, it's the nuts you're more likely to shred.

Chiok

[JGherkin]

I tried doing them up tighter and i got quite worried when it slipped and made a nasty noise so i left it alone after that and when back to normal diab lol

[JC]

Hi JGherkin,

I want to know the reason why, so please help me to solve this.
Please test whether the nut is defect or good. You could do this with the old steel axe and the hat nut from your original one. Screw the hat nut on one side, and screw the aluminium nut from the other side, if you couldn´t fasten the aluminium nut, she is defect. Give me please for this case a feedback.

[Matt]

Well, I jumped on the bandwagon also.  Jurgen and I talked about it and we hit upon the deal where I would try a couple out, and if I liked them, then I could pay for them.  

Right off the bat, I loved the weight.  Finesse-like, but maybe just a tad more.  I found them a bit more stable than the Finesse wide axles.  As Jugen promised, hand grinds and grinds in general are simply marvelous.  

Excalibur is different, with the cup shape changing the way I make corrections.  Excalibur genocides are a little different, but that could also be the weight difference.  I'm still getting used to them in this area.

Love them with 2 diabolos.  360 fans are much easier with the lighter weight.  

3 diabolos is a challenge, partly because I still suck at it and partly because the wider axle can lead to greater wobbles on a hand-tossed 3 high start.  I suspect anyone with true 3 diabolo skills would not have a problem.  

Overall, I'm really stoked on them, and I purchased 6 total for myself.  I also put a link to Jurgen's site on my website as well, because I think he's got a good thing going here.  I still love the 4erlei axles a great deal (they come in white, I've never had a problem with them, etc...), but it's sounding like you can't get in touch with the maker anymore.  That's a bummer....

Respect to Jurgen and the other axle makers.  I'm still tempted by the firetoys.com sets, but for now I'm going with Jurgen's axles.

 

[Matt_]

hey JC, i tried these out, and i liked them a lot. the shape is pretty hilarious looking...but performance wise, i have one main gripe. they fall off balance really easily   just doing some regular stuff they seemed to unbalanced, and i think the culprit is the bolt that runs through the center..

if you fix that bolt and make it so that it's 100% balanced (i.e. how the regular henry's screws have stoppers), i will buy definitely buy one, probably two.

[Sean]

JC was kind enough to send me an Ultra Leicht kit as thanks for the forum (oh the perks ) Now that I’ve had a couple months to play with it I thought I’d try to present an unbiased opinion here…

Overall pros:

This hub makes the diabolo feel smoother on the string than any other diabolo axle/hub combination I have tried
The best finger grinding diabolo I’ve ever tried (and none of that hot metal problem you can get with wide axled finesses)
All the other advantages that come with wider hubs or axles: mainly less string rubbing on the cups which opens up many possibilities
I have had no problems tightening the axle or getting everything centered despite the use of plastic washers. This is in contrast to my Henrys ultra light regular width kits that I still haven’t got to stay tight or be centered.
This kit reduces weight around the axle (as any of the lightening kits do) thereby improving rotational inertial properties and therefore stability.

Con:

You loose some stability just as you do with any wide axled diabolo
Some people may just not like the feeling of a wider diabolo

JC has also sent me some pictures of 2 new hubs he has designed: one that is standard width but with the same curved design and another one for the Jazz. Also, white hub fanatics take note – the Ultra Leicht kit is now available in white. See JC’s avatar for an example. I am very keen to try out the normal width rounded design. Here's a little preview pic before JC gets his website updated:



Anyways, I think JC is on to something good here. It's also nice to see someone who cares about diaboloing himself pushing the (otherwise often stagnant) diabolo equipment development process and do so with quality well thought out products.

Sean

[martijn]

Yeah , I had a play with Arjan's at this years EJC, and I absolutely love them. The play really smooth, and fingergrinds are very nice with them. Besides, Henry's Circus is my favourite diabolo!

[fredo]

I played them in Karlsruhe and they're great!

btw, he'll put a new site online soon (he told me).

[OLOBAID]

Hi JC!
i agree with sean that the diabolo evolution should go on and i believe you do good on it! i know its really hard work to make juggling props if you want to make qualityproducts and i think such effort should be honored!!!
i'm very interested in the axles shown in seans post are they already availible?

Edit: ...and is it possible to make them compatible to finesse lightkits?

[JC]

Yes, the "Ultra Leicht Kit" is available in black and white,
and you could see them in the next days also on my website...

With the Babache conversion adapter it is also possible to put the evolution 4
onto a circus diabolo.

You know surely how hard it is to make something new and I hope diabolo evolution
is still going on

[OLOBAID]

what ist the name of the ultraleicht kit with normal width?
dont know if you are into lightdiaboloing but what would you think of a trade: a pair of lighthandsticks for a modified circus?
if i like it(i think i will),i'll probably buy 2 more...

[martijn]

I think you're better off making your deal via PMs or e-mail Peter

[JC]

We should choose the way Martijn suggested,
in German, on diabolotreff.de

[ChrisC]

I am very keen to try out the normal width rounded design. Here's a little preview pic before JC gets his website updated:



Anyways, I think JC is on to something good here. It's also nice to see someone who cares about diaboloing himself pushing the (otherwise often stagnant) diabolo equipment development process and do so with quality well thought out products.

Sean

I just heard from JC that my standard width kits have been shipped.  I'm also very keen to try them out.  I'll be sure to post a little review when they arrive.

[OLOBAID]

I got one of JC's moddified Circus(normal width like shown above) and i dont like my Finesse anymore...

for me this Diab is choice No.1 because of:
- it combines the advantages of wide axxled and normal width diabolos
- its absolutly balanced and spins a bit longer than finesse g2
- its a super flyweight which is a ease on the wrists,even with the babache lightkit-adapter its a tiny bit lighter than the finesse(this adapter is also from JC)
- it looks supersweet
- its great that JC sells the Circus already modded, so i dont need to spend money on hubs i would never use, cause i dont like the normal Circus!

10 Points out of 10!
yoho, i will renegade from finesse to circus

[JC]

It was a long way from the mud of Ptuj (ejc2005) were I startet selling
the Ultra Leicht Kits till today, when I could announce that my web shop is ready.
You could find it under

http://www.diabolonet.de/

The shop is mainly related to diabolo equipment,
but you could find also some other juggling props.
In the next days I will insert the rest of the missing
descriptions in german and english.
Shipping is worldwide possible...

[JC]

@miesta

here are the pictures of the washers,

the white ones


and the black ones


delivery with the white ones is standard, if some likes black washers inside his diabolo, let me know...

[JC]

Some time ago I made a short video with a finger combination,
viewable at Youtube,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeP6S5gldsI