Probably off topic – but has anyone had any experience bulding a “wire rope” slide with a pulley on it for kids in the yard?
My kids had one I made years ago from 60 feet of scrap junkyard purchased 3/8 or 1/2 wire rope. I had a pulley on it and the wire rope was tied sloping downhill between two trees. They used it for years and it never wore out.
Trying to do one now – at a different house for Grandkids. Have 65 ft of 1/4 inch wire rope 7×19. Bough a “National” brand all metal 3 inch diameter pulley at a harware store. The pulley wheel is being eaten up by the wire rope after 2 days – kids only weigh 60 pounds. I suspect the pulley, even though metal is for fabric rope not wire rope. hardware store had no other options.
Anyone used a pulley like this?
The only one commercial one I saw on the web after much searching (what do you call it????) was very small, used very small wire rope 1/8 or so – and had TWO very small pulleys on a plate like pulley holder thing – advantage of that is the pulleys stay aligned with the wire rope. My old one worked great for years with no wear on the pulley. I have looked in boating mags and Graingers and no luck – anyone have an idee as they say?
Replies
It sounds like you got an aluminum or zinc alloy pulley. Try a search for "wire rope sheaves". I got several hits on the first page of results for companies selling steel and cast iron sheaves.
Even with the softer sheaves, two of them between plates might make sense if misalignment is what's causing the premature wear.
Needs to be a steel wheel as on snatch blocks. Tried one with an aluminum sheave on a slide and that got eaten up quickly. Lots of hardware store pulley are even pot metal sheaves.
Grainger p/n 4jx74 or 4jx78 ($8, pg 2436 of catalog) should work.
Wain- couple months back there was a thread on just what you are doing. Maybe you could find it in search.
Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
Agree with early responses. Would just add this. It's a potentially life-threatening situation, so the pulley should be of appropriate strength and quality. Arborists use this kind of equipment. A source I've found reliable is http://www.sherrillinc.com. Happy sliding!
I have truly done some searches -
wire rope kid child pulley swing slide toy
have not found it yet
any idea what to look for?
Try search for steel cable and/or tree house. I think that it was about a year ago.
I hate it when time goes so fast.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
I made one for the nieces/nephew, had a hard time tensioning the cable (come-along, etc), and a bit of puzzlement over stopping (no nearby trees to use the reverse-slingshot brake) and ended up using an old motorcycle fork spring around the cable, far enough away from the tree so that the kids swing up just shy of horizontal (the higher your cable, the more braking you can get) before swinging back down. lots of trips up and down the ladder for testing, but it starts atop the treehouse (pretty cool also) and runs down about 100' on a rope hanging about 10' down from this pulley:
http://www.cmi-gear.com/catalog/pulleys/trolleys.asp
pricey, but I tried the industrial types, and they couldn't handle the weather and the cable.
good luck - be safe.
look for zip lines, I found
http://www.extextoys.com/funride.html
looks like fun and I know some folks that have this in their back yard its a riot, you have to get the wire really taut or its no fun at all.
jeff
Thanks - I looked at those zip lines - the wire is very small 1/8 or smaller.
When very tight, a 60 pound kid can put a lot of weight on the wire (800+ pounds). I went to a larger wire. And put a sag in it.
My answer to the "what to do at the bottom end" question was to simply bottom it out low to the ground. My bottom end was a 2000 pound ratchet type come-along, chained to a telephone pole (mine, not a public utility) about 24" off the ground.
The kids got a good ride, and when it was nearly over, their feet touched the ground. Made for a pretty good landing.
Greg.
Greg
what type pulley
one?
or two mounted on a plate?
I had an old farm pulley, obviously made for rope (wide) but it held up well and was of good quality. I'd avoid zinc or alloy such as V-belt tool pulleys are made of. As others said, Graingers or a marine supply store would probably be your best bet.
We always kept a rope tied to the handle to retrieve the pulley, but I always stressed that the rope should trail behind the child, never in front, to lessen the chance of an accident. Still, it's a bit of a danger. Actually, this makes the bottoming out on the ground even better. No chance of a failure to drop off at the right time. When the ride is over, its over.
Greg.
Mine also uses the slow slide into the ground stop method.
I would put two 4 x 4 about 10 ft apart and a cross rail to anchor the wire into and a sand pit under it. So would not have to worry the kid would not try to put their feet out to stop them selves with a post right in front of them on botton. The sand is to help cushion the landing and keep the kid from twist ankle if they plant their feet wrong when they land
Man, that's good.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
The other...proper application of risk.
Delete some of your search words, such as kid, child & toy. What you need is a commercial grade pulley.
McMaster-Carr has a couple of pages of them, including pressed steel with ball bearings, made for wire rope. You can buy on-line through their web site.
Be seeing you...
After looking a lot of expensive pulleys, I decided to use a replacement pulley for a rollup garage door. HD sells them. They come in two different sizes (3" and 4"), are zinc plated and have ball bearings. For the 70' pull that we have between two old trees the garage door pulleys are working just fine . We use the smaller one for the little kids and the larger one for the bigger kids (and adults). It is amazing what a difference the diameter makes in terms of speed (bigger is faster).
I think I paid $10 a piece.
Dean
I noticed the commercial one used two pulleys, not one pulley. i think to keep them aligned on the wire rope.
When I was using one large pulley, made for fabric rope, before the wire rope ate it, it would not run true but would wobble just a little as it went down the wire. but maybe it was too big too.
I used two fixed mount wire rope pulleyslike Graingers #4jx74 and bolted them between two 6 x12 inch pieces of 3/4" ext plywood. the pulley stick up into the air. i drilled a 1/2 hole in the plywood and ran a rope down to a simple oak stick seat.
Working fine so far. Pulley pins are not removeable so I can not get it off the wire without taking off the wire rope clips at the ends - work work.
The pulley size vs speed thing is interesting. i am using 2 1/2 inch diameter pulleys at $10 each on 65 ft of 1/4 inch cable. Mine do not have ball bearings. Do they rust outside?
Edited 1/27/2003 9:22:10 PM ET by wain
Since we don't get rain anymore in Southern California rusting ball bearings have not been a problem. The kids use it so often that if surface rust formed it would be quickly worn away. They also know how to squirt a little 3-in-1 oil in the bearings. This they think helps them go faster...
i am sure that the speed is related to fact the the larger pulley is moving 30% slower - less friction.
I will try to post a picture of the assembly.
Dean