Hey, I just wanted to throw a fair warning out here for people who use the Vise-IT system.  I tried to bake my Mutant Cell in the oven earlier this year (temp was probably too high to be completely honest) and when I pulled it out and it cooled down my thumb slug would no longer fit in the ball... took it to the pro shop and we tried sanding down everything but to no avail, I actually to drill out the system and put a new one in.  I moved on and put it out of my mind, knowing not to do the oven again.

 

Then a few days ago, I got curious, and decided to take an old ball with the IT system and try the hot water bath that everyone likes to do, figuring that would be safer than the oven process mentioned above.  I filled the bucket with hot tap water, threw in some Dawn, and let the ball sit for about 30 minutes before pulling the ball out and wiping it down.  I did this twice before getting all the oil out, and set the ball out to dry.  Within that time I did another old ball (they were in the same bag, why not?!)  When I pulled the first ball out I put the thumb slug in it and let it sit there while it dried.  The second ball sat next to it with nothing in thumb.  Now the second ball is experiencing the same problem as the Mutant Cell back in the day did above, sadly it looks like I'll have to get another thumb fixed.  I guess anything over 100 degrees actually warps the plastic sleeve or maybe the inner contraption inside and shrinks the diameter of the hole?

 

The ball that had the thumb slug in it the whole time has had no problems, I guess because its in there it prevents the sleeve from warping?  I'm a ball junkie, so paying $30-40 per ball at the shop can get pricey, I never had problems before installing the IT system either.  Have any of you guys experienced this problem?  If so, were there any alternatives?