Aider Broke - Info and Discussion (UPDATE)

[Brocky]

It worked out for him, he only has to replace the loop, not the whole aider!

 

[neonomad]

I personally put the amsteel that is in contact with my solo scout for climbing, through a piece of tubular webbing for added protection. Sorry about your issue, glad no one was hurt

Are there any sharp edges you may want to soften?

Agree here, you could even double up, two layers of tubular webbing… this + quality Amsteel.

 

[bj139]

This is one of the first treehopper platforms made before he started putting the teeth on. It worked well for climbing, but wasn't super stable when used this way. There was a little play and the painted legs would squeak on the tree bark.

I drilled holes in the legs and added grade 8 bolts, washers, and lock nuts.

View attachment 52229

When I put it on the tree, I flip it up a little and pull the strap tight. The top bolt forces the platform to sit at a slight upward angle.

View attachment 52231

If you pull down a little and then load the platform, it actually kind of cams a little, pulls the strap super tight, and the bolts dig into the tree, making everything super tight and solid.

View attachment 52232

Nice idea with the bolts for teeth.

 

[DB4x4]

Why did you use continuous loops? I'm sure you have a reason, I just don't understand.

It was a quick and dirty prototype. I already had the 3 step aider made up and figured that was the easiest way to join the two...

 

[JASmith]

Thanks for sharing, it's a reminder that anything can happen at any time. Stay safe.

 

[DB4x4]

Agree here, you could even double up, two layers of tubular webbing… this + quality Amsteel.

I thought about cutting the thin mesh out of the area where I want to join the two so the aider is only touching the tube, and not the thin mesh. Or wrapping the area as is in a bunch of electrical or gorilla tape.

 

[bj139]

I thought about cutting the thin mesh out of the area where I want to join the two so the aider is only touching the tube, and not the thin mesh. Or wrapping the area as is in a bunch of electrical or gorilla tape.

A cutoff wheel in a grinder should remove the mesh cleanly.

 

[2Sloe]

I had climbed up and down on this a dozen times or so at ground level. Then at some point, when I stepped into the first step and loaded it to go up again, the continuous loop POPPED. (See photo above)

It didn't come apart or cut, it broke clean.

DISCLAIMER:
This is NOT brand name Amsteel. It is cheap off brand UHMWPE ATV winch rope. I wanted to practice with the cheap stuff before I bought the more expensive stuff.

If it broke clean and did not come apart, you could hold the two ends where it ”broke” back together and the loop should be the same size as the other one. Looking at your photo where you are holding the two ends with your hand, it would appear that the loop would be twice the size of the other one if you did that. May be an optical illusion. If the loop is in fact bigger with the ends held together that would suggest that the buries came out. Just my thoughts.

 

[Brocky]

A splicing hint is to taper the ends of the buried tails, a blunt cut weakens the rope at the point because of the abrupt change in diameter, it also will poke out fairly easily. A simple taper is to unbraid the braid a short distance and fan it out and cut at approx. 45 degrees, leaving as fine a point as you can.

 

[thedutchtouch]

It worked out for him, he only has to replace the loop, not the whole aider!

IF it did cut/break, i'd disagree, the material is suspect, and if aider's made of the same stuff, toss it, not worth the risk. if it pulled apart/ brummel was not done correctly... it may be ok. I mean no disrespect to the OP, but anything life supporting is not the right area to cut cost, genuine amsteel blue is the only amsteel i'll mess with, no winch cables/ amazon ropes/etc.

 

[bfriendly]

IF it did cut/break, i'd disagree, the material is suspect, and if aider's made of the same stuff, toss it, not worth the risk. if it pulled apart/ brummel was not done correctly... it may be ok. I mean no disrespect to the OP, but anything life supporting is not the right area to cut cost, genuine amsteel blue is the only amsteel i'll mess with, no winch cables/ amazon ropes/etc.

Dutch I ain’t even touching my saddle til the new ropes get here….yikes to the OP! Man I’m glad u r ok to post this! I’ve rappelled down some Amazon ropes that are rated static lines, but thought better of it after a good common sense bashing from a few folks here. No kidding, it just ain’t worth it……..

 

[DB4x4]

Update:

It was hard to tell for sure last night at dusk, between the lack of light and the cloud of hangry mosquitoes, but...

... @always89y was correct. After closer inspection, it looks like the material did not break, but rather the continuous loop pulled apart.





Way too clean of an edge for a break and there are no small scrap pieces anywhere inside after combing it all down.

 

[ThereWillBeSpuds]

That piece does not look long enough for a proper bury on a continuous loop.

Samson has very explicit splicing instructions and even with the off-brand stuff you could use the instructions from the same diameter amsteel.

Sent from my SM-A516V using Tapatalk

 

[phatkaw]

... @always89y was correct. After closer inspection, it looks like the material did not break, but rather the continuous loop pulled apart.



Way too clean of an edge for a break and there are no small scrap pieces anywhere inside after combing it all down.

I was thinking that from the first picture.
Almost nothing ever breaks perfectly clean like that...

 

[bj139]

I guess it should have been sewn like in this video. I may have been hanging from Sally the saddle with only the bury on the prusik holding me. I would not have if I knew. Only for use at ground level was the warning, which I ignored. With a sewing machine, I could run a seam along the length with V69 thread very easily.

 

[drew13]

I guess it should have been sewn like in this video.

I am not pretending to be a splicing expert but yes, I agree - splices with short buries should be lock stitched. It's been discussed on the forum in the past and Samson recommends it:

Be safe all.

 

[mbucks27]

I was worried about this happening with my amsteel aiders on my beast sticks since they have sharp edges. I just used some stealth strips where they connect to the sticks

 

[phatkaw]

^^^ Nice man cave.

You could put something over the pole to make it more stick and platform friendly...

 

[raisins]

The gray dyeing only on the outside is an indication it’s not quality dyneema. That is an extremely sharp edge on the grating on top, the stuff is strong, but can saw through easily, nice clean cut. I would also use tubing or thimbles for the dyneema to dyneema contact of the aiders to the grommet.

Yep, ropes do weird things when at odd angles and such. Isn't if you have a rope at a perfect right angle you can snap it easily? There's some sort of leverage and angle trick I read of where for a static rope a human's weight can apply 1,000s of pounds due to the angle.

 

[mathhunter]

Update:

It was hard to tell for sure last night at dusk, between the lack of light and the cloud of hangry mosquitoes, but...

... @always89y was correct. After closer inspection, it looks like the material did not break, but rather the continuous loop pulled apart.

I'd be interested to know exactly how you made your continuous loop. When I was looking at making a continuous loop out of amsteel I came across this video which showed two different ways which look really similar at first, but one of which is more prone to coming undone than the other.

Do you recall if you made what this guy calls a "straight splice" or a "locked brummel"?