RE Akimbo setting and rope

Gorman said:
THANK YOU!!! Finally someone tries the blue moon.
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Sorry it took a bit, gave my Blue Moon to the climber in training and had to borrow one from the other foreman.

My Tachyon and Bandit (outside of listed diameter) do not work well, the arms have to almost touch to start to move...
Blue Moon has been really smooth, easy to start descent, and the arms remain at a distance from each other during the descent as shown in the manual.
 
So I spent about 4 hours on the Akimbo this morning. Here are my findings.
I'm 6'1 170lbs fresh out of the shower.
Yale Focus brand new E/6 have to nearly collapse the top to move.
Yale Blue Moon brand new C/6
Scandere heavily used C/4 really hard to break the friction.

I am having the same issues I had with a prototype model. If I back off the friction on the lower I creep. If I back off the upper it won't engage when I sit back. I have to actually advance it up with my hand to get it to engage when I sit back. The settings with no creep have me dragging an anchor on ascent. I had to shorten my bridge and really work on the tending point. I still don't have that dialed in either.

If anyone has suggestions how to tweak my settings i'd appreciate it. I'm not liking the drag on ascent. Its really noticeable.
 
Steve Connally said:
Man thats wide open. I had mine on c/6. You actually had it engage at A1?
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Yeah It ran on A/1 or B/2 since Monday and was acting perfectly.

Its been strange to me as well... but with this length of Blue Moon, today as I increased friction to C/4 or C/5 it began to slip and leak more and more, wouldn't hold a bounce test. I reset the bollards to A-B/1-2ish and it was great again

(Yes I checked over and over that I was actually increasing and not decreasing friction) Thought I had it dialed Mon-Wed but today was just weird.
 
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Boconnor303 said:
Yeah It ran on A/1 or B/2 since Monday and was acting perfectly.

Its been strange to me as well... but with this length of Blue Moon, today as I increased friction to C/4 or C/5 it began to slip and leak more and more, wouldn't even hold a bounce test. I reset the bollards to A-B/1-2ish and it was great again

(Yes I checked over and over that I was actually increasing and not decreasing friction) Thought I had it dialed Mon-Wed but today was just weird.
Click to expand...

I had similar findings on a piece of Drenaline. Higher settings did not necessarily guarantee “tighter” friction. Sometimes running it on lower settings would cause it to run smoother, sometimes it would creep. Not necessarily a linear relationship between friction settings and friction applied to rope
 
Boconnor303 said:
Yeah It ran on A/1 or B/2 since Monday and was acting perfectly.

Its been strange to me as well... but with this length of Blue Moon, today as I increased friction to C/4 or C/5 it began to slip and leak more and more, wouldn't hold a bounce test. I reset the bollards to A-B/1-2ish and it was great again

(Yes I checked over and over that I was actually increasing and not decreasing friction) Thought I had it dialed Mon-Wed but today was just weird.
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@JMerritt
 
Ran it on drenaline today. A2 iirc. Ran fairly smooth but still a bit tough to break the top for descent.
I've got a Hank of Yale Luna that's pretty fuzzy that I'll try next.
 
CanadianStan said:
I had similar findings on a piece of Drenaline. Higher settings did not necessarily guarantee “tighter” friction. Sometimes running it on lower settings would cause it to run smoother, sometimes it would creep. Not necessarily a linear relationship between friction settings and friction applied to rope
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Hate to say I'm glad someone else has the same problem, but it is comforting to hear that... Especially because I have some Drenaline en route.

I started to wonder about environmental conditions such as the cold front and rising humidity and so on.... but then I had work to finish.

Also swapping settings on the go is unbelievably easy if you have something to lanyard to so its never a big concern. Swap it back to what runs and climb on (y)
 
With those loose settings I found it to just slide back down the rope when I went to sit back. I actually had to advance it by hand as I was sitting back to load it. Did you have anything similar on the a or b settings?
 
Steve Connally said:
With those loose settings I found it to just slide back down the rope when I went to sit back. I actually had to advance it by hand as I was sitting back to load it. Did you have anything similar on the a or b settings?
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Is the upper cam stuck? It shouldn’t be sliding down the rope when you sit into it like that. A drop of oil should help if the cam is in fact sticking.
 
Steve Connally said:
With those loose settings I found it to just slide back down the rope when I went to sit back. I actually had to advance it by hand as I was sitting back to load it. Did you have anything similar on the a or b settings?
Click to expand...

Not on A or B but it acted that way with some higher friction settings.

I'm going to oil my upper cam anyway, but it doesn't appear to be stuck. It moves while on rope
 
170 lbs
Scandere that still has that new rope smell
C3

First climb on the new model. I have lots of time on the GFM. Started with D4, which needed more pressure to break the friction than I like, and was a bit grabby on descent. C3 will accelerate on descent once the friction is broken but has a wider sweet spot than D4. Plan to tinker more tomorrow. Tended with a HUT. No drag on ascent. No issues with tending point.
 
Just started following the Akimbo discussions now. And I'm a Unicender fan, so that's where this question is coming from:

Why does the climber's weight and rope play such an important factor for this multicender? I read on the Akimbo pre order page that if you exceed the WLL (which is only like 285lbs max depending on rope?!?!) you may experience "slippage".

I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel like the word "slippage" shouldn't be used to describe a situation an arborist may experience when using a product.. We work by the friction and the predictability of the friction in our ropes. Am I wrong?

Now then, if this product is as "finicky" as people are describing when it comes to weight - does it honestly make up for that in ease of use? Or tending? Or anything else?
What is the major draw or positive?
 
That is a very valid question and I can only answer for myself, but for me it is in the pursuit of the perfect climbing tool or "unicorn." I feel fortunate to have the Akimbo and I can tell you it is an absolute marvel of engineering. To think that someone came up with this concept in their garage without a huge R and D budget is beyond belief. It is silky smooth and there is no sit back. It is designed with a couple inches of creep on a hard stop from a quick rap, which is like having a very skilled groundie running the ropes for a perfect negative rig. It is very compact and the speed and ease at which it attaches mid line is a game changer as far as redirecting is concerned. There are so many great things about it and I have only owned it for a couple of weeks.

I am currently using poison hyvee and it has been good, but I just bought new england dragonfly in the pursuit to have more flexibility with the device. I am 185 lbs with no gear and wanted a rope that was in the 280 lb recommendation from RE so that I had more leeway with heavy saws and equipment or other environmental factors and I am happy to do so if it means I will have a better climbing experience.

Realistically we could be asking the same question about all of the mechanicals. Most of us started with just a hitch cord on a variation of a closed system (MRS). Now add a rope wrench (another amazing tool..
.thank you Mr. Bingham) wow...what a game changer and SRT (SRS) is now a readily accepted and practiced system in the tree industry.

Some of us do this for money and some for recreation, but regardless we all have fun doing it. This is a tool that takes the fun to the next level. Progression is the name of the game. There will come a time where we have reached the pinnacle of that progression. Who knows maybe we just did.

Thank you @JMerritt for your effort and ingenuity.
 
I've been rec climbing for several years and have used just about every multicender, except for the Rope Runner, the Bulldog Bone and the GFM Akimbo. I have a difficult time understanding the benefits of the Akimbo, when compared side-by-side to the Unicender. The Uni has a transitional bump when starting a descent and the actual descent isn't as smooth as my Hitch Hiker 2. So far, I haven't yet had a chance to use my Akimbo on anything other than non-approved ropes, with two of my three ropes slipping at any setting and the third one holding only at the lower bollard's maximum setting. Every other multicender I use runs fine on any of my three non-Akimbo-approved ropes, aside from the obvious subtle differences, including sit-back and the lack of popping out of the tending tether.

I've purchased a 150' hank of Drenaline, in the hopes that the Akimbo will perform up to my expectations and when I've had the opportunity to run it on this approved rope, I will pass along my findings, comparative insights, etc.

I'm anxious to discover the benefits of the Akimbo, compared to other multicenders, once I get the climbing system properly dialed-in. I like the idea of the Akimbo's compactness and overall functionality, but for now there's no way I can commit to using only the Akimbo, when other multicender options may be better suited for use in certain climbing situations.

I weigh in at about 210 without gear.
 
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samsquatch said:
Just started following the Akimbo discussions now. And I'm a Unicender fan, so that's where this question is coming from:

Why does the climber's weight and rope play such an important factor for this multicender? I read on the Akimbo pre order page that if you exceed the WLL (which is only like 285lbs max depending on rope?!?!) you may experience "slippage".

I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel like the word "slippage" shouldn't be used to describe a situation an arborist may experience when using a product.. We work by the friction and the predictability of the friction in our ropes. Am I wrong?

Now then, if this product is as "finicky" as people are describing when it comes to weight - does it honestly make up for that in ease of use? Or tending? Or anything else?
What is the major draw or positive?
Click to expand...
Here is my perspective so far. Please keep in mind that I have yet to run it through the paces due to weather shut down and a few nights in the ER for a life threatening situation for our 16month old.
The weight and rope choices come into play because the adjustability of the Akimbo. This is the most hitch like mechanical I have used to date. I think many of us more seasoned climbers have our hitch based systems so dialed in that we have forgotten our learning curve and growing pains. If you search the archives for the VT you will find very similar conversations regarding weight, rope type, and also characteristics of hitch subtly. I think it was Richard who documented taking a half twist rotationally with one leg of a hitch cord can be the difference between slippage, buttery, or binding up.
I have never used a uni, but from my understanding the “sweet spot” is very difficult to find, and the best luck with it is after market add ons.
With the long wait, and hype this device has been put on a pedestal. Everyone’s imagination has had years to get away from themselves thinking it’s a plug and play device. While it is to an extent there is a learning curve involved to dial it in.
Now for the weight limits, I am not sure what the tests show? Or what tests were done to develop the limits. I’d imagine that you could put a 350# climber on this device without slippage. It might not preform the best. I am guessing here, but I think this might be more of a fall arrest standard with a WLL? Think a 200# weight with a 3’ fall is arrested within x number of feet. There will obviously be a limit, of the weight, the allowed arrest distance, and rope construction. But please keep in mind I am thinking out loud, I have no idea, and I personally would really like some sort of published testing results from RE to understand the limitations of this device. I agree the vagueness leaves ones imagination to run!
 
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