Home made Rope Making and Serving Machine.

[Stevedownunder]

I do not suggest that this machine is all that great, although it should be fit for purpose when I have finished. I think there are far better designs for home made rope making and serving machines and infinity better commercial machines that are stunning in design and ability.

I started building this more than 30 odd years ago, for my then current 1/100 Heller HMS Victory build, still not finished.

The photos show how far I got, with the head mostly finished and a very rough tail stock. It has never made rope yet and the tail stock suffered from not being driven when I was serving shrouds. The problem being that the shroud rope would twist up a lot before the tail stock would start turning and me being me I was in too much of a rush and “pressed on regardless” the end result being shrouds that when served had a real twist that I was unable to get out, mistakes were made and lessons learnt.

Why re-start now? I wanted a break from the Drifter Trawler and more by accident I picked this project up again. I was thinking of doing some more on a 1/700 scale model of the Japanese Battle ship Ise, that was a gift. By the way 1/700 is too small a scale for me and I am in ough of people that work with such tiny models.

The aim is to get the head stock working and being driven with an electric motor with speed control, forward/reverse switch and a foot switch. Originally I used a pistol drill roughly clamped to a board. Driving the tail stock and making what is required to make 3 and 4 core rope.




More to come.

Thanks for having a look.

Cheers,

Stephen.

 

[Steef66]

Hi, I made my ropewalk also. User shipphotographer.com also Olha Batchvarov on youtube made a few video's about this subject. Her ropewalk is easy to build. I did it, inspired by her, too. Build a machine like hers and it works perfect.
Here is a video of her machine:

My machine and how the rope looks.


You can buy on amazon / aliexpress little parts to control speed and direction for the motor for a cheap price.

 

[Stevedownunder]

Hi Steef66,

Great video, thanks for the link.

Cheers,
Stephen.

 

[Steef66]

Stephan Maybe this will be a help to

Make your rope on a rope walk

I did a lot of research on how to make rope on a rope walk and build my own rope walk. I love to share my experience with you. The quality of the rope delivered in your kit is not always of high quality. Fluffy, badly made so that you can better use it to tie up your old paper than to rig your...

shipsofscale.com

 

[Philski]

So....what distance between machines are you using? And what is the finished rope length? Or can you just run continuously?

 

[BenD]

Almost all of us on this site have a few power tools and most likely woodworking tools at that. Making a ropewalk is easy enough, I've made quite a few different models at this point.

This junk heap in the picture below is the first one I made and it was operated by a hand drill. The only limitation for the length of rope is how big your house or shop is. I think I made this 6 or 7 years ago with a hand saw and a drill.



A design or two later I made a hand-cranked one, It was fast and quiet although a bit heavy. It only went about 2000 rpm at full tilt. At this point, I had a Drill press, Band saw, and Disc sander. In the end, this one went in the discarded pile of rope walks. My current model is made with parts from www.servocity.com and runs at about 6000 rpm.

 

[Stevedownunder]

Stephan Maybe this will be a help to

Make your rope on a rope walk

I did a lot of research on how to make rope on a rope walk and build my own rope walk. I love to share my experience with you. The quality of the rope delivered in your kit is not always of high quality. Fluffy, badly made so that you can better use it to tie up your old paper than to rig your...

shipsofscale.com

Thanks for the link Steef66,

I have nearly finished reading your fantastic article.

Cheers,
Stephen.

 

[Stevedownunder]

So....what distance between machines are you using? And what is the finished rope length? Or can you just run continuously?

Hi Phil,

The rope making side is not a continuous type more the traditional method, I am hoping to be able to make up to 40 foot lengths, while the serving will be limited to a length of around 28" or 700 mm, I cannot imagine ever needing to serve a length of thread longer than that.

Cheers,
Stephen.

 

[Stevedownunder]

Almost all of us on this site have a few power tools and most likely woodworking tools at that. Making a ropewalk is easy enough, I've made quite a few different models at this point.

This junk heap in the picture below is the first one I made and it was operated by a hand drill. The only limitation for the length of rope is how big your house or shop is. I think I made this 6 or 7 years ago with a hand saw and a drill.

View attachment 285344

A design or two later I made a hand-cranked one, It was fast and quiet although a bit heavy. It only went about 2000 rpm at full tilt. At this point, I had a Drill press, Band saw, and Disc sander. In the end, this one went in the discarded pile of rope walks. My current model is made with parts from www.servocity.com and runs at about 6000 rpm.

View attachment 285341View attachment 285342

Hi Ben,
That is an interesting looking setup, I am probably going to show my lack of knowledge on rope making. I am guessing that the unit on the Right twists up the strands while the unit on the Left winds the rope. Is there a thimble that runs along as well or is there no need for that with this setup?

Cheers,
Stephen.

 

[BenD]

Hi Ben,
That is an interesting looking setup, I am probably going to show my lack of knowledge on rope making. I am guessing that the unit on the Right twists up the strands while the unit on the Left winds the rope. Is there a thimble that runs along as well or is there no need for that with this setup?

In these designs, there is no topper/thimble needed. The headstock twists the strands and the tailstock twists the strands together. Simple and fast just the way I like it.

 

[Philski]

Hi Phil,

The rope making side is not a continuous type more the traditional method, I am hoping to be able to make up to 40 foot lengths, while the serving will be limited to a length of around 28" or 700 mm, I cannot imagine ever needing to serve a length of thread longer than that.

Cheers,
Stephen.

I have this rope walk but have yet to use it. I watched videos but have questions concerning length, thread type etc. I want to rig the ship I'm working on with better looking ropes than those supplied by OcCre.

 

[BenD]

have this rope walk but have yet to use it. I watched videos but have questions concerning length, thread type etc. I want to rig the ship I'm working on with better looking ropes than those supplied by OcCre.

With that rope walk, you can make rope as long as you want. the only real limitation is the size of your workshop, or your property if you want to make it outside.

https://www.wawak.com/ has a lot of threads you could use. Gutermann Mara or Skala in colors 464 tan and 696 for Dark brown. There are a butt load of threads out there to experiment with, so buy a bunch and try them out.

 

[Philski]

With that rope walk, you can make rope as long as you want. the only real limitation is the size of your workshop, or your property if you want to make it outside.

https://www.wawak.com/ has a lot of threads you could use. Gutermann Mara or Skala in colors 464 tan and 696 for Dark brown. There are a butt load of threads out there to experiment with, so buy a bunch and try them out.

Thanks! Once I finish planking, I'll make ropes before starting the masts, yards, etc...

 

[Steef66]

Thanks! Once I finish planking, I'll make ropes before starting the masts, yards, etc...

Did you've seen the link in post #4 the rope-walk in that topic is the same type, just electrical.

 

[Stevedownunder]

In these designs, there is no topper/thimble needed. The headstock twists the strands and the tailstock twists the strands together. Simple and fast just the way I like it.

Thanks Ben,

Looks like there will be a new driven tail stock added to my machine.

Cheers,
Stephen.

 

[E2karnivor]

I have this rope walk but have yet to use it. I watched videos but have questions concerning length, thread type etc. I want to rig the ship I'm working on with better looking ropes than those supplied by OcCre. View attachment 285646

Do you have the plans on making that rope walk or did you buy it?

 

[Stevedownunder]

Part 2.

Using gears would be better but I thought I would press on with pulleys and so I bought some “O” rings for driving the head stock and driving a shaft that will drive the tail stock, “O” rings are not the best for this as they tend to stretch and may get replaced with a better belt like a Habasit Polycord.

In my stash of electric motors that I have salvaged from various redundant equipment over the years I got out 2 motors that I thought would be a good starting point, as can be seen in the photo one is a Bűhler and in my opinion a very high quality motor, some mods were needed.


I don’t know what brand the other motor is although it appears to be well made and can be seen along with the 2 control boxes being made.



The original rail and drive head were mounted on some melamine coated chipboard a small coupling and pulleys were made and a hex drive shaft installed to drive the “Serving” tail stock.


To enable a duel purpose the Serving tail stock is able to be “flipped” out of the way when Rope is being made.



The Rope making tail stock is quite simple and I think the photos are self explanatory.
I have added a foot switch that can be plugged into either control box, if I don’t need the foot switch I have made a “jumper” lead to plug into the same socket which gives control back to an on/off switch mounted on the control box.


A pully that is attached to a piece of Aluminum rail then mounted to a board is clamped to a small step ladder for the tensioning counter weight to be attached.



Setup for Serving.




Both control boxes have speed control, although on making some trial bits of rope I am thinking that the Rope making tail stock could have it’s speed control removed.



I have had a go at making some Rope, my initial results show a real need for much more work to be put into working out how to make nice looking Rope. I used a cheap Polyester thread for the Black which was a bit furry from the beginning, the Tan coloured material is Linen.


Although my initial trials show that the motors are powerful enough to do the job and being able to make 6 meters in one setup is a good thing.

As I don’t need any Rope at this stage the equipment has been packed away for when it will be needed.


If you want to see other better Rope making blogs have a look at Steef66 and BenD among others.



Thanks for having a look.

Cheers,

Stephen.

 

[Steef66]

I like the combination ropewalk serving machine. And that you use a het. rod to drive the serving machine. It seems to be easy to adjust the lenght of the tool. Smart.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Stevedownunder]

I like the combination ropewalk serving machine. And that you use a het. rod to drive the serving machine. It seems to be easy to adjust the lenght of the tool. Smart.
Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Stephan,