Portable Capstan winch rope slipping-Advice Please

[openspaceman]

2 hours ago, wicklamulla said:

i want one of those 1800 jobbies but they are about £2200!

Yes and a bit more with the offset pulley I got, I also bought a cheap ground anchor.

 

It's expensive for what it is and I bought it for a specific job pre extracting some badly felled ash on a steepish hillside prior to forwarding out with the County, in exchange for some firewood and a  daily contribution to the winch cost. The job was halted unnecessarily because of the lockdown and I think someone else will do it now.

 

So it has only  been used on half a dozen jobs felling ash by roadside and public rights of way and I am pleased with its performance. It did surprise me how much it  wound up the rope, ideally I would throw the rope off a boat and let it  unwind itself but now I run it out of the bag (100 metres of it) and back after a few uses. The torsion it puts in the rope is local to the area  of the rope coming off the drum but doesn't re distribute itself back along the rope as one might expect.

 

I have never changes the speed gear yet as the slow speed full pull is adequate.

[wicklamulla]

24 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Yes and a bit more with the offset pulley I got, I also bought a cheap ground anchor.

 

It's expensive for what it is and I bought it for a specific job pre extracting some badly felled ash on a steepish hillside prior to forwarding out with the County, in exchange for some firewood and a  daily contribution to the winch cost. The job was halted unnecessarily because of the lockdown and I think someone else will do it now.

 

So it has only  been used on half a dozen jobs felling ash by roadside and public rights of way and I am pleased with its performance. It did surprise me how much it  wound up the rope, ideally I would throw the rope off a boat and let it  unwind itself but now I run it out of the bag (100 metres of it) and back after a few uses. The torsion it puts in the rope is local to the area  of the rope coming off the drum but doesn't re distribute itself back along the rope as one might expect.

 

I have never changes the speed gear yet as the slow speed full pull is adequate.

Offset pulley,  whas that do I wonder?  So are you saying it causes excess memory effect on rope which means you need to 'work it out' every now and then? Lettuce snow if yer ever going to sell it on. K 

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, wicklamulla said:

Offset pulley,  whas that do I wonder? 

I  guess the term more often used is "redirect pulley", because the marking was sparse and did not anticipate how extraction could be done a lot of trees are felled across the slope, so a pulley needs  to be used to start the stem off and then once in the clear it can be winched straight down. In fact this can show up a slight drawback if the stem runs away down the hill and the rope becomes slack on the drum, the slack needs pulling out and then the windings on the drum reset.

1 hour ago, wicklamulla said:

 

 

So are you saying it causes excess memory effect on rope which means you need to 'work it out' every now and then?

Sort of; when you put 5 wraps on the drum you are effectively twisting the rope 5 times one complete revolution, as you winch in  the twists stay on the drum but as the rope is paying in   it means the twists are displaced down the rope as far as the rope has been winched in.

[wicklamulla]

7 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

I  guess the term more often used is "redirect pulley", because the marking was sparse and did not anticipate how extraction could be done a lot of trees are felled across the slope, so a pulley needs  to be used to start the stem off and then once in the clear it can be winched straight down. In fact this can show up a slight drawback if the stem runs away down the hill and the rope becomes slack on the drum, the slack needs pulling out and then the windings on the drum reset.

Sort of; when you put 5 wraps on the drum you are effectively twisting the rope 5 times one complete revolution, as you winch in  the twists stay on the drum but as the rope is paying in   it means the twists are displaced down the rope as far as the rope has been winched in.

ok i get it now,  thanks for the info.  

[muldonach]

On 04/07/2020 at 13:24, Melton Martin said:

I am using braid on braid 10mm polyester rope as recommended by the manufacturer. Yes, I pulling(!) hard to get the friction on the drum, and I have been using the recommended number of turns, which is 3 to 4 wraps around the drum - However, I will try more, but with too many turns around the drum I find the rope jams under itself then locks.......

 

I'll give it another go tomorrow and let you know the result......

As with many things there is a wee knack to using a capstan or a winch barrel end - you need enough turns to get the friction you need, you need a lead to the cheek of the barrel and not the centre and you need to keep an eye on the lead and if you are going to get a riding turn as you describe then you simply surge (stop pulling) the rope for a second to allow the turns to re-align on the barrel