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Making your own Ropes

I also think the strands are not turned enough. But I don't have enough experience how cotton turns.
 
Thank you Dubz and Stef66 for your precious help. I tried to force the torsion, increasing the turns of about 50%. The result is shown in the attached photo (new test on the right). I assume that, on thinner diameters, the cotton thread (that is LH), adsorbs most of the reverse revolution RH that Igive to them.

20260904_134053.jpg
 
I stained the ropes with coffee and then treated them with beeswax. You can see the final result in the photos.

For the next batch, I think I’ll follow your advice and add a little more twist to the strands. Thank you all for your helpful feedback!

20260904_164031.jpg

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Thank you! soon I'll post a video of the machine working. I also inserted a 9000 rigging database based on Steel tables to adjust the correct rope for the model...
 
I only did my prototype... ant it took me a long time to finishi it. I don't really know ... but do you think someone could be interested?
 
Lorenzo, I suppose it depends on the price and userfriendliness (and, of course, good and repeatable results).

I use a ropewalk designed by Steef66 (here) and I'm really happy with the results I'm getting (now, after a steep learning curve). It's not as sophisticated as yours, but I suppose it does the job quite well.

I like your machine, and perhaps the only rushed comment I can make is that it seems overly complex. But I'm sure your design is the outcome of extensive study and research and must have a clear objective.

If you had to put a price tag on your ropewalk, what would it be?

Un saluto carissimo! Al netto di tutto, la tua commettitrice sembra funzionare una meraviglia, ed è davvero fighissima
Chris
 
Here's my latest ropes, after moving from an experimental spring-loaded system (that never really worked propwrly) to a more classic, quantifiable counter-weight pulley.
How do the ropes look? They seem right to my eye, but do tell what you think, please.

20260924_133348.jpg

20260916_181800.jpg
 
Krill80 said:
Here's my latest ropes, after moving from an experimental spring-loaded system (that never really worked propwrly) to a more classic, quantifiable counter-weight pulley.
How do the ropes look? They seem right to my eye, but do tell what you think, please.

View attachment 638770

View attachment 638773
Click to expand...
So you used weights for this rope instead of a spring? I think it looks really nice. The twists are at a good angle and are fairly consistent along the entire length. I don't see any irregularities. It's a nice, practical rope for your ship. Good job.
 
question. When you are making a rope that has strands which are thenselves ropes. lets say each strand is 3 ply, should I unwrap the strand before recombining it, or should I just change the direction of the twist. So lets say the strand is a z twist, then I would just switch to an s twist. I suppose I can expermient with that but I am not ready yet on the ropewalk machine I have and I am just playing mind games with myself right now. lol
 
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Jack Sparrow said:
question. When you are making a rope that has strands which are thenselves ropes. lets say each strand is 3 strands, should I unwrap the strand before recombining it, or should I just change the direction of the twist. So lets say the strand is a z twist, then I would just switch to an s twist. I suppose I can expermient with that but I am not ready yet on the ropewalk machine I have and I am just playing mind games with myself right now. lol
Click to expand...
They will unwind first. So just experience it. The result counts.
 
Krill80 said:
Lorenzo, I suppose it depends on the price and userfriendliness (and, of course, good and repeatable results).

I use a ropewalk designed by Steef66 (here) and I'm really happy with the results I'm getting (now, after a steep learning curve). It's not as sophisticated as yours, but I suppose it does the job quite well.

I like your machine, and perhaps the only rushed comment I can make is that it seems overly complex. But I'm sure your design is the outcome of extensive study and research and must have a clear objective.

If you had to put a price tag on your ropewalk, what would it be?

Un saluto carissimo! Al netto di tutto, la tua commettitrice sembra funzionare una meraviglia, ed è davvero fighissima
Chris
Click to expand...
Thank you for your comment, I think that the final resulting ropes of my machine are quite similar to the ones that you showed, I also did a comparison with the highest quality ROPES OF SCALE and i didn't appreciate any difference indeed. The interface is absolutely friendly and you only have to choose the vessel, the scale and the rigging that you are doing, and which thread are you using: the software gives you the correct recipe and the exact number of twisting and turning to obtain it. I created the algorithm myself, with hundreds of tests, an I made a huge database using all the Steel tables to cover almost all the possible rigging of al the categories of vessels (about 9000) and inserting all the known kits of models that I found available on internet ( more than 200). And.. it really works. I tested it with length of 1.8m each, the machine cannot work continuously but I found very useful to build the rope just when I need it, because it's fast, easy an exactly repeatable: 1.8m is more than enough but you can do a longer rope if you want.
 
Steef66 said:
Then it will not work at all. Because the endless ropewalk wil not make enough turns in the strands to bring them back together in the other direction.
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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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