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Making your own Ropes

Jack Sparrow said:
i guess i am just wondering if the strands have to be unwrapped first or not. The head of my machine has a variable speed drive on it and I can also change it`s direction and I can also control the feedrate on the takeup spool, so I don`t see a scenario where what you said would happen, but hey. I haven`t tested it yet either. I am still playing mind games at this point.
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That rope walk works the same way as a normal rope walk. That makes sense, because there’s only one way to make rope. People have been doing it this way for 2,000 years. The only difference is that the endless rope walk has a constant supply of yarn. The strands are twisted in one direction, and in principle, rope is formed automatically as the strands twist together. This happens naturally because the strands are twisted in the same direction. If that strand already consists of twisted rope and it turns out that the direction of your twist is opposite to that of the strand, then it will untwist the strand. It’s just simple math. The rope produced will not be stable because it lacks the natural tendency to form rope.
 
Steef66 said:
That rope walk works the same way as a normal rope walk.
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Actually it doesn't.
a 'normal' rope walk twists the strands hundreds of times.
The planetary type machines twists the strands a few tens of times at most, making it difficult to get the tight lay a traditional machine provides.
 
which twist are you referring to? The one for each strand or the head rotation itself? The machine I have has both. I was wondering if you could give me a lay length and rope diameter that I could try which you believe can't be achieved with a planetary machine. I am just trying to see if my machine can handle it or not. I have both types of machines.
 
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TheGatzby said:
Actually it doesn't.
a 'normal' rope walk twists the strands hundreds of times.
The planetary type machines twists the strands a few tens of times at most, making it difficult to get the tight lay a traditional machine provides.
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Yes, it does. You just explained yourself that the machine winds the strands around about 10 times more than the rope. So it’s the same principle.
That’s actually somewhat limited by the gear ratio, though, because it would be better if there were two motors in the system. That way, you could adjust the number of windings more precisely. I once designed a system like that for someone who wanted to use industrial spools of yarn. I was able to power the spool motor using slip rings.
This made the machine much more versatile. Maybe this is something for @Lorenzo71 to design, because the machine requires many more settings than just the weight on a traditional machine.
 
Steef66 said:
Yes, it does. You just explained yourself that the machine winds the strands around about 10 times more than the rope. So it’s the same principle.
That’s actually somewhat limited by the gear ratio, though, because it would be better if there were two motors in the system. That way, you could adjust the number of windings more precisely. I once designed a system like that for someone who wanted to use industrial spools of yarn. I was able to power the spool motor using slip rings.
This made the machine much more versatile. Maybe this is something for @Lorenzo71 to design, because the machine requires many more settings than just the weight on a traditional machine.
Click to expand...
In my mathematical evaluation the number of torsion/cm depends also on the original torsion of the strands and the final direction of torsion of the rope (rh) or of the cavble(lh). The E-Gutermann strand doesn't have any initial torsion at all, but all the other strands made by 2 or more single filaments have it, and it's usually rh. My ropewalk discerns the kind of starting treads and evaluates the amount of torsion needed: in some cases are not hundred, but thousands.
 
Jack Sparrow said:
...which twist are you referring to? The one for each strand or the head rotation itself?
Click to expand...
I'm referring to the twisting of the strands by the whorls on a conventional machine. This is what builds the tension on the threads that causes them to form rope when allowed to twist together. The strands are trying to unwind, which causes them to twist together because they have no other place to go.

The orbital machines I have seen do not twist the strands very much compared to the conventional. This results in a relatively loose lay.


Do you have any examples of rope made with the orbital?
 
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TheGatzby said:
I'm referring to the twisting of the strands by the whorls on a conventional machine. This is what builds the tension on the threads that causes them to form rope when allowed to twist together. The strands are trying to unwind, which causes them to twist together because they have no other place to go.

The orbital machines I have seen do not twist the strands very much compared to the conventional. This results in a relatively loose lay.


Do you have any examples of rope made with the orbital?
Click to expand...
When I make rope on my rope walk, I do so over a 4-meter length. The strands then make a lot of turns. It rotates at 2,000 turns per minute, and the process takes 3 minutes. That’s 6,000 turns. The planetary rope walk makes rope over a 10-centimeter length, and in that case, it takes about 10 turns to make the first section of the rope. Over 4 meters, that’s 400 turns—not enough to achieve a good result. I can't show you no results
 
I have a vertical rope walk machine too. Which I have no problems using instead of the orbital. I just wanted to see if I could make a half decent rope with it. I still have a lot of experimenting to do.
 
I think your time will be better spent with the vertical.

I have yet to see anyone produce any rope with the orbital that looks like rope.
Whether you go S or Z is really not going to make any difference.
 
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