Illegal discs and Illegal things

[Solty]

or..... (shameless plug)

order from Marshall Street as the re-weigh everything.....

[Craig]

Considering I've never met one person that does, I highly doubt it's half. I know it's not 99% either, but the % I'm sure is very high.

I don't personally know anyone who has bothered to weigh a disc, either. I don't think DGR is very representative of the DG community as a whole (certainly at least in my community), as I don't even know anyone else who throws a gazelle - and only a few Wizards and 1 or 2 Predators.

[reallybadputter]

One of the other things to be really careful about is how accurate your scale is.

Sure, it may read to the nearest 0.1 gram... but unless you are spending a lot of money on a scale or are using a balance, they aren't that accurate at all.

Looking at scales that are available through McMaster-Carr... the generic ~$80 scales with somewhere in the 2 lb to 2 kg max range have accuracies of +/-4 or 5 grams

If you want it much more accurate than that you need to either drop $250+ or you need to be using a double or triple beam balance.

Your typical kitchen or postal scale is generally not required to be horribly accurate...

Because your scale says it is 184 does not necessarily mean that it isn't 179g

Just some food for thought...

[chiggins]

Why would you not want to know that it REALLY weighs?

Because then I couldn't throw it if I knew it was illegal. Ignorance is bliss...

Wasn't this an issue for American players at the Japan Open a few years ago? I remember the scenario being something like: they showed up with a bunch of Innova 150 class stuff that weighed more than 150g, which not only violated regulations but would have been against the law to throw, and they had to play with brand new, unseasoned discs.

Here, I think the presumption is that if the manufacturer writes 175 on the disc, then it's not on you if it's not.

[Star Shark]

Yes, it was a big issue. Innova had given many of their players 150g plastic to work on a few months before the tournament
and they get there and most of the discs are weging 154-156g. They had to be thrown out and given new ones which were within spec. So those 3 months they spent beating in the original discs was a total waste and they and to work with brand new plastic at the tournament.

[Jsw]

One of the other things to be really careful about is how accurate your scale is.

Sure, it may read to the nearest 0.1 gram... but unless you are spending a lot of money on a scale or are using a balance, they aren't that accurate at all.

Looking at scales that are available through McMaster-Carr... the generic ~$80 scales with somewhere in the 2 lb to 2 kg max range have accuracies of +/-4 or 5 grams

If you want it much more accurate than that you need to either drop $250+ or you need to be using a double or triple beam balance.

Your typical kitchen or postal scale is generally not required to be horribly accurate...

Because your scale says it is 184 does not necessarily mean that it isn't 179g

Just some food for thought...

This is why I haven't purchased a scale and worried much about the disc weight. I generally order my drivers in the mid to high 160s area. So if they are actually +/-5 grams it doesn't bother me.

I don't trust cheap instruments much more than the weights that Innova/Discraft/Gateway claim the disc is from the factory.

shut up and throw

[cjskier]

One of the other things to be really careful about is how accurate your scale is.

Sure, it may read to the nearest 0.1 gram... but unless you are spending a lot of money on a scale or are using a balance, they aren't that accurate at all.

Looking at scales that are available through McMaster-Carr... the generic ~$80 scales with somewhere in the 2 lb to 2 kg max range have accuracies of +/-4 or 5 grams

If you want it much more accurate than that you need to either drop $250+ or you need to be using a double or triple beam balance.

Your typical kitchen or postal scale is generally not required to be horribly accurate...

Because your scale says it is 184 does not necessarily mean that it isn't 179g

Just some food for thought...

Just check to see if it is off then. Put a nickle on it, it should weight 5 grams. Put 20 of em on it and see how close to 100 grams you are. The cheap $20 scales dealers tend to use(500g cap.) are usually fairly accurate. Check for your self.

[Mason65]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if your scale is off for one disc, wouldn't it be off by a similar margin for all discs? My scale seems to weight everything about a gram heavy, so I know a disc is good as long as its not more than a couple grams off.

[MR. WICK]

What is the use of having a rule that will never be enforced?

[Frank Delicious]

Am I on the PDGA boards because I feel like this topic has been discussed to death.

[Chuck Kennedy]

What is the use of having a rule that will never be enforced?

Liability for one. If someone gets injured and it can be shown the disc was overweight, that puts the responsibility more on the player and the manufacturer, not the PDGA. Even more magnified in Japan where the overweight discs are illegal.

[JimW]

What is the use of having a rule that will never be enforced?

If the PDGA didn't have the rule on it then there would be no reason for manufacturers to keep the weight limits where they're at. While the rule may not be enforced at tournaments it does prevent overweight discs from being intentionally made.

[Danforth]

I tried a Banger GT in ESP plastic and found it to be too slick. I stuck it in a sand-blaster with coarse blasing media. It made the sides tacky and grippy in a hurry, it also took away some of the stability.

I've also experimented with VHT traction compound mixed with acetone. It makes flat-toped discs domey!

[Roy]

What is the use of having a rule that will never be enforced?

Liability for one. If someone gets injured and it can be shown the disc was overweight, that puts the responsibility more on the player and the manufacturer, not the PDGA. Even more magnified in Japan where the overweight discs are illegal.

I never got the Japan rule... If I pick off some guy walking down the fairway, am I going to do any less damage with a 150g disc?

[ChUcK]

If I pick off some guy walking down the fairway, am I going to do any less damage with a 150g disc?

Yes. Mass = Inertia, which is a measure of how difficult it is to change an object's motion. The more massive an object, the harder it is to change its motion (in this case, it takes more work done by the skull on the disc to stop its flight). That "more work" is equivalent to "more skull damage".