UKC

I have just bought another Master Cam in size 0 (purple) and when it turned up I was a bit perplexed as it does not have any ridges in the cam head/lobes. All my other Master Cams have them even the 00. This seems wrong.

I've emailed Metolius and the response was:

"The smaller sizes no longer have grooves in them. This was done to increase the cam stop
strength."

Can any engineers (or cam designers!) explain this to me. I understand the logic about a greater contact surface but the ridges seem like a good idea to have a bit of 'bite'

Answers on a postcard!!!!!

In reply to APuddy: They are there for show and show alone. Someone decided it would be a good idea originally, now everybody has to do it because it's what people expect... defect is a rather strong word for something that's unnecessary.

In reply to APuddy: What mike kann said.

In theory I guess there's more surface area between the cams and the rock without the ridges.

In reply to mike kann:

Thanks Mike. I was just questioning if it was a defect as all my other Master Cams have them, even the 00, and it just stood out like a sore thumb. And, if I didn't ask I would always have a wee niggle in the back of my mind when making marginal placements.

Metolius have been very responsive and have just replied:

"No need to replace your existing cams with grooves, they are fine. We made this inline
change so we could relocate the cord hole thereby strengthening the cam stop
location. It's not a "safety" issue, just a fine point in manufacturing detail. The grooves
on smaller cam lobes don't do anything anyway, they're just for appearance."

Hopefully this may help anyone else with the same concerns in the future.

In reply to APuddy: It's funny how perception changes with time. I guess there might be a marginal improvement in iced cracks, but then cams in iced cracks are pretty marginal anyway!