Post by Ditch Fahrenheit on Jun 21, 2016 6:54:55 GMT -8
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I spoke with the cgc folks at heroes con this weekend and let them know all my concerns with submitting books; all the concerns echoed here and in past threads. They freely addressed them without being dismissive or arrogant.
1. Waves: they explained this was due to 2 separate but compounding problems.
A. With some books that had been pressed there may have been little cool down/drying time between pressing, grading, and slabbing where the books had retained some moisture and became wavy during the slabbing sealing process.
B. With all books: Use of 2 mylar leafs that sandwhich the book being cut slightly too big and more prone to warping/expanding from the heat/forces involved in the sealing process which uses a larger head that covers more of the slab when sealing the slab clamshells together.
Solution: switched to mylites which he said does a better job of retaining its form under the sealing process which reduces the susceptibility to expansion and retested with the sizing of the leafs so they claim to have completely eliminated the wave/warping issue.
2. Newton rings. Due to the properties of light and physics there is no way to completely eliminate the newton ring effect as long as you are using a process that applies enough pressure to hold a book's cover against the plastics used. This happens due to the way light reflects and refractive across 2 different mediums like a prism. Essentially what they've done is created a poor lense over the books. Perhaps if there was an air pocket or a more perfectly transparent film that didn't scatter and distort the light so much.
Solution: he implied that the switch to mylites reduced this effect and they may have done other things. Unfortunately he didn't have a sample with him.
3. Staples and pressure. He didn't have any numbers or answers for this one other than the pressure is only sufficient to hold the book in place but not meant to bind it like a pancake. He said the book isn't under that much pressure but could not say if the pressure was meant to be uniform or if they had made allowances in the slab for reduced pressure near the staples. He also stated that he has not seen a book with the staple impressions showing through the cover.
4. Cracking the slab. The slab is more difficult to crack and virtually impossible to do so without noticeably damaging the slab. He showed me the recommended way of cracking a book out without damaging the book.
1. On the new slabs there is no prying the long sides but unlike the old slabs the tops and bottoms pry enough to get a wide flat head screw driver.Wear eye protection just in case.
2. Using a wide head flat head screw driver or a Gerber pry tool he recommended you insert it at the top or bottom.
3. Inch your way towards the corners of the right side if facing the front cover. While doing this keep twisting the tool as u slide it along until u feel resistance and start to hear the plastic popping/cracking. It'll really get cracking once you round the corners and keep working your way down.
4. Be very careful along the long edge and try not to force the tool. Take your time until you have 3 of the 4 sides cracked.
He also said it helps to grab the book on diagonally opposite corners and twist until you hear some cracking and popping before getting started but that sounds really bad and like a recipe for damaging the book.
I was going to hold off submitting books to cgc and opt for the other guys at heroes con but I did end up submitting with cgc for 3 reasons.
1. I've been burned 2x at cons submitting books with the other guys that were supposed to be pressed by Joey. Both times the books were never sent to Joey and we're graded. I vowed to only submit to them if I see Joey at their booth and personally have him receive my books. I didn't see Joey there that day and didn't feel like rolling the dice again.
2. I had 24 books with me which was meant as a test batch for giving the other guys a 3rd chance since their prescreen minimum is 15 and in some cases no minimum at all. You need 25 for prescreen with CGC. She said they would allow it and would even allow me to split the prescreen levels. That little extra bit of customer service sealed the deal for me.
3. I'm cautiously optimistic about the changes and improvements made. Besides 24 books is a safe and decent sample test size rather than risking sending them thousands of books.
I turned down buying 3 HG CGC slabs that day because they looked hideous and we're obviously in the flawed batch of new slabs. If my submissions come back satisfactory they may have won me back from the other guys. If they come back hideous or with the same flaws as before, I'll send them over to the other guys and stop submitting any more books to CGC and likely only submit directly through Joey to the other guys in the future. The ball and my books are in your court CGC. My business is yours to lose.
1. Waves: they explained this was due to 2 separate but compounding problems.
A. With some books that had been pressed there may have been little cool down/drying time between pressing, grading, and slabbing where the books had retained some moisture and became wavy during the slabbing sealing process.
B. With all books: Use of 2 mylar leafs that sandwhich the book being cut slightly too big and more prone to warping/expanding from the heat/forces involved in the sealing process which uses a larger head that covers more of the slab when sealing the slab clamshells together.
Solution: switched to mylites which he said does a better job of retaining its form under the sealing process which reduces the susceptibility to expansion and retested with the sizing of the leafs so they claim to have completely eliminated the wave/warping issue.
2. Newton rings. Due to the properties of light and physics there is no way to completely eliminate the newton ring effect as long as you are using a process that applies enough pressure to hold a book's cover against the plastics used. This happens due to the way light reflects and refractive across 2 different mediums like a prism. Essentially what they've done is created a poor lense over the books. Perhaps if there was an air pocket or a more perfectly transparent film that didn't scatter and distort the light so much.
Solution: he implied that the switch to mylites reduced this effect and they may have done other things. Unfortunately he didn't have a sample with him.
3. Staples and pressure. He didn't have any numbers or answers for this one other than the pressure is only sufficient to hold the book in place but not meant to bind it like a pancake. He said the book isn't under that much pressure but could not say if the pressure was meant to be uniform or if they had made allowances in the slab for reduced pressure near the staples. He also stated that he has not seen a book with the staple impressions showing through the cover.
4. Cracking the slab. The slab is more difficult to crack and virtually impossible to do so without noticeably damaging the slab. He showed me the recommended way of cracking a book out without damaging the book.
1. On the new slabs there is no prying the long sides but unlike the old slabs the tops and bottoms pry enough to get a wide flat head screw driver.Wear eye protection just in case.
2. Using a wide head flat head screw driver or a Gerber pry tool he recommended you insert it at the top or bottom.
3. Inch your way towards the corners of the right side if facing the front cover. While doing this keep twisting the tool as u slide it along until u feel resistance and start to hear the plastic popping/cracking. It'll really get cracking once you round the corners and keep working your way down.
4. Be very careful along the long edge and try not to force the tool. Take your time until you have 3 of the 4 sides cracked.
He also said it helps to grab the book on diagonally opposite corners and twist until you hear some cracking and popping before getting started but that sounds really bad and like a recipe for damaging the book.
I was going to hold off submitting books to cgc and opt for the other guys at heroes con but I did end up submitting with cgc for 3 reasons.
1. I've been burned 2x at cons submitting books with the other guys that were supposed to be pressed by Joey. Both times the books were never sent to Joey and we're graded. I vowed to only submit to them if I see Joey at their booth and personally have him receive my books. I didn't see Joey there that day and didn't feel like rolling the dice again.
2. I had 24 books with me which was meant as a test batch for giving the other guys a 3rd chance since their prescreen minimum is 15 and in some cases no minimum at all. You need 25 for prescreen with CGC. She said they would allow it and would even allow me to split the prescreen levels. That little extra bit of customer service sealed the deal for me.
3. I'm cautiously optimistic about the changes and improvements made. Besides 24 books is a safe and decent sample test size rather than risking sending them thousands of books.
I turned down buying 3 HG CGC slabs that day because they looked hideous and we're obviously in the flawed batch of new slabs. If my submissions come back satisfactory they may have won me back from the other guys. If they come back hideous or with the same flaws as before, I'll send them over to the other guys and stop submitting any more books to CGC and likely only submit directly through Joey to the other guys in the future. The ball and my books are in your court CGC. My business is yours to lose.
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