Making your own Ropes

Phillipsart · Wednesday at 1:10 PM

Ted Robinson said:
That kinda sucks. I feel your frustration. I glad you got a sample of some beautiful scale rope done prior to the machine having a problem. Please keep us posted once your back into making rope again.

Yes. Very frustrating. I should have been more careful, I thought I was. But obviously not enough.

I’ve since sourced a store in Australia that sells the complete motor and gear assembly that yellow in the latest images I posted and purchased that. Should arrive early next week. The only thing I’m not sure if the gearing ratio is correct. Time will tell.

paul ron · Wednesday at 1:22 PM

one convenience is standard parts are available. too bad the machine has such cheap gears or rather stress sensitive parts.

your results do look very nice.

hope it works out for ya.

Phillipsart · Wednesday at 1:29 PM

paul ron said:
one convenience is standard parts are available. too bad the machine has such cheap gears or rather stress sensitive parts.

your results do look very nice.

hope it works out for ya.

I made sure I ordered lots of spare gears. Unfortunately time frame is 4 weeks away before the gears arrive.

I’ve since found the complete unit with motor, case and gears here in Australia. I ordered today, should arrive early next week. The only issue I’m not sure if the gearing in what I purchased is correct. Time will tell. I should be back up and running next week.

The gearing on this gear and motor assembly I ordered is 1:48. Could be a little fast. But it is controlled by a pot. So it should not be an issue.

Phillipsart · Wednesday at 1:36 PM

I would have liked to see a feature incorporated into this PL4 rope making machine that protects the gearing in case the thread on the bobbins tangles. instead of stripping the gears. There needs to be a fail safe feature that takes up the extra load.

Maybe these gears are the stress relieving point. In this case spare gears should be supplied with the unit. Otherwise the gears can be purchased on AliExpress

Phillipsart · Friday at 12:03 PM

Today I made the spur gear using Fusion 360 and 3D printed the spur gear using my 3D printer with ASA filament and it’s working.

Ted Robinson · Friday at 2:54 PM

Phillipsart said:
Today I made the spur gear using Fusion 360 and 3D printed the spur gear using my 3D printer with ASA filament and it’s working.

View attachment 579564

It will probably last longer than the original

Ted Robinson · Friday at 5:33 PM

Now that I've ordered the books I can't wait. First won't arrive until the 3rd of March the other hasn't shipped. I found a new rehab clinic. That says I can build my boat while I'm in rehab. And the doctors here have , I believe, found the root cause of my continuous COPD exacerbations. Their is a bone spur on the inside of my neck at the same level as the epiglottitis that is preventing the epiglottitis from sealing when I swallow. This is causing me to aspirate liguids when eating or drinking. Hence the source of the infections. Simple fix. Learn to eat differently than I have my entire life. Small bites. Small sips of liquids. Started a series of exercises to strengthen the associated muscles and a cure could be found anyway I'm excited to get out of the hospital, back to my boat and possibly and end to these reccuring flare-ups. I hoping a solution soon presents itself to @pugwash.

Phillipsart · Friday at 7:15 PM

Ted Robinson said:
Now that I've ordered the books I can't wait. First won't arrive until the 3rd of March the other hasn't shipped. I found a new rehab clinic. That says I can build my boat while I'm in rehab. And the doctors here have , I believe, found the root cause of my continuous COPD exacerbations. Their is a bone spur on the inside of my neck at the same level as the epiglottitis that is preventing the epiglottitis from sealing when I swallow. This is causing me to aspirate liguids when eating or drinking. Hence the source of the infections. Simple fix. Learn to eat differently than I have my entire life. Small bites. Small sips of liquids. Started a series of exercises to strengthen the associated muscles and a cure could be found anyway I'm excited to get out of the hospital, back to my boat and possibly and end to these reccuring flare-ups. I hoping a solution soon presents itself to @pugwash.

All the best.

Phillipsart · Sunday at 4:05 AM

I’m not having much luck with this rope maker. It don’t do a very good job. At least for me with rope thicker than 1mm. I can’t get anything larger than that that looks any good.

kuba91nt · Sunday at 4:09 AM

Phillipsart said:
I’m not having much luck with this rope maker. It don’t do a very good job. At least for me with rope thicker than 1mm. I can’t get anything larger than that that looks any good.

What's the problem?

Phillipsart · Sunday at 4:19 AM

kuba91nt said:
What's the problem?

I tried to make thicker ropes by first twisting two bobbins of thread together first to make a thicker starting thread.

Problem is after I make the two threaded rope. The PL4 either winds that rope to tight or to loose if you wind in the opposite direction. Which make a mess of a rope as it winds into the final rope.

I spent all day in this today with my mate and we could not get anything larger than 1mm of any quality

Phillipsart · Sunday at 4:22 AM

I also found the threads not coming of the bobbins even pressure which also causes issues with some of the strands being loose on the final rope.

Also bobbins are a pain to work with.

kuba91nt · Sunday at 4:25 AM

Phillipsart said:
I tried to make thicker ropes by first twisting two bobbins of thread together first to make a thicker starting thread.

Problem is after I make the two threaded rope. The PL4 either winds that rope to tight or to loose if you wind in the opposite direction. Which make a mess of a rope as it winds into the final rope.

I spent all day in this today with my mate and we could not get anything larger than decent rope thicker than 1mm

How many strands does first thread have and in what direction is twisted.
Next do you wind to what direction several of these strands?

Phillipsart · Sunday at 4:38 AM

kuba91nt said:
How many strands does first thread have and in what direction is twisted.
Next do you wind to what direction several of these strands?

I tried two threads so far. Guterman stela 20 which looks like already has 2 or more strands twisted. If I spin in wrong direction on the machine it loosens those threads. So I try the other way and it over twists it. Which causes a mess.

I than tried Guterman E thread j purchased from scale of rope. And not had any luck with that. Same issues when I first twist two strands together and use that in the machine to get thicker rope. It’s in a mess

kuba91nt · Sunday at 4:58 AM

Phillipsart said:
I tried two threads so far. Guterman stela 20 which looks like already has 2 or more strands twisted. If I spin in wrong direction on the machine it loosens those threads. So I try the other way and it over twists it. Which causes a mess.

I than tried Guterman E thread j purchased from scale of rope. And not had any luck with that. Same issues when I first twist two strands together and use that in the machine to get thicker rope. It’s in a mess

You're twisting wrong direction.
Gutermann, lets say "120 MARA", maybe stella too, has 2 or three strands twisted counterclockwise.
If you want to make 3x120, you have to twist them clockwise.

Then, you can take those 3x120 strands from prewious twisting, and twist them only counterclockwise ETC, ETC...
This is what a 3x(3x120) mara looks like.
Travers 8, take up 1-1.5

Phillipsart · Sunday at 5:07 AM

kuba91nt said:
You're twisting wrong direction.
Gutermann, lets say "120 MARA", maybe stella too, has 2 or three strands twisted counterclockwise.
If you want to make 3x120, you have to twist them clockwise.

Then, you can take those 3x120 strands from prewious twisting, and twist them only counterclockwise ETC, ETC...
This is what a 3x(3x120) mara looks like.
Travers 8, take up 1-1.5
View attachment 580033

I’ve tried twisting both directions. And not had any luck. I might have spun to slowly. I will try again tomorrow at a faster speed

Phillipsart · Sunday at 5:09 AM

Will try again tomorrow.

Phillipsart · Sunday at 5:27 AM

kuba91nt said:
You're twisting wrong direction.
Gutermann, lets say "120 MARA", maybe stella too, has 2 or three strands twisted counterclockwise.
If you want to make 3x120, you have to twist them clockwise.

Then, you can take those 3x120 strands from prewious twisting, and twist them only counterclockwise ETC, ETC...
This is what a 3x(3x120) mara looks like.
Travers 8, take up 1-1.5
View attachment 580033

I’m aware you have to twist the thread the opposite way the thread is twisted.

My issue is in trying to make thick rope. I need some role 1.7mm or there abouts.

What I done is twisted two stela 20 threads two other so to make a thicker thread to start with. I than fed that back onto the bobbins and twisted in the opposite direction the make the final rope.

For what ever reason I’m not getting a clean result. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I’ve tried 3 and 4 strands with and without a core.

I managed to get some rope at 1.7mm. By twisting two stala20 threads together. Than feeding that onto the spools. Than wound 3 in opposite direction. It was to thin. So I tried 4 bobbins with a core. That got me a 1.7mm rope. But it did not look any good.

Jack Sparrow · Sunday at 5:35 AM

Phillipsart said:
Yes. Very frustrating. I should have been more careful, I thought I was. But obviously not enough.

I’ve since sourced a store in Australia that sells the complete motor and gear assembly that yellow in the latest images I posted and purchased that. Should arrive early next week. The only thing I’m not sure if the gearing ratio is correct. Time will tell.

View attachment 579168

View attachment 579169

I have seen those on Amazon as well.

kuba91nt · Sunday at 5:48 AM

Phillipsart said:
I’m aware you have to twist the thread the opposite way the thread is twisted.

My issue is in trying to make thick rope. I need some role 1.7mm or there abouts.

What I done is twisted two stela 20 threads two other so to make a thicker thread to start with. I than fed that back onto the bobbins and twisted in the opposite direction the make the final rope.

For what ever reason I’m not getting a clean result. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. I’ve tried 3 and 4 strands with and without a core.

I managed to get some rope at 1.7mm. By twisting two stala20 threads together. Than feeding that onto the spools. Than wound 3 in opposite direction. It was to thin. So I tried 4 bobbins with a core. That got me a 1.7mm rope. But it did not look any good.

View attachment 580042

View attachment 580043

View attachment 580044

Interesting. Do you try to straight them after the first winding? Straighten them, tighten them by hand, or wind them straight onto the spool?

Three strands up to 2mm are no problem on this twister. For thicker ropes and right-hand anchors, i use a wall twister. On planetary ropewalk, i usually twist very long, thin right-hand ropes as a base for further work.

Watch KUDINs video, he shows how to unwind/straight a rope. [6:25min]