Making Rope

[ca.shipwright]

I built a rope walk on the MS version to see if rope making is as much fun as it seems.

The question is what size thread in a 3-strand lay will yield what size rope?

Any help will be greatfully accepted.

 

Thanks

Edited December 23, 2016 by ca.shipwright

[druxey]

The result will depend on your thread size. You will need to make up a trial length of line and measure its diameter. This (at scale size), x 3.1416 will give you the line size.

[Jaager]

This I did using a Byrnes rope walk.  I will have to play with the setup

to get the warps more acute but that should not affect these data significantly.

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

100/3   =   100 LEA linen yarn  spun up using 3 yarns.

 

The diameter was measured using a lacquered dowel and counting the

closely packed rotations in an inch.

[ca.shipwright]

Thanks Jagger,

This is exactly the info I needed.

What does the dot 2 indicate on your linen number? I am not familiar with linen thread. Although, I can figure out that the thinner the thread the higher the number.

 

Regards

Edited December 23, 2016 by ca.shipwright

[Jaager]

The linen supplier twists up the fibers into yarn.

This is sold as LEA - which is essentially an obsolete measurement - it has been replaced -

but I have not mentally absorbed it. Since I have obtained about as much and as wide a 

variety of linen yarn as is obtainable now, I don't need to deal with the change.

And yes,  with LEA - the larger the number - the smaller the yarn.

 

 

From our perspective  the hope would be that  70.2  LEA yarn would be 2 lines with a final size of 70,

but alas -  what it means is

Two 70 LEA yarns twisted together and sold as a loosely twisted  thread..

 

If unraveled  it would be   two 70 LEA yarns - not two 140 LEA - which would be nice for us

except -  twisting up the 62 LEA is difficult - it breaks easily - so that may be the practical limit.

 

I finally got why the old guys favored linen - the linen wrapping on Egyptian mummies is still largely intact.

It does not readily oxidize.

[jbshan]

VERY roughly, three strands of x diameter will yield one line of 2x.

[ca.shipwright]

Thanks everyone. I think I have found a source in Poland or Belgium.

[ca.shipwright]

Back again; and thanks again for all your help.

 

Well, I layed up some rope using the Model Shipways prototype. It worked just as advertised. The yield is about 80% of the original length which is what MS advertised. You are only limited in length by how far apart you put the two ends. I used a long piece of trim material- about 80 inches and got a piece of rope 60 inches. I CA'ed the ends and cut the rope free OUTSIDE of the CA. I know what you're thinking. No, I didn't cut inside. I made about 20 feet altogether in the first run. Very well satisfied with the effort. I really want to set up on the garage floor and try to do a piece about 20 feet long.

 

Then on to the serving machine built after our moderator's design. This worked extremely well with very little talent required.

 

I only have on complaint about this whole operation - my right index finger is about to fall off. I am going to see in I can alter the setup to motorize these two systems. Somewhere I recall someone putting a Phillip's head screw in the twist end action of a rope walk and use an electric drill to power the system and do the same for the other end since this is a one, two step operation. Another solution would be a sewing machine motor with a foot pedal. The motor attached to a shaft with a u-joint or some other shaft connector, like what Dremel uses in their tools. The same motor could also power the serving machine as well. But, I think this will have to be a belt driven pulley system to allow the line being served to pass through.

 

As a former macro woodworker, you can probably guess that like all the rest of the world's woodworkers, I am jig crazy and will build anything I can that I think I will find useful.

 

I wound up using some DMC crocheting cotton thread. The resulting rope is a little oversized, but I can live with this rope for the forstays while I wait for my linen from Poland.

 

Pictures attached.

 

[ca.shipwright]

More Pictures

[ca.shipwright]

More Pictures- having trouble resizing

 

Happy New Year everyone!

[Moxis]

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/13234-do-it-yourself-motorized-serving-machine/

[hornet]

When I first constructed my rope walker (see link below) I intended it to be hand powered. This proved to be impractical so I ended up using the dial/variable speed controller from my Domanoff serving machine coupled with an inexpensive motor from an electronics store. I had intended to use a sewing machine motor and control pedal but I found that once the correct speed is selected there is little need for adjustment - just switch it off when complete - therefore a foot pedal was unnecessary. I know that you can get these type of dial/variable type speed controllers from any electronic store. Maybe this would be a simpler method you could consider.

 

http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/14464-inexpensive-powered-rope-walker/

 

Happy New Year to All

 

Steve

Edited January 1, 2017 by hornet

[ca.shipwright]

Well, I got tired of the short ropes that came out with a 8 foot board so I added some length to see what happened. I was able to get almost 90% yield out of this lash-up. The additional piece was a piece of IKEA kick board for cabinets. It has a routed groove on the back. I added a tenion to the bottom of the moving end to fit the grove. Now I don't have to run back and forth to keep it from falling off the board.

 

And, I have one more kick board!

 

Pictures attached.

 

Regards

Edited January 17, 2017 by ca.shipwright

[ca.shipwright]

Back again with an update on the rope making journey.

I decided that I wanted to make really long pieces of rope, so I took the 3 slats of the Ikea kickboard and tied them together with door hinges so they would fold like like Kleenex. I knew that this length would not lend itself to finger power. I epoxied a large Phillips Head screw into each of the brass barrels and powered the whole thing with my electric drill.I broke off the original handles because they kept hitting my hand and that hurt. It was raining today so I had to use the garage where I only had room to extend out to two slats. The third slat is tucked under the second. The driveway will suffice for all 3 slats.

 

Fold them up and tie with bungie cords and they take up no space then a pair of skis.

 

Regards

 

[MarcM]

Hi guys,

 

I'm using Egyptian gassed cotton 185/2 as serving thread. I think it's OK for my 1/48 build.