Lazy or Clever?

Had the rollgliss all apart and was going to take it to a buddy’s machine shop and cut off all of the excess material and do a couple other mods to make it midlinable but then I got to looking at some wraptor videos (a bunch of them) and decided I have just been way overthinking this thing.
I put it all back together the way I got it out of the box, reinstalled the internal brakes and everything.
Put my access line in the tree fed the rope through the rollgliss attached it to my saddle added my safety line above the device and up up up and away!
Reached my TIP around 60 feet or so and lanyard around the stem. Friction savor around a bigger limb and set my zigzag up. Backed off the rollgliss and left it hanging and proceeded to move around the crown of the tree. Took down some dead wood and some annoying wisteria vines so I felt accomplished.
Made my way to the ground and cleaned up my mess! Looked up and saw a limb I had missed. Lowered my basil tied rollgliss and reset everything and off I went again.
This thing works great! I like it!
With the new dewalt drill @Burrapeg recommended I made 5 or 6 ascents to 60’ and spent most all day in the trees and still had plenty of power left in the drill.
I modified the end of the 3\8” line to make it easier to feed through the device. Removed about 3” of the core and milked the cover back over and heated the end to make a thinner taper. Now it rolls in and out much better. While removing the core I found a manufactures ribbon inside the core and the rope that comes with these things is Made by New England ropes.
I think I need to offload this thing though, makes it to easy to get up in the tree and I need to focus on climbing!
Many thanks to @Burrapeg for all his suggestions and @Santiago Casanova for sharing these things with us @Jehinten and others for leading the way!
 
Just thinking out loud here, and I am not thinking of using this exact device necessarily, but what would you guys think of a auto descending device such as this for lowering out rigged pieces? I am thinking a rigging tool such as that would work well for anyone working by themselves or for climbers with inexperienced ground guys that can't seem to let the piece run.
 
A clever friend of mine came up with a device like that.

It had a bollard very similar to a Belay Spool

Attached to the shaft was a unit that we can think of as an automatic transmission or fluid torque converter. The 'clutching' was adjustable so that the load could be compensated.

Think of having an automatic transmission shifted manually.

It was a clever unit made by a clever guy. Canadians might even know who he is too
 
Jehinten said:
Just thinking out loud here, and I am not thinking of using this exact device necessarily, but what would you guys think of a auto descending device such as this for lowering out rigged pieces? I am thinking a rigging tool such as that would work well for anyone working by themselves or for climbers with inexperienced ground guys that can't seem to let the piece run.
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Should work fine for that. Normal capacity of the Roll Gliss r500 is about 600 pounds (two big guys). There are other various models and makes of these emergency descenders and they turn up on eBay constantly at varying prices.
 
I think they would work fine for lowering static loads. I think dynamic loads would put a beating on a device like this. The fluid coupling sounds like the ticket because of not having a linkage. A linkage would need to be pretty sturdy for rigging abuse but the fluid coupling could handle the dynamic loads and act as a brake.
 
I'm thinking Great idea But not this device. I think @Tom Dunlap has the right idea.
Is this cleaver device your referring to on the market or should I find some knowledgeable Canadians to find one?
 
Santiago Casanova said:
I think they would work fine for lowering static loads. I think dynamic loads would put a beating on a device like this. The fluid coupling sounds like the ticket because of not having a linkage. A linkage would need to be pretty sturdy for rigging abuse but the fluid coupling could handle the dynamic loads and act as a brake.
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Like your idea as well @Santiago Casanova. Fluid power is a fascinating resource. Like @Tom Dunlap mentioned the auto transmission.
 
Found some myself. Didn't get a great deal but these are expensive so worth it.

I posted 2 over on treebay if someone wants one.
 
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Tom Dunlap said:
Soooo tempting!

There are some very reasonably priced dewalt 40 and 60 volt drills available too. I wonder if my 20v 5ah would do the trick
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I have the heavier duty 1/2 inch model (about $199.) 20v DeWalt and it works fine at my weight of 190. I have a smaller 20v DeWalt that cost about half that much but it did not have quite enough power and got hot rather quickly. With the heavier drill and a 4ah or 5ah battery, I can climb repeatedly all afternoon without needing to recharge. These larger DeWalt drills are brush-less too, so that is one less thing to give trouble. The newer r550 Rollgliss already has a stub shaft protruding for a drill to be attached, so it is usable like a Wraptor on its own rope right out of the box. These things will climb almost as fast as a Wraptor with the bigger sized drill set on high speed and will easily handle over 200 to 250 pounds. They have a couple of advantages over a Wraptor also, namely they are considerably quieter for rec climbing or working in neighborhoods or parks, the drills are reversable and multispeed, and you can quickly remove the drill itself for use as a drill for other work around the house or shop. And of course, no gas to carry if you are a rec climber and not already carrying fuel for saws. At eBay prices (or these two above for sale on TreeBay) and a couple hundred for the drill, this is still a small fraction of the outlay for a Wraptor at its new cost of well over three grand. The Wraptor is a great device, not to knock it at all, but very hard to afford or justify for those of us who are not working arborists. I realize I am beginning to sound almost evangelical, but the more I use this Rollgliss, the more I love the bloody thing. I can see that it will allow me to climb long after the age when I would normally have to give it up. I get at height and I am completely rested for some fun or photography in the canopy. And if I really want some exercise, I have my pair of SAKA's, one original and one mini shortened up as a foot ascender (thanks, Richard!). And thanks to Santiago for putting us all on to these RolllGliss gadgets!
 
Tom Dunlap said:
Soooo tempting!

There are some very reasonably priced dewalt 40 and 60 volt drills available too. I wonder if my 20v 5ah would do the trick
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I believe yours would work. I ended up with the 20 volt dewalt and it works great! I'm about #260 with all my gear and it never misses a beat. I think these devices could be had for a bit less if your patient. I got mine all in for $200 and it came with 500' of rope and all the accessories. I haven't used it much, sits on the bench as I am afraid it would make me lazier than i am already! Let me know if ya want to try it out before you buy one. Would be happy to send it to you on loan!
 
Burrapeg said:
No, I don't see any effects at all from quite a bit of use now. It seems a LOT easier on the rope than your average toothed ascender. Nice job on the mid-line attach mod, Fish.
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So, been working all summer and my shop guy took a while trying to understand what we were going for. We finally came up with this. Still have some work to do... it’s midline attachable but needs some substantial ‘belay’ weight to ascend and is burning my vortex rope trying to run up it (may need a skinnier rope for ascent) - I weigh 220ish on a good day. I didn’t modify the grab pulley but may need to. I can still climb a rope, so I’ve got that going for me, at least...
 

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treegongfu said:
I really want one of these things.

I'm not sure if they ship to Canada. Would anyone be so kind as to let me order it to their place and ship it onward to southern Ontario?
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If you have not bought it yet, you can ship it to me and send me a prepaid label to your place and I will ship it to you if you would trust me.
Have a blessed day by our heavenly Father
 
Burrapeg said:
Oh, meant to caution you too, that the link you sent is to an r520, not an r500. The 520 has no provision for driving it with a drill. There is no shaft extending to the outside to grab onto. The only model that really works is the r500.
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I just bought a r550 but without the extended shaft for lifting☹️
. Any ideas on how i can extend the shaft?
 
Genesis. 2:15 said:
If you have not bought it yet, you can ship it to me and send me a prepaid label to your place and I will ship it to you if you would trust me.
Have a blessed day by our heavenly Father
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Thanks Genisis,

That is very kind of you. Funny that i just bought one an hour before your offer after all this time.
 
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