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).
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).
Statistics: Posted by prodestrian — May 16th, 2024, 5:51 pm