pocket rocket

[inked_up_veteran]

Has anyone else had a pocket rocket mini vibrator fall apart on them. This is the third one I've bought. Normally I wouldn't keep buying it but it works like a charm until it breaks that is.

[funinthesun]

From an engineering standpoint --

All vibrators and bullets work by spinning a weight. The simplest example is to have a string with a washer on one end and spin the thing around - your hand moves around with weight. A vibrator just does this *extremely* fast, so it can feel like it's shaking back and forth.

This weight is usually metal, and is usually encased in plastic. Naturally, metal is stronger than plastic and inside of the vibe, the metal is hitting the plastic just like the vibe is hitting your clit. Since the plastic is brittle, the concentrated stress at corners/ends will cause it to break eventually, wherever the joints may be located within the particular model. If it is not the plastic breaking from fatigue, it is probably the power switch or adjutment since the repeated stress of turning on/off can damage the electronic connections similar to bending a paper click back and forth until it breaks.

Pretty much all engineers these days are either taught in school or told by bosses to design failure on purpose. After XXX uses, the product will fail. This is so the company can continue to sell products, and spend less time and money on design. If it is breaking after an average period of weeks with the same use, it's one of the previous problems. If it's breaking because you're using it in one session until the batteries run out and go get more juice and start up again, it's probably the motor.

If you want something that will last a very long time, it will cost more. Things to look for -- all metal components for the weight, shaft, motor, and sturdy attachments of the metal mechanics to the outer plastic/silicon shell. Qualities like these don't seem to be readily advertised, probably because most don't have them, and very few sex toy reviewers are likely to have degrees in material mechanics and know what to look for. Reviews that say "I've had it for a yr and still going strong!!!!" rarely say how often and for how long they're actually used and the actual wear and tear between your use and theirs could be the difference between a Granny's grocery car or a trucker's cross country rig.

The cheapest thing I can think of after reviewing a few major adult websites with a similar function are the Acuvibe or Hitachi Magic Wand. Both of these are <$50, and are designed by major companies for years of use as massagers. Unlike novelty "massagers" that are really only useful as a sex toy, these actually are real muscle massagers that happen to work extremely well as vibrators. Too powerful for sensitive parts? Use a light dimmer switch to adjust power accordingly. Downside - they're large. Over the course of a year I'd imagine you'd save money compared to batteries and a cheap one.

I hope this helps.

[Suki2007]

I have actually never had a pocket rocket fall apart on me - I still have the original one I purchased over 10 years ago, but the motor died in it, so I replaced it with the Devices of Desire version:

http://littlepleasures.org/devices-o...ket-rocket.htm

I like this one because it has a soft coating on it, so it isn't just hard plastic, and also it is waterproof, so you can use it pretty much anywhere.

I know there are different brands, so perhaps if you switch brands you'll have better luck. On a side note, even if you are replacing it, they are usually only around $20 or so, so at least it isn't a huge investment.

[Mr. Saint]

I am not an engineer yet, but I am majoring in aeronautical engineering and discreet applied mathematics. One of the major things that you try to eliminate when designing something is vibration. It is incredibly destructive over time. So it is no surprise that something that is designed to vibrate falls apart. Sharper Image sells a small high end back massager that seems like it would make a very good vibrator. It is about 7 inches long, rechargeable, water proof and has multiple vibrating speeds. However it is really expensive, about 70 dollars. I don’t have any personal experience with it, but it seems it would last forever. Also Suki knows a lot about toys.

[sera300]

Originally Posted by Mr. Saint

I am not an engineer yet, but I am majoring in aeronautical engineering and discreet applied mathematics. One of the major things that you try to eliminate when designing something is vibration. It is incredibly destructive over time. So it is no surprise that something that is designed to vibrate falls apart. Sharper Image sells a small high end back massager that seems like it would make a very good vibrator. It is about 7 inches long, rechargeable, water proof and has multiple vibrating speeds. However it is really expensive, about 70 dollars. I don’t have any personal experience with it, but it seems it would last forever. Also Suki knows a lot about toys.

Ok. So how do you explain the vibration in a massive air compressor and in a high HP sports car? They last very well and do what they are intended.

[Mr. Saint]

I should not have said “eliminate”, one tries to minimize vibration in any project. Of course there are times when you will always have vibration, like in any piston system. Air compressors and cars actually don’t last very long. My father is a mechanic and works on classic Porsches. He has had to replace his air compressor 3 times in the last 5 years. The cars he works on need almost constant care. These things are designed to handle the vibrations, but eventually they will all break down. If you want to see for your self, tape a small weight to one of the blades of a fan and turn it on. It will destroy the fan.

[Suki2007]

Why, thank you, Mr. Saint! I try!

[Mr. Saint]

Originally Posted by Suki2007

Why, thank you, Mr. Saint! I try!

Be careful; make sure it is a small fan and it may take a little while. Also, I have never tried it so let me know how it works.

[funinthesun]

Originally Posted by Mr. Saint

Be careful; make sure it is a small fan and it may take a little while. Also, I have never tried it so let me know how it works.

Oh man, nothing like writing long detailed engineering descriptions with real life analogies for comparison only to have things crash out and lose the post, it's like ugrad deadlines all over again. But I digress.....here's a quicky answer for the posts while I was away

Heavy duty machinery and high quality sports cars are designed to take the stress. They have little things that people take for granted like precision smoothed holes for joints, rubber shock absorbers in joints, and larger areas of contact. They also have higher quality materials that have been tested for their durability and have higher quality construction with less impurities that can act like pantyhose nicks that streak. Even then, as Mr. Saint said, certain parts break all the time, and most are actually designed to.

One of the first things taught to young engineers these days is to design failure and not overengineer things with valuable time and resource cost. I'd bet that whichever model is failing probably fails the exact same way for most people because someone said "that part's too expensive, use this, it's a cheap product, when it breaks, they'll buy a new one!"

I've seen first hand what happened when one of the largest wind tunnels in the country had a fan blade break, essentially turning it into a vibrator, and then tearing apart the entire building from the kinetic energy released from the failure cascade. Here are some pictures of a centrifuge that became imbalanced(a vibe is an imbalanced centrifuge)

http://www2.umdnj.edu/eohssweb/aiha/...osion.htm#High

Final note: Even when it's well constructed, on a microscopic scale things aren't as smooth as they look and stab/crack/break each other on impact with another surface during vibration. Modern high speed rotors now are split into sections where the highest stress section is replaceable so you don't have the catastrophic failures and have longer, less expensive life spans replacing tiny joints rather than entire blades and shafts.

*edit* Damn. Doing a quick rewrite post at 3am resulted in lots of redundant statements. Sorry about that.

[Browser]

Pitching in with the other engineers, the company making your $20 vibrator skimped as much on production costs as possible to maximize profit. This means you'll get a cheapo plastic unable to handle repeated impacts from the metal weight that causes the vibration.

Saint: an aeronautical engineer not thinking about materials? For shame. If something's breaking and you don't want it to, change your design!

Funinthesun, there are some funky plastics out there now. The high-impact ones do their job just fine against metals