New Ascender from Reg Coates

Tree Lady said:
What's shorter than a knut?
Click to expand...
It all depends on the number of wraps you use. I really like the Arbsession hitch but it came out either a touch too short or a touch too long with the finished 6mm hitch cord, depending on the number of wraps I used. The cordage is so thin that it is floppy above the eyes so a little too long is not desirable. Now if only someone made a triple or double attachment pulley that is just slightly smaller............anyone??
 
Njdelaney said:
It all depends on the number of wraps you use. I really like the Arbsession hitch but it came out either a touch too short or a touch too long with the finished 6mm hitch cord, depending on the number of wraps I used. The cordage is so thin that it is floppy above the eyes so a little too long is not desirable. Now if only someone made a triple or double attachment pulley that is just slightly smaller............anyone??
Click to expand...
Did you try twisting the hitch cord? You should be able to make some fairly significant changes in length when adding twists prior to tying the hitch.
 
@DSMc I didn't think of twisting it prior to tying the hitch. That sounds fiddly to me with such thin cord but if you've done it with good results I'll give it a try. I did try twisting the eyes a half turn after tying the hitch but it wasn't exactly right and the Knut was just the path of least resistance for me.
 
Njdelaney said:
It all depends on the number of wraps you use. I really like the Arbsession hitch but it came out either a touch too short or a touch too long with the finished 6mm hitch cord, depending on the number of wraps I used. The cordage is so thin that it is floppy above the eyes so a little too long is not desirable. Now if only someone made a triple or double attachment pulley that is just slightly smaller............anyone??
Click to expand...
I had been using the Arbsession for a while but for some reason when I got a little wear on the cordage I felt like I was dragging an anchor on ascent and I had a tough time getting it to engage consistently. I moved to the Catalyon and its nice an compact and reliable. It might bind a little but if I put a little twist into the hitch it calms down and gets back to being a good set up.
 
Quick update on the actual climbing device, not the grapple. Ive just received delivery of the most updated sample by Notch today. Up until now the only samples in existence were fabricated here at my house. So I am delighted to finally see their machined and refined version, that has now completed all the in-house tests, equivalent to those needed for CE marking. They have done a very nice job indeed.

Unfortunately I don't have permission to show photos just yet, but I'll be giving it a thorough workout in the coming months.

I'd also like to mention, that nothing about this design was borrowed or influenced by any other climbing device out there. That was a condition I issued to myself from the word go....either that or it doesn't happen at all. Anyway, I just wanted to share some better news.
 
Reg said:
Quick update on the actual climbing device, not the grapple. Ive just received delivery of the most updated sample by Notch today. Up until now the only samples in existence were fabricated here at my house. So I am delighted to finally see their machined and refined version, that has now completed all the in-house tests, equivalent to those needed for CE marking. They have done a very nice job indeed.

Unfortunately I don't have permission to show photos just yet, but I'll be giving it a thorough workout in the coming months.

I'd also like to mention, that nothing about this design was borrowed or influenced by any other climbing device out there. That was a condition I issued to myself from the word go....either that or it doesn't happen at all. Anyway, I just wanted to share some better news.
Click to expand...
really appreciate the update, thanks!
 
ClimbingTN said:
I played around with the RC Grapple today. I have a small sugar maple that has some lower branches. First impression, it’s well built for being made in Taiwan. It’s not life support so I’m ok with that. The weight is listed as 1.4 lbs but, I haven’t weighed it. It has smooth edges and feels good in the hand. Initially, I thought it was heavy but, I have Samson Silver Ivy 11.7 with the bolt through the eye. The weight sends the grapple and rope through the limbs to the branches. It will take awhile to get the hang of throwing it. I’m going to use the rope I have for now. I “might “ benefit from a lighter rope. Be cautious throwing overhead to advance. It’s easy to manipulate the grapple by twisting the rope and a quick jiggle to release. I have a job next week to trim the ends off some long branches and a traverse between trees. If you’re good at throw line you’ll probably do well. Careful not getting rope caught like I did. A loop spun around a limb and caught a knob. I had to do a lot of shaking to get it to loose. I’ll report back next week.
Click to expand...
Any further thoughts on grapple use?
ClimbingTN said:
I played around with the RC Grapple today. I have a small sugar maple that has some lower branches. First impression, it’s well built for being made in Taiwan. It’s not life support so I’m ok with that. The weight is listed as 1.4 lbs but, I haven’t weighed it. It has smooth edges and feels good in the hand. Initially, I thought it was heavy but, I have Samson Silver Ivy 11.7 with the bolt through the eye. The weight sends the grapple and rope through the limbs to the branches. It will take awhile to get the hang of throwing it. I’m going to use the rope I have for now. I “might “ benefit from a lighter rope. Be cautious throwing overhead to advance. It’s easy to manipulate the grapple by twisting the rope and a quick jiggle to release. I have a job next week to trim the ends off some long branches and a traverse between trees. If you’re good at throw line you’ll probably do well. Careful not getting rope caught like I did. A loop spun around a limb and caught a knob. I had to do a lot of shaking to get it to loose. I’ll report back next week.
Click to expand...
Any further thoughts on the Notch RC grapple use? I bought one from TreeStuff along with other items and after everything else showed but the grapple didn't I finally called to ask possible delivery date...May 30th, 2025. :) I called a bunch of other places and found one in stock.

Any other people with any thoughts or ideas from using theirs?
 
Reg said:
Quick update on the actual climbing device, not the grapple. Ive just received delivery of the most updated sample by Notch today. Up until now the only samples in existence were fabricated here at my house. So I am delighted to finally see their machined and refined version, that has now completed all the in-house tests, equivalent to those needed for CE marking. They have done a very nice job indeed.

Unfortunately I don't have permission to show photos just yet, but I'll be giving it a thorough workout in the coming months.

I'd also like to mention, that nothing about this design was borrowed or influenced by any other climbing device out there. That was a condition I issued to myself from the word go....either that or it doesn't happen at all. Anyway, I just wanted to share some better news.
Click to expand...
Hi @Reg , any updates on your climbing device?
 
chiselbit said:
Hi @Reg , any updates on your climbing device?
Click to expand...
Yes, couple things happened. A mistake on my part, which in hindsight wasted a lot of time. To cut a long story short, the original, basic design would fail one of the specific pull tests. It was a flaw that I'd overlooked, because I always got around with technique. Anyway Notch pointed this out to me, and I made an alteration to the cam in order to get around it. So it passed that one test thereafter, but had a negative effect in other aspects of performance. Not test failing effects, but it just wasn't as nice to use. Anyway, we went along with this alteration for probably a year, and amended or tweaked other parts to try to get it back to where it was. The end result looked great, and performed great at certain things. But not good enough across the full range of ropes and braids that we need it be. It's obviously being held to a very high standard, but so be it.

I should have never pursued that cam alteration at the time. I should have foreseen it's limitations before committing to it. I should have thought harder and dug deeper, even though I still put in hundreds of hours and the time, and Notch equal or more than that thereafter. Plus all the costs.

I scrapped the altered cam and added something much more effective but without the negative effects just recently. Now it's running beautiful again, and we can get back on track. The delay is frustrating, and expensive, but no point releasing a device that's not good enough.

On a more positive note, an altogether different product has been well underway and had no such mistakes ir issues. It's going to surprise and delight a lot of climbers I would guess. Coming soon.
 
Set backs suck but I’m sure when you are satisfied with it it will be worth the extra time. Looking forward to trying it. And this new thing,,, whatchya got going now??
 
chiselbit said:
Set backs suck but I’m sure when you are satisfied with it it will be worth the extra time. Looking forward to trying it. And this new thing,,, whatchya got going now??
Click to expand...
I can't say. But I think you will buy one. Or it's going to be very hard to resist.

One of the more recent requests from Notch is to make the device more compatible with 1/2" lines. I honesty didn't realise they were even used for SRT when I started the build a couple years ago. But Notch have assured me that 1/2" is still their best selling size if climb lines.

The mistake I mentioned earlier was something I did or changed to the cam. It was to solve one particularly issue, which mostly it did but then it created other unrelated issues. At that point we should have abolished that idea and found another way, but we didn't at the time.

The altered cam was causing the device to stop-go too abruptly on bigger lines like 1/2" when wanting to rappel. But now that cam is back to how it was, that problem has also gone away.

Notch sent me a bunch of 1/2 ropes to test. Samson arborplex, arborfreak and one other I can't remember. Plus Sterling ogre and sasquatch. These are very corse line compared to what Im used to. And not something I'd ever choose.

Today I tip reduced 2 big fir trees. I used the arborplex in SRT for the first, then the ogre in doubled line or MRS as it seems to be called these days, on the second tree. Anyway, it worked really well on both. Especially happy with the MRS as I deliberately set my tie in point around the top at 10", so lots of friction to make it awkward. But it rappeled beautifully, effortlessly both vertical and for limbwalks. I've used the other 2 lines last week, and they work great too, although all slightly different characteristics.

This compatibility and performance is all due to undoing the mistake made on the cam, and the new additions that I thought up recently. If it now passes the drop and pull tests, and the mechanisms can stay as they are for the production model, I'll be very pleased.
 
Reg said:
I can't say. But I think you will buy one. Or it's going to be very hard to resist.

One of the more recent requests from Notch is to make the device more compatible with 1/2" lines. I honesty didn't realise they were even used for SRT when I started the build a couple years ago. But Notch have assured me that 1/2" is still their best selling size if climb lines.

The mistake I mentioned earlier was something I did or changed to the cam. It was to solve one particularly issue, which mostly it did but then it created other unrelated issues. At that point we should have abolished that idea and found another way, but we didn't at the time.

The altered cam was causing the device to stop-go too abruptly on bigger lines like 1/2" when wanting to rappel. But now that cam is back to how it was, that problem has also gone away.

Notch sent me a bunch of 1/2 ropes to test. Samson arborplex, arborfreak and one other I can't remember. Plus Sterling ogre and sasquatch. These are very corse line compared to what Im used to. And not something I'd ever choose.

Today I tip reduced 2 big fir trees. I used the arborplex in SRT for the first, then the ogre in doubled line or MRS as it seems to be called these days, on the second tree. Anyway, it worked really well on both. Especially happy with the MRS as I deliberately set my tie in point around the top at 10", so lots of friction to make it awkward. But it rappeled beautifully, effortlessly both vertical and for limbwalks. I've used the other 2 lines last week, and they work great too, although all slightly different characteristics.

This compatibility and performance is all due to undoing the mistake made on the cam, and the new additions that I thought up recently. If it now passes the drop and pull tests, and the mechanisms can stay as they are for the production model, I'll be very pleased.
Click to expand...
I think you are right, I Will buy one.
 
Crimsonking said:
Their numbers are heavily influenced by line clearance, no? Will your device be easily adopted into that side of tree work?
Click to expand...
Are they ? I don't know, its not something thats been discussed to me. Line clearance seems uncomplicated from a climbing aspect, although they probably have a lot to get through in a day. Climbing is Climbing no matter what the objective so I think think it's a good choice for that kind of work if that's what it's about.

I think the fact that it does both MRS and SRT so well is a safety advantage even if the climber primarily uses MRS. If the tail end is either snagged or damaged the climber can still perform an emergency rappel if need be.
 
My reason for asking is that the big brands tend to buy for the lowest common denominator, and account for the majority of purchases from vsg. It’s by far the best way to sell the most if your device is easily integrated into a high churn culture. I feel silly even typing this, as I’m sure none of this is likely news to you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Kask Stihl NORTHEASTERN Arborists Wesspur TreeStuff.com Teufelberger Westminster X-Rigging Teufelberger
Back
Top Bottom