Yes I know the thread title is gibberish-ness.
I was cleaning and inspecting some of my CMI micro-pulleys. I use these not only for fairlead on lanyards and mechanical advantage rigging configurations, but I climb on them in my rec trees ALL THE TIME. The ones in the TIP's in my recreational MRS systems stay outside and are subjected to year round temp flux. Some of these pulleys gotta be close to 20 years old.
And before I go on, I'd like to say for the record that I love CMI gear. I've been using it since 2003 and it has never failed me, ever. Even when I eff up with a saw and snag a dyneema sling, I save the tattered ones to organize stuff like biners and such.
So I cleaned the first one in my living rm with pipe cleaners, rooting around beside the sheave and body, oiling w/light machine oil etc., but when I got outside, closer to my tools, I thought, "Hmm, well they come apart easy enough, I really should do it right." Immediately upon unscrewing the first nut I knew something was wrong. I've disassembled these many times before, and this time the feel of the thread as I was loosening the nut was all wrong... way too stiff. It didn't take long to spot the reason why: the threads both on the nuts and the shafts are toast. One of them is so bad it doesn't even go back together. (Green circle where nut won't even start on the shaft) I'm gonna send that one to CMI and see what they say. I plan on asking them to replace them all. But if they say 'Hey bud, these things are ancient... just buy 'em again.', well, that wouldn't be the end of the world. All in all I own prolly about 8 of these things. I'll be subbing in alum or steel rings as friction savers in my REC TIP's and inspecting them all. Soon. And the double tie-in RP141 on my rope bridge too of course. Maybe if I hadn't tried to unscrew these they coulda ended up outliving me. (And maybe taking chances like that would make that so.)
As for the condition of these four, one I managed to screw back together, as wiped out as it is, so I filed nicks near the connection point. (2nd from left) It's still fine for fairlead. I'll just put it somewhere not mixed in with other gear. Another is toast (far left). The two on the right are OK. For now.
Moving on... I got the new design DMM hitch climber pulley. I spent a good deal of time just 'feeling it up', LOL! It's a working sculpture; it's utility made into art. The finish they get on their parts is nothing short of satin. Like the edge of a blanket. So beautiful to use, and to touch. It has a little "HAIR HAZARD" image. There's a most dreadful scene in the movie "Sanctum" where that happens. I have the WRONG hair for this job. So this applies to me ex-speshally.
Oddly it has a round 'punch' mark in the shell (indicated), with edges sharp enough to file my nails. I don't know if this is common for this piece, but I own a s__t-ton of DMM gear and nothing has a hole like this. Wes Spur are the greatest; they'll let me know what's what, I'm sure. My fotos don't capture the real essence of the re-design, which is the openings where the rope runs. The bottom is flared widely, whereas the top opening is smaller. The instructions indicate DEATH if you were to install if in your MRS split-tail upside down, LOL! So if you were asking that question, YES it IS directional. You can see it's quite a bit larger than the original. But the weight is not too much different. Now they're saying "Only for use with spliced eye-to-eyes... home-tied knots can interfere with the friction hitch." Well, I wouldn't go that far. I make my own prusiks all the time. Just be smart about it.
Of course we're always experimenting w/various configs, but lately I find the Petzl Oxan is a great top biner for my split-tail, and the DMM PerfectO captive a great bottom one. I clip into a CMI RP141 pulley on the rope bridge, and you always want a biner that resists catching and loading off-axis. What also works well connecting to the bridge pulley is just a plain 'ol 5/16" screw oval. But I counted how many 'panic twists' to get it open, and it's more than 20. If I run into bees in the trees, or whatever... that's too much!!! I'll use the screw oval for a rec tail, but I want the option to clip in and out faster when I'm climbing in less-familiar territory. It's also more professional if a client is watching to be as fast as possible in all things non-hazardous. I used to employ an alum lobster claw for the working end, but I noticed it doesn't move freely when clipped into the RP141. It 'stops' and locks at one point, so I'm back to a steel claw, which has adequate play. And it works better as a weight when throwing anyway.
I was cleaning and inspecting some of my CMI micro-pulleys. I use these not only for fairlead on lanyards and mechanical advantage rigging configurations, but I climb on them in my rec trees ALL THE TIME. The ones in the TIP's in my recreational MRS systems stay outside and are subjected to year round temp flux. Some of these pulleys gotta be close to 20 years old.
And before I go on, I'd like to say for the record that I love CMI gear. I've been using it since 2003 and it has never failed me, ever. Even when I eff up with a saw and snag a dyneema sling, I save the tattered ones to organize stuff like biners and such.
So I cleaned the first one in my living rm with pipe cleaners, rooting around beside the sheave and body, oiling w/light machine oil etc., but when I got outside, closer to my tools, I thought, "Hmm, well they come apart easy enough, I really should do it right." Immediately upon unscrewing the first nut I knew something was wrong. I've disassembled these many times before, and this time the feel of the thread as I was loosening the nut was all wrong... way too stiff. It didn't take long to spot the reason why: the threads both on the nuts and the shafts are toast. One of them is so bad it doesn't even go back together. (Green circle where nut won't even start on the shaft) I'm gonna send that one to CMI and see what they say. I plan on asking them to replace them all. But if they say 'Hey bud, these things are ancient... just buy 'em again.', well, that wouldn't be the end of the world. All in all I own prolly about 8 of these things. I'll be subbing in alum or steel rings as friction savers in my REC TIP's and inspecting them all. Soon. And the double tie-in RP141 on my rope bridge too of course. Maybe if I hadn't tried to unscrew these they coulda ended up outliving me. (And maybe taking chances like that would make that so.)
As for the condition of these four, one I managed to screw back together, as wiped out as it is, so I filed nicks near the connection point. (2nd from left) It's still fine for fairlead. I'll just put it somewhere not mixed in with other gear. Another is toast (far left). The two on the right are OK. For now.
Moving on... I got the new design DMM hitch climber pulley. I spent a good deal of time just 'feeling it up', LOL! It's a working sculpture; it's utility made into art. The finish they get on their parts is nothing short of satin. Like the edge of a blanket. So beautiful to use, and to touch. It has a little "HAIR HAZARD" image. There's a most dreadful scene in the movie "Sanctum" where that happens. I have the WRONG hair for this job. So this applies to me ex-speshally.
Oddly it has a round 'punch' mark in the shell (indicated), with edges sharp enough to file my nails. I don't know if this is common for this piece, but I own a s__t-ton of DMM gear and nothing has a hole like this. Wes Spur are the greatest; they'll let me know what's what, I'm sure. My fotos don't capture the real essence of the re-design, which is the openings where the rope runs. The bottom is flared widely, whereas the top opening is smaller. The instructions indicate DEATH if you were to install if in your MRS split-tail upside down, LOL! So if you were asking that question, YES it IS directional. You can see it's quite a bit larger than the original. But the weight is not too much different. Now they're saying "Only for use with spliced eye-to-eyes... home-tied knots can interfere with the friction hitch." Well, I wouldn't go that far. I make my own prusiks all the time. Just be smart about it.
Of course we're always experimenting w/various configs, but lately I find the Petzl Oxan is a great top biner for my split-tail, and the DMM PerfectO captive a great bottom one. I clip into a CMI RP141 pulley on the rope bridge, and you always want a biner that resists catching and loading off-axis. What also works well connecting to the bridge pulley is just a plain 'ol 5/16" screw oval. But I counted how many 'panic twists' to get it open, and it's more than 20. If I run into bees in the trees, or whatever... that's too much!!! I'll use the screw oval for a rec tail, but I want the option to clip in and out faster when I'm climbing in less-familiar territory. It's also more professional if a client is watching to be as fast as possible in all things non-hazardous. I used to employ an alum lobster claw for the working end, but I noticed it doesn't move freely when clipped into the RP141. It 'stops' and locks at one point, so I'm back to a steel claw, which has adequate play. And it works better as a weight when throwing anyway.
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