Ropetek Hitch Hiker

How about a removable wear sleeve of tool steel and a ribbed aluminum body for cooling. I would think if you can get the two to mate tightly together the ally would cool the tool steel. But.. that might make it spendy.

This a wonderful thread. It should be noted, here, that combining dissimilar metals raises issues with galvanic corrosion and coefficients of thermal expansion. Those issues are quite manageable and need to be factored into the design.
 
We may be going in a new direction with this, was going to try a bare bones / cheap approach but am starting to think about a luxury model.......

Why not do both. If you have kept the temps under 200. I think that's reasonable for a well versed climber. I would say a friction hitch could get that hot at moments.
 
Paul, I would still buy one and just not use it on pitchy pines. I don't use the FS Dave made for me on pitchy pines. I have certain gear I use on them and some I won't. Just part of the job. Right tree, right tool.
 
This a wonderful thread. It should be noted, here, that combining dissimilar metals raises issues with galvanic corrosion and coefficients of thermal expansion. Those issues are quite manageable and need to be factored into the design.

Yeah I forgot about that. Maybe a harder replaceable aluminum wear surface and a softer body or the same material throughout.
 
I was going to say galvanic corrosion, but I have no idea what that even means!

Two disimilar metals react with one another sometimes called bimetallic corrosion. I think it has something to do with their ionic charge but I could be wrong it has been awhile sense school.
 
There has been dissimilar metal technology successfully in use for years in high quality cookware to control precisely the same problem, hot spots.

But all metal repelling devices develop heat and do so whether made from steel or aluminum yet have been in use and accepted with this limitation. Add to that the Hitch Hiker is load-sharing with the hitch and is not experiencing the same load/heat forces of the stand-alone devices. I just don't see this as being a show stopper.

Dave
 
Don't take my story about the overheated GriGri to mean I was equating the situation there with the HH, Paul. Not comparable.
 
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  • #184
B stories like that do worry me some, just the reminder that there are morons out there who can screw anything up, then sue you:|: Anyways I will make some of the new designs this weekend and see how I like them. I climbed all day on mine today on arbor master with 8mm beeline distal with dog bone. Man that dog bone works nice. Really starting to get used to SRT, I love how the HH trails up the line without tending.

On a side note can anybody think of an off the shelf item like a ring of aluminum that could be snapped around the rope easily ideally 0.6" ID 1" od....
 
Did you say "snapped around the rope easily", meaning mid-line attachable? or just threadable from an end?
What first pops into mind is a short section of aluminum coil (looks like a spring, but doesn't compress) which has the dimensions mentioned and is milled flat on top and bottom, all edges rounded, so you could 'twist' the rope into the coil to place it midline... clear as mud?
 
Now that's lookin' GOOD, Paul ... real good, a professional piece of gear ... how's it run? other side the same?
 
very nice. i was wondering, do any of you rope wrench users notice heat build up on long descents? i would think that it would be seeing the same friction as the HH, but i havent heard anyone mention it.
 
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  • #194
The sandwiched piece is aluminum to dissipate heat and has a groove down the length to match the rope. Haven't ran a Wrench but from the little Ive heard of them they are more hitch dependent so more heat will be generated in the hitch less in the device. This thing runs pretty sweet now but is still heavy, no real way around that but IMO its unnoticeable on the rope
 
No offense Paul and I know it is a work in progress, but I would like to try the simplicity of the first one presented in this thread or a solid aluminum version of it prior to the more complex version it has now evolved to. The original looks to be able to fit more into my climbing style of choosing to work a tree SRT or Ddrt and not be so dedicated in line to SRT.
 
Is the dogbone steel?looks to me to be the main 'link' to be researched.
What bending force would it take before failure, especially with the shape which incorporates an edge or two which might well be considered stress-risers.
 
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