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Thanx Blinky, I'mallways tryinto broaden my horizions when it comes to rigging ropes and blocks. I've seen heat transfer to figure 8, but to the rope ? I thought the rope kept a movin, the idea of lettin it run was to not shock it and feather it to a stop. Maybe Norm can chime in on this, Thanx Allen
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Even if a polyester rope is on a rope friction device, porty, figure 8 descender, and the lowering person is letting it run fast, enough heat can build up to melt the rope to the device. I've seen 2 steel large porty's with melted polyester rope on them. On one, an eye witness told me the rope had to be pulled off with vise-grips. It was actually melted to the porty, "They were one." I'll see if I can find the digital image I took of it.
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Could this be like post avalanche freeze-up? This is where the snow particles are in motion and grinding against one another creating heat and slight melting. Upon stopping the snow/ice refreezes like concrete.
In this case, is it a matter of the porty getting so hot from friction that it transfers the heat to the rope, when the rope stops and is stationary, it melts, then re-solidifies (freezes), whereas the rope which passed through became glazed?