Lazy or Clever?

OK, removed the crank wheel on mine, made an adaptor in the lathe to fit the shaft (5/8 in. dia.) down to 1/2 in. for my DeWalt, got the line into a tree out back, and had a go at ascending earlier this afternoon. Works just as Santiago says, with the DeWalt on low speed. I got about 15 feet up when I realized the DeWalt was getting pretty hot. So switched to reverse and powered back down. But it works fine! Just need a heavier drill. I may go ahead and buy one since I can use one in the shop anyway. Hopefully DeWalt makes a heavier duty drill that uses these same 20v batteries. These batteries also fit the nifty cordless DeWalt chainsaw I got a few weeks ago. They just came out with these recently, by the way, and they are great. The motor is brushless, and of course the damn brushes and commutator are what usually gives trouble. I cut up small stuff all afternoon a few days ago without running the battery down. Stuff up to about 6 in. diameter mostly, and the saw walked right through it. - Stewart.
 
As tempting as it is to climb on that 9.5mm as a climbing line the fact is that it cables up really bad. After you load it, it is pretty stiff. I use it for access and then just leave the r500 in the tree until I get down. You could have a ground person lower it down and put it away.

Without hardware on the rope I think it would be possible to feed the rope through the sheave with the device turning, much like feeding a rope into the masdam rope puller. It looks like any 3/8 kernmantle would work.
 
Santiago Casanova said:
The device is made for controlled descent. It is limited at 3'/minute. I just did a 90' ascent in 3 minutes. The battery was at 75% and the drill was slightly warm.

The new version, r550, has a stub on the lifting hub that is intended for a drill chuck to attach to. That is what gave me the idea of converting a r500. It is only intended for short lifts and long descents..
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I bought one on a whim, in part for the hard case, and in part for a long winching rope for an upcoming job, that hopefully is compatible with my Simpson Chainsaw winch, and I know will be compatible with the truck as a power source.


What limits its ability for longer lifts, if anything? I understand the intended use is to lift an injured worker in order to put slack in the worker's fall-arrest lanyard, then lowering the worker from a tower, etc.

How much winching capacity do you think it has, with a strong drill? I have a half-inch drive Milwaukee corded drill.
 
I think the limiting factor is the operator. A single person should be able to lift 620lbs with the hand crank. I don't see why it couldn't be used for a long ascent. I did a 90' ascent without stopping and the r500 was not warm so I don't see why I couldn't go 450' in one shot.

In a horizontal application I think a cordless drill could move a few tons of rolling weight. As far as lifting goes, my ryobi drill was more than adequate for lifting about 220lbs vertically.
 
southsoundtree said:
How much winching capacity do you think it has, with a strong drill? I have a half-inch drive Milwaukee corded drill.
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Don't overlook that, with that much rope, you can MA this thing for a lot of tasks. It comes with one pulley and you can add more. As I said, earlier, my small drill got really hot on low speed trying to lift me (190 lbs) and that was single line. I tried it again with two pulleys, top and bottom, for 3:1 and the drill raised me no problem on high speed about as fast as it would have on single line on low speed and only got slightly warm. I am definitely going to buy a heavier DeWalt drill soon anyway since I can use a bigger one elsewhere. I must say I have also experienced what Santiago described, with the rope getting unpleasantly hard when heavily loaded. Will be interesting to try it with other climbing line that size. - Stewart
 
Thanks, Santiago.

That is what I was thinking the case might be.

I've got a Wraptor, so I'm looking at rigging use, though the ability to go up and down would be great.

Looks like my intended winching job got changed to cut in place and leave it, letting the firewood collectors haul up the hill, manually. So it goes. We have a lot of hills around here. I'll get some use.

Looks like it would work as a lift-and-lower, static rigging option, a la a GRCS without the shock-load-ability or high WWL.
 
I also wanted to comment, for those who have not seen one of these up close, that I was quite surprised at how small it is. They are very compact. With the flywheel crank disc removed, you can easily cup the device in two hands. - Stewart
 
Here is the drill adapter in place. It started out as a 5/8 shaft adapter for 1/2 inch grinding and buffing wheels. The stub shaft on the device is also 5/8 inch. I shortened the shaft adapter to the same 3/4 inch inside length as the device stub and also turned off the threads to make it a smooth shaft to grip in the cordless drill. The drill in the second photo is not powerful enough for sustained SRT with the device but worked fine set up MA with two pulleys. For faster ascent on single line, one just needs a bigger drill.

- Stewart
blob.webp blob.webp
 
Santiago Casanova said:
Looking good. I like the adapter.
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Well, I wanted to try something that anyone could make without special tools, sort of like what you did with a socket. I have an engine lathe and milling machine and could have made any sort of adapter from scratch, but how would that help anyone else? Basically a hack saw and file is all one needs if you grab one of these shaft adapters at a hardware store. The cross pin hole can be drilled with a cordless hand drill if one is careful. I bought this adapter at Ace for $6.95. - Stewart

P,S, Am kinda sad now. I was holding my old shop cat in my lap and petting him as I read all this email. He has been very sick lately and lost a lot of weight, but he was at least twenty so not unexpected I guess. Anyway he quietly died as I petted him while I was reading these latest posts a few minutes ago. I will miss him following me around and rubbing against my leg. Sorry if this was off topic a bit; I guess I just needed to say something about it.
 
My heart goes out to you. Our furry friends are family and it hurts when they pass. My cat passed on the last day of 2016. He was old and moved very slowly but he was always around. I knew it was happening and on his last day I found him in his bed not breathing. I picked him up and after a minute he sputtered back to life. My wife and spent his last moments in bed with him on top of me. I miss him so much but I will be ever grateful that he passed in my arms and not alone. This was almost a year ago and just typing this is making me cry. I am truly sorry for your loss. I feel your pain.
 
Sorry for the loss of your cat, Stewart. They become companions and friends. I've had many over the years and losing one is never easy. Over time I've come to the conclusion that the best way for me to honor the memory of my lost companions is to give their now vacant place, food dish, and their share of my affection, to another deserving cat from a shelter. Peace to you.
 
Thanks, guys. He was originally my late wife's cat but adopted me after she passed and sorta kept the place from feeling too empty. He was quite fearless, a little too much so some times. I would often be using an angle grinder outside and look down to see him sitting right in the sparks flying and blinking his eyes to avoid them. Same thing welding. He would be right there beside me squinting at the welding fire if I did not see him to stop him. He followed beside me on walks too. - Stewart
 
Burrapeg said:
Thanks, guys. He was originally my late wife's cat but adopted me after she passed and sorta kept the place from feeling too empty. He was quite fearless, a little too much so some times. I would often be using an angle grinder outside and look down to see him sitting right in the sparks flying and blinking his eyes to avoid them. Same thing welding. He would be right there beside me squinting at the welding fire if I did not see him to stop him. He followed beside me on walks too. - Stewart
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Sorry for your loss Stewart. I had a cat for almost 20 years, my exwife didnt like him so she left him at a shelter. I couldnt believe it when my new mother in law found him and took him in. He passed away after a few months, but did so with a caring loving family. I have two dogs now and they are my boys just as my two sons are.

David
 
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?
 
first I'm getting rid of the clutch and working on the input shaft

I used a lathe but the metal is so soft you could probably grind the 5/8" shaft down to 1/2" with a bench grinder

grinding the clutch mounting ears off was almost too easy - the metal grinds easily

It was easy to take apart - I ground the end of a framing nail flat to make a punch and all the pins came right out

I'd recommend taking it all apart just to get some grease on all the cheesy dry stamped steel bearings it has - removing the rope grab and clutch has made it smaller and lighter - the clutch is a good size chunk of steel that is not necessary for ascending if it is even reliable for descending trees

next I will have to test whether anything can or needs to be done about rope friction - on the bench it sure seems to have a lot of that

ascender1.webp ascender2.webp ascender3.webp
 
Tom Dunlap said:
The cat derail is touching. Nice to hear
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Well, Tom, if it is some consolation for mentioning my fuzzy little companion, Malcolm was quite the tree climber even into his elder years. He could get an astonishing distance up a tree and never once had to be rescued. He always knew exactly how to get back down. Anyway, I want to thank you guys for the kind words. - Stewart
 
well he will ship to Canada but says USPS wants $350.00 making it a lot more expensive.

I wonder if any other Ontarians are interested. maybe the shipping cost would be better on two or more.

anyone interested? I will ask him.
 
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