Hi People,

I bought a set of Phoenix Cups and Balls (PC&B) on Ebay last week. I have not had the time to use them yet but I have been reading about some of the pros and cons of using these cups. During the reading, I came a cross a post stating that the PC&B take a tennis ball inside. The question is how well does the tennis ball have to fit in the cup? Using mine with regular tennis balls I cannot lay the cup flat on the table with tennis ball in it. Is this normal or should I ask for an exchange?

Thanks,

QH.

I thought tennis balls fit in quite comfortably. I have not tried that in a while but I thought it was an easy fit.

Frank

I PM'ed you.

We'll be posting a picture of the final Phoenix Cups II by the weekend. Boy these were a bear to overhaul without changing the look drastically, but I have to say, they were a lot of fun to work on, a real challenge.

The first release of the Phoenix Cups II will be in copper rather than stainless due to cost of current surgical stainless and we want to see how the reception to the market is.

The issues fixed was the rocking, the attic space, the mouth bead and last but not least the tennis ball as a final load.

We would like to thank Tom Frank for allowing us to undertake this project, it's been a long haul, but fun and worth every minute we put into it.

Jake

QH,
try sending a private message to Tom Frank or use the link on the auction you won these from. It's only fair that Tom address the issues if there are any. I looked at the ad on the auction site and didn't see any mention or photo of the cups with a Tennis ball in the Phoenix cup.

Jake

Hi People,

Thanks for the suggestions and advice. I think that it would be wonderful to hear from Tom Frank regarding whether or not his cups take a tennis ball. Hopefully he would read this thread and respond accordingly.

I will try to locate Tom Frank to ask him about it directly. Having said that, I want to point out that I am merely inquiring about the expectations that I should have from my cups in terms of their normal, average performance. I believe this is what this forums are all about. Regarding the auctions not showing or mentioning a tennis ball inside, I do not think that is the issue here, or at least not for me. If out of the 1000 sets that were made, mine is the only one that does not fit a tennis ball, I think that I have a problem.

I suspect from Jake's second post that a fraction of the sets do not have cups large enough to fit a tennis ball, as an issue that does not exist cannot be fixed. The question is how large that fraction is. So far, the people that have responded have or have had sets that hold a tennis ball and mine don't, this is why I posted.

Thanks,

QH

Sorry I don't have a tennis ball around to try in my set right now but they don't look big enough to me! I did try a regulation baseball and it won't fit. I don't know if that's a help to you. Mike Rogers Baseballs are a breeze. Hmmmm maybe we know why so many were on Ebay?

You might also want to contact the ebay seller with this concern. Maybe he will be understanding and offer to help. I don't own a set, but as far as I knew, they are supposed to take a tennis ball, and I believe Tom Frank uses tennis balls occasionally. I think he shared a photo here on the Café that showed that.

Mine aren't big enough for a tennis ball and I don't theink the Magic Inc. Cups they're based on will take one either.
I'm anxious to see the reworked cups and might have to pick up a set to add to my collection.

I too would like to know more of the reworked phoenix cups...very interested indeed am I, I almost bid on the last two sets, however the more I hear about these new phoenix cups the better.

When will they come out?

How much will they be?

Can I get them the next day...perhaps sooner...perhaps asap?

johnny

My Phoenix Cups don't take a tennis ball, either.

I guess I was wrong.

I used to send each set out with three tennis balls. I would put the tennis balls into the cups for shipping. I find this rather odd.

I checked my Phoenix cups and they still take a tennis ball. Must be a variation in the tennis balls. If your cups won't take a tennis ball, try a lacrosse ball.

Take one cup to a sporting goods store and try different balls in it. Some of the training baseballs are perfect in these cups, as well.

Greetings and Salutations,

I use an old set of tennis balls on a regular basis in my set and have no problems. Now, the tennis balls are not out-of-the-can new, but I can't see where even that would make much difference in their size.

That's my $.02 (USD) worth. YMMV.

Joe in KC

If they do take Tennis balls, (it seems there's a slight variation where some fit and some don't) then maybe your old Tennis balls have less "fuzz" than new ones and that's why yours work and other's don't.

I know tennis balls can lose their internal pressure after a while. I wonder if "flat" tennis balls have a smaller diameter than fresh out-of-the-can ones?

Frankly I wouldn't try to load tennis balls they are tougher to palm and load. Size DOES NOT MATTER THAT MUCH... it is the change from the little balls to something else and somewhat bigger, but they don't need to be so huge you can't handle them.

What you need to do is start using the cups and get comfortable with their balance and feel and THEN decided what the loat items should be. Potatoes or Lemons/limes... whatever.

A lacrosse ball will plunk right in there.

I have a few lacrosse balls and I also noticed the plunking phenomenon in mine as well.

But then I think I sold them to curtis.
Something makes me think we're all just running around buying each other's
stuff over and over again.

Now I'm wondering if I've bought some of my own stuff.

I bought a set of Phoenix cups from Tom on Ebay, and they did not fit the tennis balls.

I wrote to him, and he said he'd check his sets to see if they would fit, to do an exchange or, if I wanted, he would give me a refund.

He then dropped off the face of the planet, in spite of my repeated emails.

I'll be in Seattle a few times from here out, and so I hope to talk with him when I'm actually in his hometown, to see if he will just give me a refund at this point. I really would have liked the cups as described, but I guess I don't want to reward his not returning correspondence and dropping the ball.

I will post again if the situation is resolved favorably, but at this point, it really has been a while (and I mean a LONG while) since I last heard from him, and so it is worthy of mention.

If anyone knows him, and wants to tell him I am still hopeful about him contacting me, I appreciate it.

Cheers!

First of all, let me thank everyone for their great advice and comments. I think that Pete Biro makes a great point aobut performing the cups and what I should be focusing on right now. However, wouldn't you agree that there are 2 issues here: One, is whether you should be concerned with the size and nature of the load, particularly at this stage; the other, is whether your cups are capable of taking a particular load. I agree that what makes the load work is the difference in size respect to the little balls. However, wouldn't you agree that a larger load makes the effect more deceiving? In addition, imagine that you just bought a car that is advertised to do 0 to 60 mph in 5 seconds. Perhaps you would never have to do that, and if you are learning, there are more important things to work on. However, wouldn't you be concerned if your car fails the test?

Thanks,

QH.