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This is a mini review of Alexey Domanoff's Planetary Ropewalk. First, let me say I'm very pleased with the ropewalk and how well it works. I've made a few changes that suite my needs, more on them later. Mine took about a month to arrive from Belarus. Alexey said that normal shipping is seven to ten days, I think the X-mas holidays slowed it down. The machine comes in a flat pack and is to be assembled. I spent about an hour on the assembly of the machine, wanted to be sure not to mess it up. The machine consists of a base plate that is 15 1/2" long, 5" wide, and 5/16" thick, made of Plexiglas. A Plexiglas pedestal 1 1/2" long, 3/4" thick, and 3 1/2" high. The pedestal supports the main shaft which is fixed and is of steel 1/4" diameter by 5" long. Two 'Solar' discs 5 1/8" in diameter, and 5/16" thick are mounted to the main shaft with ball bearing races. They trap the gears between them and are the heart of the machine. A 'Sun' gear is pre-pressed onto the main shaft and does not move. This 'Sun' gear has three 'Planet' gears that mesh with it. They act as idler gears that then mesh with the 'Moon' gears. The 'Moon' gears are pressed onto the hollow whorl shafts that support the bobbin holders. The whorls rotate twice in the direction of twist for each rotation of the 'Solar' discs. Depending on thread size and the speed of the take-up spool, the thread moves from the bobbins to the guide bar in about ten rotations. Two all-thread rods, 4mm X 10cm pass through both "Solar' discs and support the guide bar which is made of 3/4" wide, 4" long, and 3/16" thick Plexiglas. A 12v variable speed motor with a rubber drive button spins the discs via contact with the outside diameter. The take-up is by a 12v variable speed motor with a gear reduction head, Both motors are independently controlled. A steel shaft is fitted to the take-up motor shaft, on which a take-up spool slides, and is fixed with a set screw. The control box has a main power on/off switch, an input for the wall mounted transformer, adjustable speed pots for each motor as well as a direction switch for each. The first photo is a overall view of the machine and a few samples of the early attempts of spinning thread into rope. these samples are of cotton and linen that was on hand. They started as "Z" or right twist. So they were spun into a "S" or left twist and wound onto bobbins to then be spun into a "Z" twist rope. Bob Wescott To Be Continued
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