I think... that if you pull the whippen out a bit... then a couple things are changing that are not mentioned here. Or at least the only one in the ball park has been pointing at the jack center. If you leave the jack unadjusted after the move... then of course its going to be well back of its origional point... and no one would question that that essentially puts the knuckle farther out on the shank. But we DO realign the jack... but in doing so we change its angle. Thats going to change the force vector down to the actual point on the whippen thats supporting the load... namely the spot where the jack is connected to the whippen. The whippen is a bit of a complicated lever really... because tho its easy conceptually to think of the cushion / flange center / and jack top as our three points of interest in figureing its leverage... one actually needs to take into consideration the jacks angle to the jack center... and its length from the flange center into consideration if one wants to get real precise. Not only that.. but you have to get into the starting angle and ending angle of the whippen as a whole. Overs makes a big point of that on his site. So... really I have to go with Jon here. The change in apparent leverage is because of vector alignment. One also will experience a change in friction. In anycase.. the whole whippen spread discussion is more a matter of keeping the jack at a proper angle to the hammer shank when the action is at rest and properly regulated. For a given blow distance... there isnt much room for repositioning the whippen in the first place. Otherwise you will create friction problems at the jack / knuckle. Cheers RicB I shimmed a rail out today and yes, the UW & DW dropped. I don't attribute it to improving wippen ratio but vector alignment. If I kept moving the rail back I'm sure the numbers would degrade. -- Regards, Jon Page LET'S GO RED SOX
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