8 replies to this topic

[liftmech]

This topic came up in another thread.

Setting up a splice:
Once the towers are in place and all sheaves more or less aligned (usually with a survey gun), a bunch of grunts like myself string what's called a strawline around the idler bullwheel and over/under the sheaves. Once that's around, we splice the end to the main haul rope and reel in the strawline, stringing the haul rope in its place. This method minimises the amount of time spent placing the rope onto towers. Generally you have several guys at potential problem spots while this is going on, ensuring that the rope goes where you want it to.
To achieve tension and the proper rope length, a deadman clamp is attached to the rope and fixed to some stout object nearby (or a D-9 if there isn't anything else). The strawline is then pulled tighter around the drum until the ends of the haul rope are in a manageable position, which varies according to how long your splice rig is.
The splice rig is two more clamps similar or identical to the deadman. These are in turn fixed to blocks which have multiple sheaves. Through these sheaves is reeved another rope similar in diameter to the strawline, which is deadended on one of the blocks and attached to a drum on its other 'live' end. Once the clamps have been properly attached (you wouldn't want them slipping off at 20,000+ pounds of tension) the second strawline is winched up to bring the ends of the haul rope together. If you've done your math right, you can continue to take up slack on this line until the ends of the rope have gone past each other and the 'marriage' of the splice comes together.
Once the rope is in position, many safeties are placed and the splice begins. Once it's done (we've covered this in another topic), the splice rig is detensioned and all the clamps, etc, are removed. Pressure is then applied to the rams, or the counterweight is lifted off the ground, and the moment of truth arrives. If your rope was too long before splicing, your carriage will travel all the way back without achieving line tension and you have to resplice...

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[snowboardguy]

wow..I think I understood that

[Allan]

Excellent description! I have yet to take part in this procedure, but it's coming :)

[Shawn]

Allan, on Jul 11 2004, 11:38 AM, said:

Excellent description!  I have yet to take part in this procedure, but it's coming :)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dont forget to eat your wheaties for breakfast :)

[floridaskier]

How long does all this take?

[liftmech]

Setup, as described here, can take two or three days.

[Kelly]

Try the search function on haul rope splice. This should show about 20 posts of that subject.
I believe I posted something back in Nov 03 that was a carry over from the old forum. My guess is 300 man hours for liftmech's next splice. Perhaps he and Allan could track the man hours for the web site?

Ryan B

[Allan]

That's a great idea - however we have no splices this year...

[liftmech]

We have one coming up, for Storm King. I don't know If I'm involved or not since the lift is on another crew's list, but on a splice everyone is welcome. Of course, last time we put a new rope on that lift, the primary crew was on vacation and myself and a couple other guys ended up doing the majority of the work.