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| My Ropewalk | ||
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| Author | Post | ||
| Norman |
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 Registered Member #1932 Joined: Fri Dec 02 2011, 10:02pmPosts: 170 | I am nearing completion of my Jhelum and in the process have made a few hundred feet of various thicknesses of rope on my ropewalk. I built it from a design by Phil Krol that I found on the Internet, it always seemed overcomplicated with weights to balance the movement of the travelling guide. I could never make it work in the way that he described as there was too much friction where the cord ran through the traveller. Also it seemed wrong to start the rope forming whilst the cord was twisting as the early part of the rope would have less twists in the cords than the end part of the rope. I wanted to produce rope that was even throughout its length. I hope what I have just written makes sense! As the time taken to load the ropewalk was the same irrespective of the length I made mine as big as I could fit in the space I had to use. It turned out to be 12' long. The main backbone is made of 3"x2" timber in 3 parts so that I can collapse it for storage.    The motor is a 12volt geared motor with an output speed of 120rpm (faster might have been better as it would speed up production, say 200rpm) 12V supply comes from an Xbox power supply that I bought at a car boot sale for £5. The third picture shows where the three cords are attached to split rings passed through holes drilled in the end of the bolts. I used a universal joint to connect the motor to the drive gear to save the need for precision in alignment. | ||
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| Norman |
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| Registered Member #1932 Joined: Fri Dec 02 2011, 10:02pmPosts: 170 | The travelling guide runs along tightly stretched cords that run the length of the ropewalk. I have to remove the cord for storage but it only takes a couple of minutes to assemble the whole thing ready for use. The travelling guide was made from scraps of material that I had laying around. The tubular guides for the cord do slow down loading the cord but I use a length of twisted brass wire as a needle to aid threading and loading only takes 5 minutes. If you are a fisherman a baiting needle would do the job. The screw eyes that run on the guide cords allow it to slide with very little friction. | ||
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| Norman |
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| Registered Member #1932 Joined: Fri Dec 02 2011, 10:02pmPosts: 170 | At the tail end of the ropewalk is a length of aluminium tube through which the three cords pass and they are tied to a loop of heavy cord on the end of which hangs my Dremel. This acts as a weight to keep the cords under tension whilst they are being twisted. To use it I load the threads and then run the motor for eight minutes, which is a time that I have found by trial and error but it does not seem to be too critical. I then switch off the twisting motor, take hold of the Dremel, keeping tension on the cords because if they are allowed to go slack at this stage the will tangle themselves. I run the Dremel quite fast and the ropes forms pushing the traveller along ahead of itself. This part takes less than a minute and it is very satisfying seeing the rope take shape. I then apply a spot of Superglue to each end of the rope before cutting it from the ropewalk. There is a tendency for the rope to twist on itself but this is easily worked out with your fingers leaving a rope that will lay flat or in coils as you require.  Here are three ropes that I have made, The first is 3 strands of upholstery thread, the second 2 strands and the third is 3 strand of heavy sewing thread. I made my anchor cable using 6 strands of upholstery thread which produced a nice soft rope that lays well. One other important thing is to ensure that you twist the thread in the same direction as it was made or you will find that it will untwist itself. If you haven't tried making your own rope have a go, it is interesting to do and does not take so long. I made 80' for my braces this morning in about one and a half hours. | ||
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| Gene Bodnar |
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  Registered Member #126 Joined: Tue Jul 21 2009, 11:20amPosts: 1782 | Norman, Great looking rope! Your ropewalk is obviously very effective. Gene | ||
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| Norman |
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| Registered Member #1932 Joined: Fri Dec 02 2011, 10:02pmPosts: 170 | Thanks Gene. | ||
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| GMintz |
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 Registered Member #197 Joined: Thu Aug 06 2009, 11:31amPosts: 25 | Hi Norman, Well done! How do you hook the threads to the dremel? Greg | ||
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| teleman |
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 Registered Member #1925 Joined: Tue Nov 29 2011, 05:32amPosts: 1275 | VERY NICE ROPEWALK NORMAN. VERY NICE OF YOU TO ADD YOUR JIG FOR ALL TO SEE... [ Edited Wed Jul 31 2013, 08:11pm ] | ||
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| Norman |
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| Registered Member #1932 Joined: Fri Dec 02 2011, 10:02pmPosts: 170 | Thanks Mario. Greg, on my Dremel I have a proper chuck so I have just bent some thick brass wire into a hook and clamp it in the chuck and hook that into the loop of heavy cord that the three threads are tied to. It would be more of a problem if I had to use the collets that Dremel originally fitted [ Edited Wed Jul 31 2013, 09:12pm ] | ||
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| Mick Wilkins |
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  Registered Member #597 Joined: Sat Jan 02 2010, 08:28pmPosts: 55 | where did you get the cogs and what sizes did you use, which motor did you use, have seen a few different plans but they all seem to miss out the important things, thanks mick | ||
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| Norman |
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| Registered Member #1932 Joined: Fri Dec 02 2011, 10:02pmPosts: 170 | You can find the gears here:- http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/m4160.html and the motor here:- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/250864125476?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D250864125476%26_rdc%3D1 hope this helps, Norman | ||
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