Rope making question

[mtaylor]

Well, the holiday season is upon us and my Admiral and were talking about things.  She brought up the question/suggestion of my making my own rope.  I can sense what's going to happen....   So a question.  Is there a formula or table of what size threads to use to make rope of a given size? 

 

I figure I got to be prepared.

[JerryTodd]

There's was an excel spreadsheet on MSW that had information of that nature - I thought.

 

I experimented to get some idea of what I could get with the material I was using - Dacron sail thread .  The thread counts in the image are per strand.

 

 

[Aleksei Domanov]

Hi Mark,

you'll find such table at the end of Prosak's user guide :-)

http://www.shipworkshop.com/pages/tools/prosak_20.html

 

Alexey

[mtaylor]

Thanks Jerry. And thank you, Alexey.   That goes a long way to help me sort some things out.

[Aleksei Domanov]

That table is... I did it by myself ... Thread by tread, rope by rope ... Spent lot of time. You know, everything I publish - it's long way to publish ...

[Gaetan Bordeleau]

Is there a formula or table of what size threads to use to make rope of a given size? 

In MSW 1.0 there was an excel  file providing that, it was looking like this;

 

With the number of threads, you can calculate the diameter automatically.

I still have a copy if you are interested.

[mtaylor]

Gaetan,

 

I would deeply appreciate that.   I'll forward a copy to Chuck to have it put into the Article Database.

[BANYAN]

Hi Mark, sorry to complicate the issue but also take a look at the article re threads for ropemaking in our articles area.

 

Unfortunately, in the research I have done so far (at least here in Australia), many of the thread manufactures do not comply with the general sizing standards.  For instance some number 0-100 as smallest to largest, and some vice versa, some use another system all together.  Depends on the manufacturer.  Also, some manufactures only make the full range of sizes in a limited number of colours - I have found blacks to be most affected with the good quality stuff limited in size range, forcing me to dye the white/ecru. 

 

The other part of the equation, depending on the ropewalk you use is whether you wish to maker Right-Hand-Lay (RHL) or Left Hand-Lay (LHL) scale rope.  I have found a lot of RHL thread, but very little LHL to use as the start point for RHL (with the design of ropewalk I use); otherwise (as like me) you may need to make up some LHL first, then re make this into RHL.  This too will govern the final output (especially consistency if not evenly tensioned each run etc).  However, it appears that with some other designs of ropewalk, this is not as problematic.

 

I have also found that anything with any polyester/man-made in it (poly-cotton blends etc) tends to stretch depending how much tension you put on it; this can also change the output size.  I have found that 100% cotton (especially Egyptian  or long strand) cottons have worked best, and that if they are mercerised (no fuzz) they make better rope with consistent size, little stretch and very little fuzz.  As Chuck has also pointed out, minimal tension on completion to 'set' the rope should be all that is required and that only for some thread.

 

Just some food for thought

 

cheers

 

Pat

Edited December 7, 2014 by BANYAN

[mtaylor]

Thanks, Pat.  I saw that article and it's food for thought and testing.  Testing will have to wait though until after the 25th.