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stretching lines
Darrin.Skinner@ebay.sun.com (Darrin Skinner) writes:
>
> Al, what is this about hanging weights? I was thinking about using weights to
> pre-stretch lines. Is this what you tried? Sorry, if you've been over this
> topic before...
>
> Anybody else have any neat ways to pre-stretch lines?
>
in reply to my previous posting:
> spar@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (al.j.sparling) writes:
> -] Date: 10 Aug 93 16:39:18 GMT
> -] From: spar@cbnewsg.cb.att.com (al.j.sparling)
> -] Subject: Rev II stack problem solved and another question
> -]
> -] The stack performed well most of the time. Even though the train lines
> -] were pre-stretched, they are stretching more so I had to re-adjust the lines
> -] a couple of times. I do not own a single line kite other than a fighter,
> -] so I could not stretch the line that way, obviously my solution of hanging
> -] weights from individual train lines for a couple of days is less than
> -] optimal.
> -]
I stretched seven train lines at a time by cutting a length of dacron, (this
may be most of my problem, this system might work with something with less
stretch), tieing a loop on each end, and hanging it from a rack I made for
seamless paper for studio photography. This rack is 2x4's just slightly
shorter than the height of the ceiling with timber toppers (spring loaded
sleeves with pads on them) to secure them to the ceiling. I drilled a hole
in each 2x4 near the top and passed conduit throught it. I slid the conduit
out of one 2x4, put the loops on one end of each of the train lines over
the conduit, and put it back into the 2x4. I then used carabiners to hang
40 pounds of weight on each line. The lines were 80 pound dacron, and I
felt that with the knots 40 pounds was enough, besides that was the most
weight I could get seven sets of and I wanted to have each set of train
lines stretched exactly the same. I stretched each set of lines for 48
hours.
I have since read the article on line stretching on the ftp server and
the only problem I have with that method is that I really don't know how
much pull is 50 or 80 or 200 pounds, so I would not know how hard to pull
to stretch the lines. Also, as I think about this, I assume stretching
the lines for a longer period of time than you would want to pull on them
seems to be a good idea.
I think my problem was that I was that expecting too much from dacron or
did not have enough weight for a long enough period of time.
Al Sparling
(708) 224-4242
ajs@stairs.att.com
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