W
Will
Guest
thanks for the info moray.
M
moray
Guest
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #27
Another Experiment
The idea that hollow-braid splices, left unstitched, will slowly creep apart from repeated load cycles was new to me and I decided to test it. I created a brand new spliced eye in 3/8 in Tenex Tec, carefully milked all the slack out of the splice, then marked the exit point of the core with a magic marker. The mark was clean, and by peeling back part of the cover with the point of my awl, I could see that none of the black dye extended beneath the cover.
I was ready to test. Without disturbing the splice in any way, I clipped a biner through the eye and over a rod in my garage ceiling. About 3 feet below the eye, I applied an ascender with a foot loop. I arranged the ascender so that if I stepped down hard part of my weight would be on the floor, but something over 100 pounds would be on the rope. I then proceeded to load and unload the spliced eye 500 times at approximately 1-second intervals. Whew!
Again without disturbing the splice, I carefully carried the rig inside to inspect it. There was absolutely no evidence of retraction of the core. I am sure that if the core had moved as much as 1/32 inch, I would have detected it.
On a sudden hunch I tried another experiment. I gripped the splice about 5 inches from the eye, and began to idly fold it back and forth. After a few moments, I rotated the rope about 90 degrees and started folding some more. I fully expected that I would have to fold 500 or 1000 times before I would notice anything, but after about 40 folds, when I stole a quick glance at the eye, I was shocked to see my black mark had crept a full 1/2 inch from the throat!
It appears that unstitched eyes can easily creep apart in ordinary use, but the creep has nothing to do with load cycles. It is nice to discover the true mechanism for splice creep, but the remedy remains the same: stitch your splices.
The idea that hollow-braid splices, left unstitched, will slowly creep apart from repeated load cycles was new to me and I decided to test it. I created a brand new spliced eye in 3/8 in Tenex Tec, carefully milked all the slack out of the splice, then marked the exit point of the core with a magic marker. The mark was clean, and by peeling back part of the cover with the point of my awl, I could see that none of the black dye extended beneath the cover.
I was ready to test. Without disturbing the splice in any way, I clipped a biner through the eye and over a rod in my garage ceiling. About 3 feet below the eye, I applied an ascender with a foot loop. I arranged the ascender so that if I stepped down hard part of my weight would be on the floor, but something over 100 pounds would be on the rope. I then proceeded to load and unload the spliced eye 500 times at approximately 1-second intervals. Whew!
Again without disturbing the splice, I carefully carried the rig inside to inspect it. There was absolutely no evidence of retraction of the core. I am sure that if the core had moved as much as 1/32 inch, I would have detected it.
On a sudden hunch I tried another experiment. I gripped the splice about 5 inches from the eye, and began to idly fold it back and forth. After a few moments, I rotated the rope about 90 degrees and started folding some more. I fully expected that I would have to fold 500 or 1000 times before I would notice anything, but after about 40 folds, when I stole a quick glance at the eye, I was shocked to see my black mark had crept a full 1/2 inch from the throat!
It appears that unstitched eyes can easily creep apart in ordinary use, but the creep has nothing to do with load cycles. It is nice to discover the true mechanism for splice creep, but the remedy remains the same: stitch your splices.
pantheraba
More biners!!!
Great experiment, dude....field verification...hoorah!
NickfromWI
King of Splices
Yep- cool test. I wonder what would happen if you repeated the same test but applying 1,000 per cycle. I've seen ropes adjust and settle in at moderate loads when put on the testing bed. I wonder if that would continue over many loads.
love
nick
love
nick
I used to splice all the halyards on our boat. They were all double braid, 1/2" and there were 10 of them. Each splice was whipped at the throat (after giving it a good pull) using waxed twine in half hitches for about 2-3". Using half hitches allows you to keep the whip consistently tight all the way up...and the knots spiral around and look quite attractive!
Each halyard/splice was put under tremendous load as everything was final tightened with the electric winch to make sure the luff on the sail was tight. On several occasions over 10 years, those halyards were up and loaded for 3,000 miles of ocean, for up to 23 days 24/7, through all kinds of weather.
Never ONCE did they ever pull out and I would say only one ever showed signs of any slippage and that was the outer jib halyard that was of a smaller diameter.
FWIW, I got a eye'eye piece of icetail, and the first thing I did was whip the splice as I felt the lay was quite loose, also I wanted to make the eye smaller so it would grip tighter on my crab.
Each halyard/splice was put under tremendous load as everything was final tightened with the electric winch to make sure the luff on the sail was tight. On several occasions over 10 years, those halyards were up and loaded for 3,000 miles of ocean, for up to 23 days 24/7, through all kinds of weather.
Never ONCE did they ever pull out and I would say only one ever showed signs of any slippage and that was the outer jib halyard that was of a smaller diameter.
FWIW, I got a eye'eye piece of icetail, and the first thing I did was whip the splice as I felt the lay was quite loose, also I wanted to make the eye smaller so it would grip tighter on my crab.
J
Jonseredbred
Guest
Thats a neat boat in your avatar, the stripe makes it look like its wizzin along sitting still.
That's why they are called 'go faster stripes'!
That boat is how I get to work every day...minus the cabin bit...
