Another aerial friction rigging device?

JMerritt said:
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This looks like a wicked cool tool to add to the tool box...has my brain thinking of other applications and if they would improve with this device. So far I am thinking it would be great for a span rig friction device as well as really good controlled speed line brake...possibly hands free if you can dial in the friction...keep on keeping on in your pursuit of progression. Cheers
 
Could the end of the pin which holds the swivel have a head which engages a slot in the side plate when closed?
Edit: Nevermind, I see that the pin does engage a slot there

However, I think a head in a slot would aid in strengthening any sideload that the side plate may experience.
 
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Already mentioned but,
My name is available for a listing on one of these!
Being mid line attachable and lightweight has my complete attention.
I would also be interested in a 5/8" rope capacity model. Like the big Omni block. I have working ropes of 1/2, 5/8, and a 9/16ths...... would be beneficial to use a 9/16 bull rope for the tops with this slick device and then switch to conventional negative rigging using the same rope.
 
RyTheTreeGuy said:
This looks like a wicked cool tool to add to the tool box...has my brain thinking of other applications and if they would improve with this device. So far I am thinking it would be great for a span rig friction device as well as really good controlled speed line brake...possibly hands free if you can dial in the friction...keep on keeping on in your pursuit of progression. Cheers
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It works great as a speed line control break. Also works on the tail end of the speed line to hold tension. It can be used in a 2 or 3:1 pulling setup to pull and hold tension when felling. It works well as a rigging control line for slowing down a big swing or in a two rope rigging scenario. It can be slung to the base of the tree and used like a traditional basal mounted friction device. It can be rigged in a double whip tackle setup to lift limbs or rigg heavy pieces...
 
JMerritt said:
It works great as a speed line control break. Also works on the tail end of the speed line to hold tension. It can be used in a 2 or 3:1 pulling setup to pull and hold tension when felling. It works well as a rigging control line for slowing down a big swing or in a two rope rigging scenario. It can be slung to the base of the tree and used like a traditional basal mounted friction device. It can be rigged in a double whip tackle setup to lift limbs or rigg heavy pieces...
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Add my name to the list as well...gotta get on this train of awesome
 
Are the wear points hardened? Being that the friction points are built into the device, how long will the block last before having to be replaced? Or would this even be a factor based on the materials that it is built from?
I wish I could get my hands on one! such a cool design!
 
39Buick said:
Are the wear points hardened? Being that the friction points are built into the device, how long will the block last before having to be replaced? Or would this even be a factor based on the materials that it is built from?
I wish I could get my hands on one! such a cool design!
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Wear is the big unknown on this project. The longest used prototype I have definitely shows wearing, but hasn’t got to the point where it effected functionality. This next batch is going to be designed with a replaceable and flip able lower bollard. The main bollard is big enough and has a large surface such that I doubt it will need replacing.
 
JMerritt said:
Wear is the big unknown on this project. The longest used prototype I have definitely shows wearing, but hasn’t got to the point where it effected functionality. This next batch is going to be designed with a replaceable and flip able lower bollard. The main bollard is big enough and has a large surface such that I doubt it will need replacing.
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+1 for list
 
Do you have a rough factor of load force vs hand on rope force for the "most" setting, like the multiplication factor? I'd guess maybe x5? Just curious to bench it against other devices. If proprietary, my bad. I'm thinking vs BMS belay spool on 1 1/2 wraps e.g., not sure what factor that is but its effective but not crazy like 2 1/2 wraps or the nearly useless 1/2 wrap.

cool device. well done.
 
Bart_ said:
Do you have a rough factor of load force vs hand on rope force for the "most" setting, like the multiplication factor? I'd guess maybe x5? Just curious to bench it against other devices. If proprietary, my bad. I'm thinking vs BMS belay spool on 1 1/2 wraps e.g., not sure what factor that is but its effective but not crazy like 2 1/2 wraps or the nearly useless 1/2 wrap.

cool device. well done.
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In the shop static test:
Stable braid 1/2” held ~450lbs with 45lbs on the control side
1/2” 16 strand held ~250lbs at 45lbs

both ropes brand new, so real world numbers on a used rope I would expect more holding power.
 
JMerritt said:
In your opinion, is there room in the arborist market for another rigging device like the AFB, rigging wrench, safeblock, etc.? I’ve got a design that I’ve been working on for a while and I’m curious if there is any interest in yet another friction tool. I’m honestly surprised the rigging wrench hasn’t been picked up more widely considering how incredibly useful it is. Are people just not using tools like it that much? Cheers
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To answer your OP question here, YES, most emphatically IMO there is more-than enough room, I'd go further and say that - like the Treesqueeze lanyard configuration - that they're incredibly under-used due to inflated retail prices :/

It would be great to see Dave relaunch XAS (I'd love seeing Dave behind "the next push" in such hardware), I offered to send some suggestions like a year ago but (for very fair reasons) he wasn't interested, anyway now that I'm looking to get a 2nd Safebloc, and having just been in a thread being told my prior configuration - safebloc on 3/4 Polydyne - was unsafe due to dislodging of the Safebloc from the sling - I figured I may as well just post the thoughts/suggestions here since you've begun the thread :)

OK-

These are basic ringed-hardware, I think it'd be silly to worry about patent-fights so:
- x-branded Fiori ring (call it the xxl)
- double-hole Safebloc
- multi-sized Safeblocs (at least two...hell I use 1/2 or 5/8 bullrope in mine based on how much friction I want, it'd be nice to have different sized Safeblocs)
- Safeblocs need deeper "lips" (sling-grooves), also DOG-EARS ie the lips of the unit shouldn't be a clean oval, at the top the lip should continue upward a bit to form 'ears' to retain the sling in an acute lateral-pull event (can upload a sketch if this isn't obvious, am just talking about extending the ~8mm outer lip of the Safebloc to make it extend upward an extra ~1/3" on each of its upper-corners so if the sling were ever pulled laterally it couldn't 'hop over' the lips. You'd really only need these on the top, IMO, because the downward nature of the logs should be enough for the bottom half of the Bloc)

Well that's what I'd love to see dave (or, if necessary, sherrill/tree stuff) do to make rigging safer/cheaper/more efficient for the industry, I mean just changing the paradigm to multi-anchor / friction-based rigging was already so much (and I can't applaud him enough for it) but it's as-if, since the big explosion of this stuff in '13/'14, that it's just been relegated to the ideas they had at that moment.....Dave's got videos of (3) XL rings welded together, back when the Safebloc was called the Triple Hole Thimble(THT...unsure how Treestuff/sherrill used that name IE if it was with Dave's blessing since it was his name for the Safebloc..), that became the same Safebloc they released back then which is the same Safebloc you can get right now....these are just cast aluminum, it seems like it'd be beyond simple to keep innovating (and that doing so would push sales, and keep pulling business from the market of arbor-blocks)
 
JMerritt said:
What I have in mind would have an mbs of 8000lbs or so (maybe 7000), so an 800lb load at 10:1 margin. Probably not something you’d want to negative rig with unless it’s small stuff but definitely something that you could take a wrap on a porty and feel safe on a bigger piece. Definitely midline attachment and a built in swivel. Imagine an omni 2.0 that holds part of the load. Some shop testing with 1/2” stable braid showed it holding 225lbs with 20lbs on the control end.
I don’t think there is a way to do better than the safeblock and rings for shear bomb proofedness and durability. My go too for the big stuff will always be those and a nice beefy block, but for anything less than big wood I like the idea of compact and simple to setup.
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Very very well-put here IMO!! It's for these reasons (in part, at least) that I think some innovation in the rings & Safebloc options are far, far overdue at this point (a Fiori's ring, or a Safebloc with big dog-ears to negate any pull-out failures, would go far in convincing many of the on-the-fence folk who still have the mindset "When it's especially heavy or critical, I like a block"

Just posted a thread on an idea I had, "doubled-rope fishing poles" (inherently a doubled-rope double-whip), it'd take an extra ringed-anchor at each of the anchor locations OR, to do it simpler, you could have 1 anchor at each location and simply have a Safebloc so both legs of the rope could run w/o any rope-on-rope friction, this scenario is where the "2-hole Safebloc" would be especially awesome :D


*Link to my thread on "doubled-rope fishing pole +double-whip technique" thread where a 2-holed Safebloc would rock!!

[Oh and in my prior post I forgot to include another thing I'd love to see: The 4-holed Safebloc ;D ]
 
JMerritt said:
In the shop static test:
Stable braid 1/2” held ~450lbs with 45lbs on the control side
1/2” 16 strand held ~250lbs at 45lbs

both ropes brand new, so real world numbers on a used rope I would expect more holding power.
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Do you have an enforcer or other device you can measure with for running loads? The real question is what the kinetic friction values look like.
 
Keeth said:
Do you have an enforcer or other device you can measure with for running loads? The real question is what the kinetic friction values look like.
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The only way I can see doing something like this is with a load cell at the lowering point, known weight of load, and a shit ton of super advanced math to figure the force on the control end.
 
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