I just received my R-331 and R-701 clippards in the mail and was wondering if the R-701 is supposed to feel “rough” when turning? Comparatively, when I turn the R-331 it feels super smooth and fluid, but the R-701 feels like it’s rusty or has grit in the threads. I checked and didn’t find any (once I recovered the ball bearing that popped out).
Just wanted to see what others’ experience with the knob of the R-701 was.
I just checked mine (purchased from GBFans in Feb 2020) and they’re the same. R-331 on the pack is super smooth, R-701 on the wand isn’t. It still turns fine, but it feels a lot more like metal rubbing against metal. Could probably add a few drops of shaver oil or sewing machine oil to lubricate the R-701 but given that it’s just a decorative component I’m not too worried about it.
My guess is the internal mechanisms on these are different so they feel different when opening/closing the valves, rather than it being some kind of manufacturing defect or poor quality batch (you’d probably have to ask someone with a vintage R-701 how theirs feels in comparison to the modern variants but they might be the same).
Perfect! That is the confirmation I was looking for…
Now to decide which gets the smooth turner and which gets the r701…
Thanks!