The Aerial Friction Brake is here!

I just learned that a number of these have malfunctioned and been returned. The bollards were breaking and notch discontinued them. But they dont seem to be coming clean about it. More about that in this thread:

Aerial Friction Brake Discontinued

I was interested in buying the aerial friction brake, my friend had just shared it with me and bought it on sale, and when I went to purchase it a few weeks ago I noticed I couldn’t add it to my cart. I figured it was out of stock, but after a week and half the page didn’t even show up anymore...
www.treebuzz.com
 
I've only used my original Belay Spool from BMS...bought years and years ago...all stainless steel.

Do I understand that the AFB bollard is aluminum? Is it a solid block like the Belay Spool?
 
I have a AFB I bought a couple years ago. Stopped using it because it was too hard to pull the rope back up and the aluminum bollard was wearing very quickly. Only 3 or 4 days use and the corners were grooving out pretty bad. It was depositing aluminum in my rope so bad that it turned it gray and transfered to everyone's hands that touched it for the life of the rope. It sits in a box of other tools that I'll probably never use again.
 
It most definitely should have had been made with a stainless steel bollard of about 1/4" thick stock. The added weight would be a very small price to pay for the vastly better performance.
 
My Belay Spool is a solid block of stainless.

Carroll told me how he designed the radius of the bollard. By starting with a solid square and milling the corners he has a profile that lets the unloaded rope run with less friction than is generated from using a round profile. When a load is applied the rope chokes onto the radius and flats too.
 
Ive tried lots and lots of gear over the years. I started getting into natural crotching "point of cut" "self rigging" or whatever you want to call it maybe two years ago as we have been climbing many many dead oak trees from gypsy moth kills in central ma.Trying to do anything we can to reduce loading.

I now use it more often than any other rigging technique. I still have and use all expensive and high quality rigging gear as needed and where necessary.

It costs under 100 for the three strand rope to run the system. Half the loading on the spar. I sometimes use slings to keep the rope from running over itself and binding up when the crotch isn't conducive for good running or wrapping. I typically run a two to four man crew depending on the task of the day. All ground guys are skilled. Being able to take over the rigging line to help the guy on the ground manipulate branches to the ground has been invaluable. The other guy or guys on the job can keep on with whatever they are doing. Whereas I as the climber might just be sitting there watching them struggle to get the piece down until I can get the rope back....

Saves tons of time, keeps everyone busy, is an inexpensive system and reduces loading on the tree.

I don't know why I would buy an AFB. I already have one. They exist for free. I can see an argument for consistency, but I think good climbers and groundies can do a mint job adapting to inconsistent friction.......

I dunno. No one else is consistently "point of cutting" "self rigging" etc anymore? I used to think it was for the old school hacks, but I have completely changed my opinion after use.
 
Sfoppema said:
I used to think it was for the old school hacks...
Click to expand...

There's a tree service in a city fairly close to me that was taking out a tree two doors down from one of my jobsites, and aside from 90% of the crew using no PPE whatsoever, they did everything safely. It took them half of the first day just to get a bucket truck into the backyard. There was one guy about my age who took down most of the convoluted bulk of the spar (an old, 3-codom Silver Maple) from a bucket using this method, with about 60' of 3-strand. He had a couple of young groundies hauling it away and he just methodically dismantled the old beast by himself with nothing but a chainsaw and that ragged old piece of rope.

It was obvious he'd been doing things this way for a very long time... the day before, he just told the younger guys on the crew (that were whacking the canopy) where to leave stubs. He clearly had the whole plan in his head and he cut pieces he could self-lower. I chatted with him a bit on the last day, and he said he had retired from tree work a couple of years earlier, and the owner of this company was related to him. He was bored with retirement, and agreed to come back and help out with jobs with problematic, property risk issues. He also wore a hardhat and was the only one I saw tied into the basket while working. The boss wanted to bring a crane in for the job. He said he can't believe how quickly they wanted to use a $5,000 solution for a $12 problem. I had to laugh. The old guy was just a methodical, slow wrecking machine. It was a joy to watch him do this while all the younger guys on the ground spent most of their time arguing about how shit should get done and who should do it.
 
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You can so a lot more, in some circumstances, by being able to feather the cut and rope-tension. No micro meetings with the roper on the ground about what you have and what you need.

A plus for the Belay Spool is that it can be set in another tree as a floating 'block'. Keeps all the loading off the suspect tree.

Matching your rope length, or managing it in the tree, to keep it off the ground entirely, is a great step forward in safety when the chipper (or maybe a grinder, or other machine) is operational while there is roping happening.

Tying midline allows more flexibility. Knowing that typically the ground-workers do more labor than the climber, sometimes I'll have 'em go to break while I rig down the next round, and free drop a bit more, as I'm able. I can get this work disconnected and ropes tidied up, ready to reascend after I take a break. This let's the ground crew have time to chip and rake while I reascend, with a clear dropzone, ready to go.
 
The AFB bollards were extruded aluminum. They should have been thicker, but the weight was a concern. We discontinued it because of slow sales.
 
bonner1040 said:
The AFB bollards were extruded aluminum. They should have been thicker, but the weight was a concern. We discontinued it because of slow sales.
Click to expand...
If you don't mind me asking, how thick were the AFB bollards, and how thick do you think they should be? The reason I ask is because I am working on a design for an aerial rigging device in steel, but weight is an issue.
 
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