The rope making machine from the Musée de la Marine de Paris

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

I have seen a lot of rope making machine over the years from the most simple to the most exotics. There are a lot of ways to turn ropes and the quality of the turned ropes can cover a wide area of quality.

 

Here are 2 example of rope machine, similar in their principle:

 

The rope machine from the Musée de la Marine

The rope machine I use

 

One of the greatest advantage of this type of rope machine is that it can control the rigidity or the flexibility of the rope. The more weight, the more rigid will be the rope and also the swivel is a regulator for the tension and the number of turns.

There are a lot of tools on the market and some do the job the best way possible...

[wefalck]

I have seen the Museum's rope-walk in their workshops in Dugny (next to the old airport Le Bourget).

 

It is just an ordinary machine, except that they apply the weight to the moving end by a set of multiple pulleys. I gather by chosing how many sheaves they use, they can vary the pulling force.

 

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

22 hours ago, wefalck said:

I gather by chosing how many sheaves they use, they can vary the pulling force.

Or by changing the weight. It is easier not use the pulley but to reduce the weight instead. Simple machine and as much effective as  it can be:

gear system to tun ropes, cone  not to mix the ropes, swivel and weight to get the perfect rope in number of turns and tension.

[targa4403]

if they are using that machine to make ropes for model ships, I can just imagine the size of those models.

 

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

7 minutes ago, targa4403 said:

if they are using that machine to make ropes for model ships, I can just imagine the size of those models

This rope machine can be use for all size of models. There is not only the size of the ropes but also the number of ropes. By example, the biggest anchor rope I turned was made with 3 (64 X 3): 576 threads.

[Bob Cleek]

 

 

What a beautiful chest of drawers! It would be just the thing for storing small hand tools where they could be readily seen and retrieved. French fitted drawers would be particularly "tasty." Is it purchased or home-made? Time was that chests similar to this one were made for medical and dental professionals, but they are very hard to come across these days, at least at an affordable price. 

[druxey]

Bob: if you are in the U.S., the tool chests by Gerstner are great. Some years ago I got an old one (probably from the 1960's) that was a bit dilapidated and restored it. I loved it so much - and had more tools to store - that I got a second one! But we digress.

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

3 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

Time was that chests similar to this one were made for medical and dental professionals, but they are very hard to come across these days, at least at an affordable price. 

Antique  wood dental chest are very nice. We could say  it is like a Gerstner chest with more drawers. With the years, I did some tool chest in this style. The last one I did include over 1000 tool and accessories. The main difference and also the main reason it can have so many tools is because of the height and the depth of the drawers.

[RichardG]

This is why I make my own. They're nothing like as good as these though.

[Bob Cleek]

11 hours ago, druxey said:

Bob: if you are in the U.S., the tool chests by Gerstner are great. Some years ago I got an old one (probably from the 1960's) that was a bit dilapidated and restored it. I loved it so much - and had more tools to store - that I got a second one! But we digress.

Oh yea! I've priced them. The tool chest would be worth more than the tools I have to put in it!  I do have a Kennedy machinist's tool chest and rolling base which is quite nice. It was a Costco special long ago. I also have a very nice five foot tall stainless steel tool chest with tons of storage which was also a Costco item long ago. Add to that a couple of Harbor Freight tool carts and recycled kitchen cabinets and a I'm in pretty good shape. It's just that those old wooden chests of drawers are so cool.  

[Bob Cleek]

7 hours ago, RichardG said:

This is why I make my own. They're nothing like as good as these though.

Yes, making our own is probably the wisest approach and the most economical. It also offers the advantage of being able to make exactly what one needs,. I feel inspired by the dentist's cabinet and the other wooden cabinet. The real Gerstner chests are lovely, but almost too costly to put tools in. (I know one fellow who bought one for his wife for use as a jewelry chest!.) There are Chinese copies, of course, but they are poorly done and "pirated" so they leave a bad taste in my mouth. 

 

Metal mechanics' chests are certainly serviceable and come in a wide range of sizes and styles, but they lack the warmth of fine furniture. Your pictured drawer holding all of your rotary tool bits and mandrels, etc., is just what I need. For years, I've used dedicated small tool boxes for things like rotary tool bits and mandrels and my Unimat lathe tooling and attachments, but my collection of such tools has come to outgrow the small tool boxes I am using and being able to spread things out as you have pictured above in shallow compartmented drawers makes finding what I'm looking for a much faster task.

 

Thanks for sharing your photos!

 

 

 

 

[wefalck]

Talking about the size of models owned by the Musée de la Marine: the biggest is a fully operational demonstration model of an 18th warship that will be once again shown in the entrance hall. If I am not mistaken, it is around 4 m heigh and 6 m long ...

 

Their ropewalk is actually of an ordinary design, that can do 3 ply and 4 ply ropes of a fixed length. The size of ropes one can do with a machine depends, of course, on the physical strength of it and the maximum weight one can put onto moving end. Conversely, it may be difficult to make very fine, say sub-mm rope with such big ropewalk.

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

7 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

For years, I've used dedicated small tool boxes

After I built the last cabinet, all the small tools fitted 1 cabinet, so I gave all the other wood cabinets.

 

7 hours ago, Bob Cleek said:

Metal mechanics' chests are certainly serviceable

Storage for these is incredible for metal tools. You can customize each drawer  and each drawer they can support 300 pounds. I have another series of chest. they were used by a lens fabricator. They had cardoard little boxes that I also used int he small wood chest.The global idea is I guess when you have few tools, you need drawers.

[targa4403]

7 hours ago, wefalck said:

Talking about the size of models owned by the Musée de la Marine: the biggest is a fully operational demonstration model of an 18th warship that will be once again shown in the entrance hall. If I am not mistaken, it is around 4 m heigh and 6 m long ...

 

Their ropewalk is actually of an ordinary design, that can do 3 ply and 4 ply ropes of a fixed length. The size of ropes one can do with a machine depends, of course, on the physical strength of it and the maximum weight one can put onto moving end. Conversely, it may be difficult to make very fine, say sub-mm rope with such big ropewalk.

that is what I was thinking.  I look at the hooks etc that those two ladies are using and it makes me think that they are making ropes for large ship models.  But for me, Monsieur Gaétan Bordeleau's models are large.

Edited October 14, 2023 by targa4403

[dvm27]

If you've ever been to La Musee de la Marine there are enormous fully riffed models from floor to ceiling. It was one of the most fabulous maritime museums I've ever been to. I wonder if Wefalck has any knowledge regarding the plans for the new museum? Hopefully they will keep most of the ship models on display.

[targa4403]

9 minutes ago, dvm27 said:

If you've ever been to La Musee de la Marine there are enormous fully riffed models from floor to ceiling. It was one of the most fabulous maritime museums I've ever been to. I wonder if Wefalck has any knowledge regarding the plans for the new museum? Hopefully they will keep most of the ship models on display.

in my bucket list.

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

1 hour ago, dvm27 said:

hey will keep most of the ship models on display.

Actually there is a major restoration program going on and they will be display again. Photos up there came from  a series of video about the restoration actually happening.

 

2 hours ago, targa4403 said:

I look at the hooks etc that those two ladies are using and it makes me think that they are making ropes for large ship models.  But for me, Monsieur Gaétan Bordeleau's models are large.

This type of rope making machine is used to make ropes for models varying from 1/12 to 1/192 scale.

[wefalck]

Well, a grand re-opening of the Museum is scheduled for 17 November this year: https://www.musee-marine.fr/nos-musees/paris/expositions-et-evenements/les-evenements/le-vendredi-17-novembre-2023-le-musee-national-de-la-marine-rouvre-ses-portes.html

 

I have seen various projects and sat through various enthusiastic presentations by the director of the museum, but as various museology consultants got their fingers into that pie, it will not be the same as before. First of all, it seems to have mutated from a naval museum to a sort of ocean museum with the usual didactic raised finger. Second, the navy (who is the owner) seems to have succumbed to idea of a visual show, rather than to make the  most of their material heritage. It seems that it will not be quite as bad as the NMM in Greenwich, but it will have far less the character of a study collection than it used to have. We'll have to see.

 

 

[targa4403]

24 minutes ago, wefalck said:

Well, a grand re-opening of the Museum is scheduled for 17 November this year: https://www.musee-marine.fr/nos-musees/paris/expositions-et-evenements/les-evenements/le-vendredi-17-novembre-2023-le-musee-national-de-la-marine-rouvre-ses-portes.html

 

I have seen various projects and sat through various enthusiastic presentations by the director of the museum, but as various museology consultants got their fingers into that pie, it will not be the same as before. First of all, it seems to have mutated from a naval museum to a sort of ocean museum with the usual didactic raised finger. Second, the navy (who is the owner) seems to have succumbed to idea of a visual show, rather than to make the  most of their material heritage. It seems that it will not be quite as bad as the NMM in Greenwich, but it will have far less the character of a study collection than it used to have. We'll have to see.

 

 

merci pour le lien.

[Dziadeczek]

I have this type of a ropewalk I built long time ago. I use it all the time and it never fails me. It is simple to build and to operate. It is powered by a small 12 Volt DC reversible motor. To avoid constantly moving from center to center to check and correct (if necessary) the process, I have a cable (~15 ft.) connected to a remote trigger push button.

One other difference I employed, is the double fishing line stretched between centers, a cone is travelling (sliding) on. This allows me to twist quite long ropes, at least ~ 25-30 feet, If I need those.  Also, the distance between centers can be adjusted gradually by winding the excess of this fishing line rails onto a spool behind the static center, unlike the version with a cart and fixed length rails on which it travels (I assume, the idea borrowed from model railroading).