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making climbing gear?

Tom Sherman · · Austin, TX · Joined Feb 2013 · Points: 433
Steph Davis' Simple Gear Sling

Should be:
Minimalist (lightweight yet, comfy)
Fit You (gear is out of way of harness loops)
Full Strength (able to use as a runner)
Inspectable (look at bar-tack/ entire sling)

I used a purple black diamond runner. I think I got lucky with the size because when I put it on it feels to small, but when I am wearing it almost looks to big. I'm 6'2", so others may not be so lucky to just use a 60cm runner. Double layer of fleece for padding. Make sure you are able to see the bar tack and the runner to look for any damage. In a pinch you can use it to sling horns, clip gear, rap off, etc... I chose these retro contrasting colors because I thought it would look cool as it aged in photos.

Simple Gear Sling

Simple Gear Sling, Racked-Up!

Clear of Gear on Harness

Simple Gear Sling, Up Close
Trad Princess · · Not That Into Climbing · Joined Jan 2012 · Points: 1,175

I'm telling Steph

Healyje · · PDX · Joined Jan 2006 · Points: 422
Adam Burch wrote:Sweet! What's up with the daisy-chain looking setup in yellow?
More just so it wasn't flopping around though I did end up occasionally clipping stuff to the first loop on each side like a piece or an autoblock backup for rappels
Linnaeus · · ID · Joined Aug 2011 · Points: 0

Adam, that is *very nicely* done. Beautiful job by yourself and your sewing friend. Do you mind posting some detail pics with rough dimensions (i.e. size of each slot while laying flat, etc). Where did you get the nice nylon fabric, and how did you arrange the sling? Can you share some or all the details with us if you don't mind so others with a sewing machine (like myself) can maybe do something similar? That looks very pro, again, awesome job.

Eliot Augusto · · Lafayette, CO · Joined Dec 2013 · Points: 60
jacob m s wrote:So, i have been thinking about melting down some old figure 8s and an old atc and pouring the liquid aluminum into a mold for some new ones. Has anybody tried this, I mostly worry about bubbles forming that would be invisible to visual inspection, only later to be exposed by rope wear, and simultaneously shredding the rope sheath.
There are a few reasons you shouldn't do this. I will try to be concise, but I usually fail at that.

With aluminium alloys there is a very fine line between the correct composition of the metals and minerals. The melting point of aluminium is so low that there are often components of the alloy that are below their melting point, but diffused with the original solution to create the alloy. When you heat up the aluminium it will oxidize, creating a layer of dross. That layer may or may not attract the metals/minerals that are vital to the correct alloy composition. This dross layer has to be removed before casting, effectively weakening your metal through oxidation and material loss.

I would wager about 90% of aluminium in climbing gear is cold wrought and not cast. This is for strength and durability. In Aluminium stock creation they have two designations. XXX.X - T# OR XXXX - T#. The two categories are for cast(201.0 - T4) or cold formed (7075 - T6 / 6082 - T6). Below are two links for the strength rating and chemical makeup of these three metals to show the strength differences. You would be casting closely to a 2XX.X series metal if you just threw those into a steel pot over a fire.

6082 - T6
A201.0 T4
7075 T6

The strength ratings in cast aluminium are sub-par when compared to cold formed, even with a T4 temper which you won't get at home. Less strength and a good chance that bubbles will form makes the problem stray away from rope wear and more towards the device shearing. It may not, but you'd have to test it until it broke to be sure. If you use the "lost foam" casting, you WILL get bubbles and a weakened metal from the urethane gas compression.

Lastly, like it was stated before. You will spend a significant amount of money and time creating your new belay devices when compared to purchasing a new one, for an inferior product. If your goal is to make something, then do it and see what happens. To hell with the data and nay sayers. That's the fun part about science!
Chris Rice · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2013 · Points: 55

I have made several modified nut tools by welding a piece of solid round stock on the handle end. It makes a baby hammer of sorts but more importantly gives a nice round end to pound on with your hand - doesn't hurt near as much. Seeing as how I'm not trusting my life to it - I doubt I'm gonna die :). It has saved me a few pieces over the years by using a second tool and this one as a hammer to pound stuck pieces out. Also no bruised palms.

Steven Lee · · El Segundo, CA · Joined Mar 2014 · Points: 385
jacob m s wrote:So, i have been thinking about melting down some old figure 8s and an old atc and pouring the liquid aluminum into a mold for some new ones. Has anybody tried this, I mostly worry about bubbles forming that would be invisible to visual inspection, only later to be exposed by rope wear, and simultaneously shredding the rope sheath.
Eliot gave a great explanation. I'll give a quick one: Casting yourself will give you a significantly weaker material due to not being able to control the crystalline structure and chemical composition vs commercially cast parts. In addition, there is a huge difference between wrought/forgings vs casting. So, if you are comparing home made casting vs a forged part; you have 2 significant things working against you.

Don't do it for anything safety related.
jacob m s · · Provo, Utah · Joined Apr 2011 · Points: 135

thanks for the info, i hadn't looked to close into yet. I'm just in the process of finishing finals right now. So most of my time has been spent worrying about finishing my degree rather then building 8s. For me i like building things, so thats part of the reason why i considered it.

Tom Sherman · · Austin, TX · Joined Feb 2013 · Points: 433

Hey Jesse, I actually haven't even used that sling yet, as I made it over the winter out of boredom. I had an outing last wednesday, where my buddy told me he wanted to use a sling to pass gear at belays and used his. I noticed that he has some sort of cord, or tubing, to stiffen up the tubular webbing along the clippable length. Do you have any recommendations here? I was thinking of either putting silicon tubing or accessory cord in there (pinched in not sewn in) but I do not know if I'll be able to get the sewing machine close enough to have this come out decent. Do you do anything like that, or just clipping onto the sling...?

Gear Sling style

Tom Sherman · · Austin, TX · Joined Feb 2013 · Points: 433

No that's exactly what I meant, just was wondering if the machine gave you trouble, trying to get that close to an edge with a big bulk right up against it. I'll find some tubing and give it a go...

Tom Sherman · · Austin, TX · Joined Feb 2013 · Points: 433

you actually just gave me the great idea of sewing the pinch in the webbing, without the tubing, and then shoving it in there afterwards. After the initial sew, I can A) find out if the tubing is necessary at all B) find out the exact diameter I want C) sew the end of the opening shut after the fact.

Good food for thought

ACR · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2011 · Points: 590
Homemade knife blade hook

Somewhere along the way I collected this cool homemade hook. I didn't make it and don't know who did but it does actually work. You have to rig it like a regular Leeper style hook so the webbing sling pulls towards the wall not outward.

Whoever did it managed to retain most of the strength of the steel when they bent it into shape. I tried it out and it works remarkably well on thin granite chip edges. Still prefer my old school Leeper hooks though.
Matt Duthie · · Ann Arbor, Michigan · Joined Dec 2014 · Points: 10

I would do nothing to discourage you from building your own gear...understanding of course your own limitations in testing and inspecting it before (maybe?) ever deciding it was acceptable to use in real life serious climbing activities. Personally, I'm a mechanical/design engineer with ~5 years trad climbing experience and about the same in CAD design, much less in analysis, and a few-years long goal of making myself some offset-handled technical ice/mixed tools. And a family-table set of of parameterized cams. The models all exist, no FEA done presently, but it probably should be before I use them, however impact loads like a cam sees are incredibly difficult to analyze in a realistic sense. Anyways, our local supplier just purchased a water-jet cutter and that's the perfect tool to blank out cam lobes and ice axe shafts and head-plates from plate stock to later do the CNC machining for interlocking alignment features and cam-stops etc...so I do hope to have some pieces finished before the ice arrives next winter. Mind you, for cams, with the required swage/weld/braze joints and all that is involved in the final assembly I'll happily break two on a test fixture before I'd ever consider leading on one. Ice tools are a little less demanding since I only toprope, worst-case being a bit of falling metal on my friend wearing a helmet (:
By all means make stuff and see how it turns out, if you're reasonable about it, you may even be able to use it.

jackieliu · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2015 · Points: 0

COOl!

Connor McCrillis · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2017 · Points: 267
Matt Duthie wrote: I would do nothing to discourage you from building your own gear...understanding of course your own limitations in testing and inspecting it before (maybe?) ever deciding it was acceptable to use in real life serious climbing activities. Personally, I'm a mechanical/design engineer with ~5 years trad climbing experience and about the same in CAD design, much less in analysis, and a few-years long goal of making myself some offset-handled technical ice/mixed tools. And a family-table set of of parameterized cams. The models all exist, no FEA done presently, but it probably should be before I use them, however impact loads like a cam sees are incredibly difficult to analyze in a realistic sense. Anyways, our local supplier just purchased a water-jet cutter and that's the perfect tool to blank out cam lobes and ice axe shafts and head-plates from plate stock to later do the CNC machining for interlocking alignment features and cam-stops etc...so I do hope to have some pieces finished before the ice arrives next winter. Mind you, for cams, with the required swage/weld/braze joints and all that is involved in the final assembly I'll happily break two on a test fixture before I'd ever consider leading on one. Ice tools are a little less demanding since I only toprope, worst-case being a bit of falling metal on my friend wearing a helmet (: By all means make stuff and see how it turns out, if you're reasonable about it, you may even be able to use it.

If you want any ideas for handles, I made some ice axes using a hardwood strip laminate in a mold. I cut the curve I wanted into a 2x6 and took maple strips and glued them together clamped in the mold.  I sanded it to the shape I wanted, and after installing the spike, clear coated the handle in epoxy to provide grip on rubber gloves and to protect the wood from water. It’s really strong, and classy looking too 

Dante L · · Seattle · Joined May 2015 · Points: 15

Shit back in the old days we would fill our chalk bags with stones we picked up wakling to the climb. Climb up 10 feet place a stone, hand tie a sling around it climb another ten place another and repeat all the way to the top. 

Now I only use black and orange totems.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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