SkwerI
Treehouser
Jim, I assume you're still in South Florida? Did you ever get over to see Brett or Kenny yet?
T
Tree Machine
Guest
If I could do two other thank you's before we dig in.....
Skwerl, thank you for summoning me in. And Beranek, thank you for "A Tree Story". That which you share through those CDs is absolutely remarkable. Just inspiring. If my head gets too big and i think I'm a hotshot climber, I put on "A Tree Story" and it lets me know who the hotshots really are. Also, I've had "General Fundamentals" for many years, and it is a timeless tree reference. I'd like to think I've contributed something to the Arboricultural community, but you, YOU SIR
are the big dog, head honcho, Grand poobah and illustrious magistrate. Thank you for inspiring all of us.
Skwerl, thank you for summoning me in. And Beranek, thank you for "A Tree Story". That which you share through those CDs is absolutely remarkable. Just inspiring. If my head gets too big and i think I'm a hotshot climber, I put on "A Tree Story" and it lets me know who the hotshots really are. Also, I've had "General Fundamentals" for many years, and it is a timeless tree reference. I'd like to think I've contributed something to the Arboricultural community, but you, YOU SIR
are the big dog, head honcho, Grand poobah and illustrious magistrate. Thank you for inspiring all of us.
T
Tree Machine
Guest
I'm still down here. In the last five days I've done 17 hours of (paid) tree work, went fishin all day yesterday enough to get just enough sunburn, and did concrete work most of today as part of my Christmas gift to my Sister.
Whew! I'm rather beat.
If Elizabeth wants to go to see some Frank Lloyd-Wright architecture in Lakeland, I'll call Tree Spyder.
If she want to go to Tampa and visit some botanical gardens east of town (Eureka Springs), or visit Busch Gardens, I may give Brett a call.
I want to go to Disney.
I have a feeling we're going to road trip down to the Keys and maybe I'd be lucky enough to meet VHarrison. The Keys are most likely. I mean, we love our family, but we need to break away so we can actually enjoy some true relaxation. The fact that I'm driving and transporting with us a saddle, rope, Silky Saw, pole pruners and a BigShot has her rather concerned.
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
Hey Jim, long time no see! You see where I damaged myself awhile back?
I guess you're all healed up???
I guess you're all healed up???
T
Tree Machine
Guest
Hi Blaster. No I didn't. I hope you came out OK. Link me to the thread, I wannna know wasssup.MB said:
I came out a very, very lucky dude, Wicked, ugly scar, but no residual pain or climbing limitations of any sort. Power blower accident, I still feel like such an idiot, as many of us do after an avoidable accident. Actually, all accidents are avoidable, aren't they?
Still have never had an aerial accident of any kind, quite proud of that 14-year streak.
SkwerI
Treehouser
Here ya go Jim. I'll humor you until you get a chance to feel your way around the forum. 
http://www.gypoclimber.com/showthread.php?t=6286
http://www.gypoclimber.com/showthread.php?t=6286
H
Hobby Climber
Guest
Holly $hit...TM...how the heck are you?
Long time no hear!
Ya going to the '08 TCIA expo in WI ??? I am and will be bringing another package for you if you are!
Your a very informative fellow and you've made my climbing easier & more efficient. Because of your input on the "tree" sites, countless others have benefited as well. I take that knowledge learned from you (& others on the web) and apply it when aloft. You have made a difference...thank you sir!!!
Look forward to reading you often here in the TreeHouse!
All the best to you in 2008,
Bob (aha- HobbyClimber)
PS- ..and don't forget to check you blind side Eh!
Long time no hear!
Ya going to the '08 TCIA expo in WI ??? I am and will be bringing another package for you if you are!
Your a very informative fellow and you've made my climbing easier & more efficient. Because of your input on the "tree" sites, countless others have benefited as well. I take that knowledge learned from you (& others on the web) and apply it when aloft. You have made a difference...thank you sir!!!
Look forward to reading you often here in the TreeHouse!
All the best to you in 2008,
Bob (aha- HobbyClimber)
PS- ..and don't forget to check you blind side Eh!
pantheraba
More biners!!!
Hey, TM, really glad to have you around. You were my voice of reality and helpfulness when I was down at Katrina and I really appreciate you helping like you did.
Your constant willingness to offer your ideas and experiences to others when I first bumped into you at AS really impressed me...enough that I still remember you and am glad to read you again.
Just sit down here on the log beside me and we'll watch the campfire and tell stories.
Your constant willingness to offer your ideas and experiences to others when I first bumped into you at AS really impressed me...enough that I still remember you and am glad to read you again.
Just sit down here on the log beside me and we'll watch the campfire and tell stories.
T
Tree Machine
Guest
Thanks, Pantheraba.
Thanks Skwerl.
Ohhhhhhh, The Crushing of the Blaster,
Butch, I am so sorry. 44 stitches to put the sole of your foot back onto the side of your foot.... ahh, ahh, oWWwwwWWWW!!!
Hi Pantheraba, incredible hero of the Katrina cleanup. Talk about a dude who inspired thousands of us by going to the front lines during the hurricane cleanup....and helped so many desperate folks get the trees off their homes, at no charge. There's a place for you in heaven, Mister Pantheraba.
Thanks Skwerl.
Ohhhhhhh, The Crushing of the Blaster,
Butch, I am so sorry. 44 stitches to put the sole of your foot back onto the side of your foot.... ahh, ahh, oWWwwwWWWW!!!
Thanks for the fine compliment, Hobby Climber. We all have unique skills, and we all share with each other. That's what makes Arbo forum sites such special places.Hobby said:
Hi Pantheraba, incredible hero of the Katrina cleanup. Talk about a dude who inspired thousands of us by going to the front lines during the hurricane cleanup....and helped so many desperate folks get the trees off their homes, at no charge. There's a place for you in heaven, Mister Pantheraba.
Paul B
I dig hammocks.
welcome Tree Machine.
be careful now fellas, i get the feeling a hug picture is about to surface!
be careful now fellas, i get the feeling a hug picture is about to surface!
X
xtremetrees
Guest
Hey TM, good to read ya. As I was banned from the other tree site I've missed learning from a soloist aloft like myself. Tyvm for teaching me how to untie my own knot. I went 10 years having to re climb trees! Thanks to you no more of that. Unlike the other sites these folks as you can figure are about as real as it gets, honest, sincere and down right to the point about what they think about ones writing.
Where do I get this great invention it seems most effectient method on the market today? of not only deploring throw line but also stowing the line. It looks like a water hose reel cut in half.
Where do I get this great invention it seems most effectient method on the market today? of not only deploring throw line but also stowing the line. It looks like a water hose reel cut in half.
T
Tree Machine
Guest
Think 'extension cord reel'.
More tonight,
I will disclose all. I just spent an hour compiling pictures of this reel from the last 7 year of various incarnations.
Xtreme, It is not available, but I will show you how to make one. I will ask for one small agreement from the community, then I'll spill the beans.
There have been questions up to this point, I will quote and answer them all. Any more questions, post them here and now.
Cheers!
-TM-
More tonight,
I will disclose all. I just spent an hour compiling pictures of this reel from the last 7 year of various incarnations.
Xtreme, It is not available, but I will show you how to make one. I will ask for one small agreement from the community, then I'll spill the beans.
There have been questions up to this point, I will quote and answer them all. Any more questions, post them here and now.
Cheers!
-TM-
B
Bounce
Guest
I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures, as I'm awfully tired of stuffing my line.
OTGBOSTON
punk in drublic
Hey TM good to read you again! I was wonderin' what happened to you
Speaking of wich, any one heard from climb020 (Doug)?
Speaking of wich, any one heard from climb020 (Doug)?
T
Tree Machine
Guest
Here goes. I have like 300 pictures of this reel in its development, dating back to 2001. You'll see a select number of the different variations, all leading up to 2008 where it's now quite refined.
Interestingly enough, I got it right the first time, with the first reel. In trying to improve upon that, I failed a good number of times before coming around to what's been done as of this writing.
Before we go on, let me speak personally to all of you.
I've developed this reel for our Arboricultural community, as there is practically no other use for it that I can think of. Hundreds of hours have been applied in the research and development of it, thousands have been spent on different reel types, different line types, and the intellectual property attorneys, working with the patent artist, not to mention a lot of time away from work pursuing manufacturing options and capturing images and shooting and editing video.
The reel is not patented at this time. Anyone who has been through this meticulous and time-consuming system understands the expenses and I just had to look at how many reels would have to be sold, at what price, to achieve even a break-even. This is before even going into the manufacturing process, in which the kindest company I talked to told me they would not create an injection die for under a 10,000 unit run. The price for that,...... uhhh....
Interestingly enough, I got it right the first time, with the first reel. In trying to improve upon that, I failed a good number of times before coming around to what's been done as of this writing.
Before we go on, let me speak personally to all of you.
I've developed this reel for our Arboricultural community, as there is practically no other use for it that I can think of. Hundreds of hours have been applied in the research and development of it, thousands have been spent on different reel types, different line types, and the intellectual property attorneys, working with the patent artist, not to mention a lot of time away from work pursuing manufacturing options and capturing images and shooting and editing video.
The reel is not patented at this time. Anyone who has been through this meticulous and time-consuming system understands the expenses and I just had to look at how many reels would have to be sold, at what price, to achieve even a break-even. This is before even going into the manufacturing process, in which the kindest company I talked to told me they would not create an injection die for under a 10,000 unit run. The price for that,...... uhhh....
T
Tree Machine
Guest
So, before I bankrupted myself, or made it so a reel would cost you a hundred and twenty bucks, I stopped short of a full patent filing. There's a registration, the attorney told me what that provides, but by then I was numb and just wanted to take my bleeding checkbook and go home.
Trust me, I think I did us a favor.
My sharing fully with you may seem like giving away the farm. The patent exercise was because no one wants to dedicate his time and money in creating and developing his original idea, just to have it stolen and capitalized on by the first scum dog who sees it.
We're a tight community, worldwide. I am presenting this valuable tool, at this point, out of love, as I'm not selling it (will explain as we move along).
My intent is to BRING it to the front, where our collective minds can cooperate in its further development. I'm humble enough to accept that I can't do it alone, and money isn't my driving motivation. Benefit to the arboricultural community is the motivation. I just ask that, if you have an earnest desire to aid in the manufacture, just call me. I want nothing more than for Arborists to enjoy the use of this time and effort-saving device.
Trust me, I think I did us a favor.
My sharing fully with you may seem like giving away the farm. The patent exercise was because no one wants to dedicate his time and money in creating and developing his original idea, just to have it stolen and capitalized on by the first scum dog who sees it.
We're a tight community, worldwide. I am presenting this valuable tool, at this point, out of love, as I'm not selling it (will explain as we move along).
My intent is to BRING it to the front, where our collective minds can cooperate in its further development. I'm humble enough to accept that I can't do it alone, and money isn't my driving motivation. Benefit to the arboricultural community is the motivation. I just ask that, if you have an earnest desire to aid in the manufacture, just call me. I want nothing more than for Arborists to enjoy the use of this time and effort-saving device.
T
Tree Machine
Guest
For Arborists to enjoy the use of this time and effort-saving device, you will need to build one yourself, and I encourage you to do so.
If you do it the way I describe it, you will have excellent, flawless results as I do. If you change design, it could be better, it could be worse, but it won't be as described, so it will simply be some modified offshoot of the idea. If you have poor results, you're not allowed to come forward and complain about the performance as an apple does not, and will not taste like an orange.
The reason I say this is I have had crappy designs and poor results, I will share with you those pictures.
All this will be the foundation for a commercial reel that can be sold through our Arbo distributors. You are all now officially on the design committee.
Let's get started.
If you do it the way I describe it, you will have excellent, flawless results as I do. If you change design, it could be better, it could be worse, but it won't be as described, so it will simply be some modified offshoot of the idea. If you have poor results, you're not allowed to come forward and complain about the performance as an apple does not, and will not taste like an orange.
The reason I say this is I have had crappy designs and poor results, I will share with you those pictures.
All this will be the foundation for a commercial reel that can be sold through our Arbo distributors. You are all now officially on the design committee.
Let's get started.
T
Tree Machine
Guest
First image, June 2001, with my first BigShot, introduced at the TCIA Expo just 6 months earlier. Shotline management BEGGED for a solution, though the problem then was not just how to stow the line, but the line itself. Thick polypropylene 'slickline', this stuff just SUCKED.
The second picture: Here's a closeup of the original first reel, the flange surface covered in duct tape, a natural stage for ANY invention, in my opinion. Without the tape, I feared it would not withstand the upcoming 'run over it with the truck' test, a necessary test, given that groundguys set things in front of vehicles and then drive into, or over them
. I think you all know what I mean.Third pic: Here is the reel AFTER the 'run over it with a truck' test. The duct tape held it together, but I lost a chip out of the top. The reel lived on and did hundreds of shots before I loaned it to an apprentice for the weekend and never saw it again.
T
Tree Machine
Guest
Ah-HA! This is a picture of the very original first reel, before the duct taping.
What I did was take an extension cord reel, and simply cut off one side so that the yellow disk I'd just cut off was flush with the black inner drum. I soon found that polishing that upper circumference, a light sanding with sandpaper and a light going-over with a propane torch to melt out the sanding marks helped a lot.
From this alone, you can go make one tomorrow.
This extension cord reel was made by a company called Woods. How appropriate. They're the ones that gave me the quote of minimum 10,000 units to even talk, but that was years after making this one.
At this time I just wanted to streamline the shotline deployment, retrieval and stowage. The headache of stuffing line into bags and pouches curdled my cerebrospinal fluid one too many times. Faltemeiers were not out yet. Fishing reels proved futile, bowhunting reels some promise, but too small a diameter drum. I had no alternatives but to take a stab at something that plain did not exist in our industry.
The slots in the yellow disc allowed it to be clipped on the saddle with a biner.
What I did was take an extension cord reel, and simply cut off one side so that the yellow disk I'd just cut off was flush with the black inner drum. I soon found that polishing that upper circumference, a light sanding with sandpaper and a light going-over with a propane torch to melt out the sanding marks helped a lot.
From this alone, you can go make one tomorrow.
This extension cord reel was made by a company called Woods. How appropriate. They're the ones that gave me the quote of minimum 10,000 units to even talk, but that was years after making this one.
At this time I just wanted to streamline the shotline deployment, retrieval and stowage. The headache of stuffing line into bags and pouches curdled my cerebrospinal fluid one too many times. Faltemeiers were not out yet. Fishing reels proved futile, bowhunting reels some promise, but too small a diameter drum. I had no alternatives but to take a stab at something that plain did not exist in our industry.
The slots in the yellow disc allowed it to be clipped on the saddle with a biner.
T
Tree Machine
Guest
Oh how we suffered with this early polypro line.
It did poor-to-OK if you tossed by hand, but the BigShot hated it.
T
Tree Machine
Guest
Notice how this reel is different. I cut off the one side, same as the yellow model, but notice how the internal handle does not span across the inside. Rather, it floats along the side of the internal curve as you reel it.
This design just did NOT work well, but I thought it could with further modification.
T
Tree Machine
Guest
So I further modified it.
Duct tape was out of the question. I needed plumber's epoxy and wood.
This attempt was to get the handle more centered so it could be reeled in faster, as the side slide way it was proved to be very clumsy and the reel would wobble, not allowing you to reel the line exactly where you wanted it.
This mod did not work and I only made two or three of these varients before seeking out a different style reel.
T
Tree Machine
Guest
This reel came from an electrician. It was a spool for copper wire.
The thought was to use a retractable fat dowel that would fit in the center, and pop out for use, creating a side handle. Sounded great in theory. The actual performance sucked so bad I didn't even bother to take photos.
A major learning mistake was encountered, though, making the effort worth the effort: I cut off the one side, the horizontal side plate, flush with the vertical drum. In other words, there was no 'lip' at the top, just a cylinder on a plate. When you fired a shot, a NUMBER of winds would peel off at once, rather than one wind at a time in rapid sequence. When multiple winds come off at once, a tangle is an absolute promise.
Up til now, the lip had been an unintentional aspect of the design. From then on, it would be viewed as a critical component.
On to the next.
T
Tree Machine
Guest
Some of you may notice I have a mini hotwire biner as part of the setup.
This is only because I have put eye terminations in all my ropes since very early in my arbo career. When the shotline and bag come down out of the tree, I like to drop the bag, clip on the rope and GO. There's no faster way possible.
Once the rope has been set, unclip the rope, clip on the bag and REEL. My attempt has always been to make this last part as fast as possible while applying the line so that the next shot is flawless and perfect, right off the reel.
This is only because I have put eye terminations in all my ropes since very early in my arbo career. When the shotline and bag come down out of the tree, I like to drop the bag, clip on the rope and GO. There's no faster way possible.
Once the rope has been set, unclip the rope, clip on the bag and REEL. My attempt has always been to make this last part as fast as possible while applying the line so that the next shot is flawless and perfect, right off the reel.
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