Reliable DIY power ascender

[samsquatch]

For the few of you that have made the drill adapt to the rollgliss, I'm ready to move to the next stage. Specifically, I need to mount a u-bolt or similar to the rollgliss and around the drill body to prevent it from spinning.
Would you be able to show pics of the u-bolt assembly and how it mates to the Rollgliss body? I'm ready to order some parts and give this a shot.

Cheers!

 

[John@TreeXP]

Sherrill has Ronins on sale for about $1,200 right now. That's about $400 off the list price.

 

[Burrapeg]

Ronin once said that a midline attach mod was in the works. Did they ever do it? That aspect is a deal breaker to me. Without being able to quickly insert or remove a climbing line anywhere on its length, it would be next to impossible to use it on your main climbing line and it would be limited to a second dedicated line. This may be fine for certain usage but nevertheless very limiting. Also, a number of users, including Dave at WesSpur, said that the device was rather hard on ropes. I am curious if they made any progress on that too? John, do you have a recent version of the Ronin? What is the latest info on it? Another original disadvantage, unless they have since modified the Ronin, once you owned one any length of time, is the cost and availability of a replacement battery. They are proprietary, quite expensive, and only available from Ronin themselves (assuming they stay in business). A drill driven device will use the batteries for that drill, normally available just about anywhere you can buy the drills themselves, often your local hardware store. One final consideration is that a drill driven ascender also remains a usable drill by simply removing the device from the drill with a quick twist of the chuck, so it is essentially two very handy devices in one. To get back to the actual topic of the post, I mounted my U clamp for the drill handle to a short piece of aluminium angle screwed to the Rollgliss body. It does not actually clamp the handle, merely locate it from twisting your wrist. The handle slips right out of the U, if you untwist the drill chuck from the RollGliss. Check out the videos in posts 8, 9, and 32 of this thread, for views of my RollGliss mods and you can see the piece of angle at the top of the RollGliss which also carries the fairlead bearings which I salvaged from a discarded skateboard. I am sure there may be other ways to mount the U or other restraint for the drill handle. Maybe some of the others who have modded a RollGliss will log into this discussion. I continue to use mine fairly regularly and I love how quickly it comes on and off basically any of my ropes I have ever tried it on. Battery life (4 and 5aH) is completely acceptable. The only times I have ever had it slip a bit on rope was in the rain and another time with heavy syrupy tree sap (WD-40 took care of that and I am keeping an eye on that rope to see any long term affects WD-40 may have had. No apparent issue so far after a year).

 

[samsquatch]

I mounted my U clamp for the drill handle to a short piece of aluminium angle screwed to the Rollgliss body.

So that plate is mounted on the Rollgliss body. You drilled & tapped those mounting holes? I wonder if I can somehow mount it using existing holes. I haven't yet modded the body or sheave of the Rollgliss, and I intend to keep it that way.

Edit: Another question. I have the R550, with the dual clutches. To your knowledge, could the drive shaft be swapped out to the other clutch assembly? They appear to be the same shaft. If I could swap them, it would make the assembly more streamlined and compact.
Thanks!

 

[Burrapeg]

Yes, I drilled and tapped some new holes. The sheave itself does not need any mods. It works fine as is on our normal size climbing ropes. I widened my first one and it proved to be not neccessary. I don't know about the r550. Never messed about with one of those. But should be easy enough to try the swap.

 

[Bart_]

Did you guys spot the rollgliss550 picture with the Dewalt drill installed on their site? Was that there before?

The Ronin sucks the rope spiral around a bollard with a friction plate getting it started. Ain't never gunna be midline attachable by basic design. A kid also did one like that with a 36V Dewalt drill drive, but no friction presser.

Hope you're all keeping well.

 

[samsquatch]

Thanks. What about taking the clutch covers off, is anything going to go spring or sprong in there and I'll ruin it? I've tried looking for rollgliss disassembly vid, but didn't find one.
I have second thoughts about disassembling certain parts -- I had an incident years ago with a weed whacker recoil assembly & spring..

 

[Burrapeg]

Thanks. What about taking the clutch covers off, is anything going to go spring or sprong in there and I'll ruin it? I've tried looking for rollgliss disassembly vid, but didn't find one.
I have second thoughts about disassembling certain parts -- I had an incident years ago with a weed whacker recoil assembly & spring..

No problem there. Nothing will jump out. There are brake shoes that are held back with springs. They only swing out when the shaft turns too fast.

 

[Jehinten]

I wonder if I can somehow mount it using existing holes.

I'll have to pull my rollgliss out and get a picture but I did not drill any holes. I used an existing hole to mount a plate and the U shaped bracket mounts to that plate.

 

[samsquatch]

I'll have to pull my rollgliss out and get a picture but I did not drill any holes. I used an existing hole to mount a plate and the U shaped bracket mounts to that plate.

Thanks, I'd be interested to see some close-up photos.

 

[Roger_Barnett]

Did you guys spot the rollgliss550 picture with the Dewalt drill installed on their site? Was that there before?


Hope you're all keeping well.

hmmmm https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1298688O/rollgliss-r550-wind-tower-brochure-english.pdf

 

[samsquatch]

hmmmm https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1298688O/rollgliss-r550-wind-tower-brochure-english.pdf

Thanks for posting that reference. One thing that caught my eye about these "emergency descent devices" was their maximum descent numbers. In some previous literature they have mentioned maximum descent height of around 1500ft (maximum length of rope supplied with the device) but they also have a "maximum descent distance" figure, that's tens of thousands of feet, in the case of the R550, it's 17,814ft.

I assume this to mean over the life of the device. i.e. once you make 178 descents of 100', it is suggested to retire the device. I haven't found literature that confirms this, but I'm sure it's out there if we look hard enough. Anyway, that number is not necessarily concerning.. but...
The "max hoist height" is listed at 33ft. I assume this number is per session, but if it is not per session and is instead over the life of the device, we would quickly be running into hot water.
Even on a single ascent, most of us are exceeding 33ft.

Maybe I will call 3M to see if they can shed some light on that 33ft number.

 

[Burrapeg]

These specs are obviously very conservative ratings, judging by the various standards they have to meet in that list. The actual service life of any device like this would vary so much in real life that the ratings are basically useless on a practical basis. But in industry, they have to rate something so that it is absolutely trustworthy and they rotate stuff out to keep like-new equipment. For us, keeping the device clean, not abusing it in use, and renewing the grease inside on the gears at regular intervals would make all the difference. The thing is, it is no big deal if the device failed completely, the way we are using it. You would have your regular hitch or multi-scender above it for the actual life support, and could simply detach the RollGliss and descend at that point or switch over to foot or knee ascenders, etc. You would not want to use the device by itself for life support without your normal ascent system in tandem with it. I have many hours on mine at this point and take the cover off every so often to look at the gearing. It is holding up fine. I use a thin grease on the gears, about the consistency of warm Vasoline. The one weakness of the RollGliss design, in my opinion, is they use some sort of Teflon bearing on the shafts whereas a more expensive version would have ball or roller bearings. But I have been keeping an eye on these bearings in mine and they actually seem to be doing OK. The bearing material seems pretty tough.

 

[samsquatch]

These specs are obviously very conservative ratings, judging by the various standards they have to meet in that list.

Based on the build quality of the device, I would tend to agree. However, if they are taking into account the safe & useful life of the rope then those numbers seem more down to earth; especially after seeing what the sheave does to the rope after a couple of ascents. I have an email sent to their support team for clarification on several things including these numbers.

 

[Burrapeg]

That's a good point. I had forgotten that they always come with a captive rope that can't easily be removed from the original unmodified device. The condition of the rope after a given number of uses might be the weak link.

 

[John@TreeXP]

a

Ronin once said that a midline attach mod was in the works. Did they ever do it? That aspect is a deal breaker to me. Without being able to quickly insert or remove a climbing line anywhere on its length, it would be next to impossible to use it on your main climbing line and it would be limited to a second dedicated line. This may be fine for certain usage but nevertheless very limiting. Also, a number of users, including Dave at WesSpur, said that the device was rather hard on ropes. I am curious if they made any progress on that too? John, do you have a recent version of the Ronin? What is the latest info on it? Another original disadvantage, unless they have since modified the Ronin, once you owned one any length of time, is the cost and availability of a replacement battery. They are proprietary, quite expensive, and only available from Ronin themselves (assuming they stay in business). A drill driven device will use the batteries for that drill, normally available just about anywhere you can buy the drills themselves, often your local hardware store. One final consideration is that a drill driven ascender also remains a usable drill by simply removing the device from the drill with a quick twist of the chuck, so it is essentially two very handy devices in one. To get back to the actual topic of the post, I mounted my U clamp for the drill handle to a short piece of aluminium angle screwed to the Rollgliss body. It does not actually clamp the handle, merely locate it from twisting your wrist. The handle slips right out of the U, if you untwist the drill chuck from the RollGliss. Check out the videos in posts 8, 9, and 32 of this thread, for views of my RollGliss mods and you can see the piece of angle at the top of the RollGliss which also carries the fairlead bearings which I salvaged from a discarded skateboard. I am sure there may be other ways to mount the U or other restraint for the drill handle. Maybe some of the others who have modded a RollGliss will log into this discussion. I continue to use mine fairly regularly and I love how quickly it comes on and off basically any of my ropes I have ever tried it on. Battery life (4 and 5aH) is completely acceptable. The only times I have ever had it slip a bit on rope was in the rain and another time with heavy syrupy tree sap (WD-40 took care of that and I am keeping an eye on that rope to see any long term affects WD-40 may have had. No apparent issue so far after a year).

I have zero experience using a Ronin or any other powered ascender, but I thought the sharp discount being offered would be of interest to those following this thread. Your comments are most notable, and this is a fascinating subject. My lack of mechanical and engineering experience gives me reason to hold off on owning one of these types of gadgets, but the advancements you've made with your mid-line attachable RollGliss conversion are amazing.

 

[Burrapeg]

Hello John, yes it was a fun project to modify the device but of course I cannot take any credit for the basic idea. Santiago Casanova here on the Buzz list gave me the idea and told me about the ones for sale on eBay. I have been very happy with it and use it regularly, although I climb with my foot and knee ascenders if it is a rec climb where I need to hike any distance. Anyway, stay safe!

 

[Jehinten]

captive rope that can't easily be removed from the original unmodified device.

I pulled my rope out one day and fought to get it back in. After that I removed 8-10" of core and hand stitched the cover together to keep it stiff and flat. It's a pretty east install now. Occasionally you still have to help it around the sheeve as its spinning to load the rope but much better than having the core in.

 

[Jehinten]

Thanks, I'd be interested to see some close-up photos.

I'll try to get that soon, I've been working long days cleaning up after a tornado so I haven't spent much time out in the shop. Its fairly crude if I say so myself, I do not have the same metal working know-how as some of these guys.

 

[Jehinten]

Thanks, I'd be interested to see some close-up photos.

Pardon the slight rust, I haven't had this out in awhile and found it covered in condensation. I need to get it cleaned up.


I installed a bolt in a pre tapped hole and added an all thread coupling onto the end of the pigtail. welded a piece of flat steel to those two bolts and installed the loop. The loop is made from sliding vaccum hose over all thread and then bent to shape and installed with nuts on either side of the flat steel.