lowering equipment

[RPA]

I know it nowt to do with our regs bt just had a look at A&S of Practical Rigging and it just says steel recomended due to dynamics etc.

[bob]

now i think about it....aluminium rigging pulleys are available....and seeings as using a steel krab with an ali pulley is a big no no, that would suggest to me its OK to use ali

 

looked at that though frames are ali steel is used in all the pins and shaftes on all pulleys i own

[High Scale]

Steel krabs for heavy rigging, steel tends to bend under heavy load where as aluminum tends to break, aluminum krabs are fine for lightweight stuff but I tend to use steel anyway.

 

Not that I know what I'm talking about.

[Buzz]

Providing the ratings are right use which ever suits. Don't mix steel and ali as Steve said. I allways use steel though lol

[Pete Mctree]

I'd look at the rating of the krab not what it's made of. If the ratings are equal, in theory they will fail at the same load, just one will bend and the other fracture. Either way youv've screwed up!

[Marc]

Not that I know for sure, as far as i'm aware its o.k to use ali, only that its reccomended to use steel as it makes it easier to distinguish between lowering kit and climbing kit.

 

And someone I worked with who just came off his 10 week course said we should'nt be using swing cheek pulleys for lowering, only as redirects?

 

I sometimes use prussik pulleys for lowering small bits over obstacles!

[bob]

Steel krabs for heavy rigging, steel tends to bend under heavy load where as aluminum tends to break, aluminum krabs are fine for lightweight stuff but I tend to use steel anyway.

 

Not that I know what I'm talking about.

 

thats about where i come from but then how come my grcs has an ali bollard and an ali backing plate to the capstan which are mounted onto a steel frame so as people have pointed out not to mix ali and steel crabs WHY

[Steve Bullman]

i dont think an ali block mounted on a steel plate is a problem, rigging with a steel krab onto an ali pulley would be bad as an example.....the metal krab could cause damage to the softer ali pulley

[treediver]

As long as youve figured the total potential load of the pieces your droping and so know working load limit of your lowering system then theres no problem using ali if there within your limits.

[tockmal]

do i have to use steel carabinas

 

It depends on how heavy your loads are - during this removal, I used a Mongoose climbing biner with a pulley for redirecting my rigging point. I felt comfortable doing this as the loads were very small, if I'd had a steel biner I would have used it instead.