Rigging Advice

[ArborOdyssey]

On 08/10/2020 at 11:24, Rich Rule said:

@ArborOdyssey 

 

Hello mate.  Yes I splice myself.  Not for a while though. 
 

I don’t tend to do the splices any differently from climbing lines to Rigging.

 

BUT then again I don't tend to follow factory instructions.  I have never had any splices break tested but have discussed it at length with people who have.  A friend in the UK has slightly modified DB splices and had them tested, when I say modified I mean simplified.  Certain steps make the process of the taper and bury easier to pull and finish.  The new measurements  are far greater than the normal recommended fid length.

 

eg, 12mm climb line - 12 inch fid length.

 

16mm rigging line - 16 inch fid length.

 

As for the taper I would have to dig out my splicing book for the strand pattern for removal.

 

Used rope with a tight cover are a pain in the rear end.  I don’t splice hitch cord as it isn’t worth it IME, it makes the hitch cord a bit too stiff at the eye and affects the function of the hitch.

 

A couple of my splices.

 

I tend to do rigging splices with larger eyes, apart from the one in the picture as It was a request for a friend.  The theory being a bit more rope in the eye with allow a bit more loading than a tight eye.  (int the event of shock loading, but we all know and never do it ;))

Interested in hearing your thoughts on that.

 

 

 

Re taper- I don't know how big a deal 'pattern' is, so much as how gradual a taper it is (TBH, on some earlier splices I aimed to make less smooth tapers IE to kinda 'show' where the bury ended, liked that 'look' on them, then learned that in fact if pushed to fail the weak-point on such splices[all splices?] is right at the point in the main rope where the bury ends, so if you have a really abruptly-ending tail, the 'outer' rope / main body of rope has to make that much steeper of a change in overall diameter over a shorter distance, so I think time would be better spent on making longer tapers than 'patterns' per se although clearly some kind of varied pattern would be best, I imagine you could 'optimize' more but I'm now just doing longer buries and making sure the tapers are super smooth, by making them longer but with same tapering it effectively 'smooths' the taper-transition for the outer/main rope )

 

I'm gonna include some snaps I took because, seeing your stuff, I suspect I think like you in many ways of building these, and would be interested what you thought of mine.  Seeing yours, a few things pop out:

- I'm suspecting you're using block as primary rigging point?(tried rings yet?)

- What do you lockstitch DB splices with?  I fought a lockstitch into one polydyne(3/4) sling, would never do it again and have 'mentally degraded' that sling's strength at least 10% because of fighting that lock-stitch into place (I milk/check/tighten my splices before use anyway so don't worry much on lock-stitching DB stuff)

- Do you know if anyone's checked how well friction hitches perform under dynamic shock loading?  I'd LOVE to incorporate them into my rigging (beyond the 1 spider-legging sling I have to add to my 5/8 p.dyne rope as-needed, has yet to occur lol) but suspect, and can't find info to the contrary, that their strength #'s wouldn't be nearly as high a % of static-ABS as, say, normal 'shock loading'....would really like to learn because I'd love using prussiks way more in my rigging it'd be so useful!

 

 

Following are many of my splices, you can see I hold Polydyne in same esteem you seem to   Though I included it as a pic (made it 1st pic), I since moved my Safebloc to a 3/4TEC whoopie (the 15' 3/4 polydyne was so unwieldy I didn't use it as much)  I should note that I'm no longer going to use double braid for rigging-slings, instead choosing 12S, after some talk on Buzz re popping hardware out of the cordage, while it's unlikely the reality is that double braid splices are better off with a smoother angle at the eye//throat intersection, which is the opposite of what we want on rigging hardware IE super tight groove grip, so the brummel splice with 12S cordage is the best 'type' of rope the way I see it now since brummels are very much able to take hits (see Ultraslings) so I can make tight brummels like I did on my pair of Lrg rings or the Safebloc (will also say I only used the 3/4 TEC on lrg rings because I dissembled a flawed, premade x-sling, and had the stuff on-hand, I disagree with using 3/4 in the Lrg rings I don't think their groove is wide enough or tall enough for that matter, though I have used it w/o issue and will til I order more cordage!

 

 

BTW I can't speak highly enough about the "snake anchor"(as I've been calling it ) which is the two-XL's sling, it's 3/4 polydyne obviously but it's 9.5' long, so with 1 sling I'm often able to use it as-if it were two separate slings by 'spreading' the rings in a canopy (and, in basket formation, you're getting the strength/ABS of two legs of that 26k, highly dynamic Polydyne, talk about a bombproof sling!!)  I used the xl ring from the 3-ring for one ring, and ordered an Elevation Canada for the other which was <$50, shipped, and is same height but 10% wider than the XL x-ring   If I had any need for more slings (have more than I need already rofl) all the hardware would be through them, excepting multi-hole hardware which, to my surprise and dismay, is still limited to 2 products by 1 company the Safebloc & the THT..

 

(BTW yes I did bother splicing Mercury, did 4 of them....LOVE the cordage - disclosure, I did get some free from Samson but that was after being clear I was gonna purchase it regardless so it was a nicety, not a 'try this' - used SPLife's Drenaline instructions, modified for strand#'s of course, and it worked a charm but jeebus splicing kernmantle at least that way of doing it isn't worth it and, w/ Mercury being 8.5k ABS, I'm fine w/ knots anyway as it's still stronger than my spliced Blue Moon, which I still use since I use 2 ropes and the different colors help, will certainly be buying blue Mercury once my Blue Moon is finished though!!)

[2 rope SRT, using 2 "squeezers"/treesqueeze-type lanyards, lets you limbwalk places you never could've because you can spread those squeezer anchors wide and wrap around multiple unions that, individually, may not've been sufficient   Similar enough concept to the 'snake anchor' idea, just spreading force in the canopy, letting you do more, further   2 color setup like this made for nearly zero mix-ups when I started the 2-rope thing]

Edited October 30, 2020 by ArborOdyssey

[MattyF]

Wrong thread !