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Zipline

B

bczoom

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Well, it took awhile, but I finally got one installed.

They're a lot of fun for all ages.

The one I put in is about 240' which was the max I could do without having logistical issues (like buildings, trees, creek... in the way).

The hardest part is getting the right tension on the cable. When you have riders ranging from 50 to 200 pounds, it needs some tweaking so the smaller riders can reach the ground at the end of the ride but the adults aren't scraping their butts on the ground for the last 100'. What I found helped with this is to have the adults use the handlebars that are right at the trolley and the smaller riders grab a strap that hangs down about 3' from the trolley.

It's hard to judge the speed but from a dead stop at the top until you're stopped at the bottom is about 13 seconds. If my math is right, that's an average of 12 MPH so I'd guess you get into the 20's before you need to hit the binders.

I didn't count but would guess that you can get around 40 runs per hour.
 
OK, I just snapped a picture of it (below).

The strap hanging from the trolley is visible at the very end of the ride (to the right of the ladder).

At the near end, where I snapped the picture, the cable is about 12' in the air. I part the RTV under the cable at this end and you stand in the box to launch. This is kind of a safety feature. The kids can't reach it to ride unless I put something like the RTV under it.

I took some video of the kids riding. New camcorder though... It'll take me a bit to get the videos available.
 

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Your lawn looks beautiful! Obviously you have gotten some rain to keep it green.

How exactly did you tension and secure the cable? What keeps it from loosening up?
Bone
 
At the top, I put a heavy duty strap around the tree and connected the zip line cable.

At the bottom, I have a chain around the tree with a loose end that reaches to the cable.

For the initial install, I used the winch on the RTV to a snatch block attached to the tree and from there to the end of the zip line. I pulled it as tight as I could then grabbed the zip line with the chain that remains on the tree.

On that chain, I use a ratchet binder to adjust tension as needed. To go faster, tighten the cable, slower - loosen the cable. A good, large turnbuckle could be used instead of the ratchet binder.
 
Very Kewl BC. :thumb:
What size cable did you use and how expensive is it?
I would like to set one of these up. Lord knows I have the hills for it (no pretty lawn though).
Could you share a pic of the things you use to put over the cable and hold on to?
 
For the cable, it's 1/4" galvanized. I bought it on Craigslist (for $65 :clap:)

You can get cable most anywhere but ziplines also come in kits (with cable and such included).

If you do get the cable yourself, be sure you get a trolley that can handle that size cable. I picked one out but in talking with the guy, I found out that the trolley wouldn't fit on cable bigger than 3/16 so I had to get something different.

Here's where I got the trolley. I got the "Viper"
http://ziplinegear.com/

Here's a chart of the different trolleys and their differences.
http://ziplinegear.com/pulleycompare.pdf

I also got the seat kit.

Doc said:
I would think a boat trailers hand winch might also work well for this application.
Click to expand...
Doc - I would NOT use a boat winch for this application. They're not strong enough.

As best I can figure, the absolutely lightest component in the entire setup should be rated at a minimum of 3000#.
On the setup I have:
The lanyard is 3,200#
The carabiners are 5,000#
The cable is 7,000#
The trolley is 10,000#
Strap on one tree 20,000#
Chain 26,000#
Chain binder 18,000#

To give you an idea, of the tension on the chain/cable, when I used the RTV to get the cable in the air, to get it even close to tight enough, the Ramsey 3,000# winch was bogging down and the RTV (in gear, 4wd and emergency brake on) was starting to slide across the ground.
 
Murph,

1/4" is more than enough to hold you.

With all the aforementioned components I listed (with the minimum of 3,000#) the safe working load is about 300#.

The site I ordered the trolley on (above) lists a 250' roll of 1/4" at $112. You could probably do better but that's a rough idea.

In general, it's about $300 to do a 250' run. Add around $50 for every 100' beyond that.
 
I have some video... I just can't get it off the camcorder yet. Damn proprietary format that I need to switch to MPEG (and then hope it's small enough to post).
 
Let me know if the file ends up to big and I'll up the size allowed for a short period while you post it.
 
No luck uploading Doc so I put it in Photobucket.

Here's a video of one of the kids running on it.
 
Yea, you should have seen the dog the first few times the kids were flying through the air. She was attacking the return line and at the heels of the kids during their entire ride.
 
A couple pictures from today.

They may look and act like they're moving slowly but where they are in on the line, they're whipping by pretty darn fast.
 

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Looks like their wrist have a band around them to prevent them from falling off as they go down the line??
 
You are gonna have a path wore down through the yard like a dog on a chain till they slow down using it. Good to see them out doing something instead of playing video games.
 
thcri said:
Looks like their wrist have a band around them to prevent them from falling off as they go down the line??
Click to expand...

Say what Steve?
I see a sort of watch or band on Brian's little guy's wrist, I don't think having a kiddo attached to one of these things would be wise.

Oh per Mule's post, dig a zip trench! :w00t2:
 
Yeah it probably is a watch. But to me having a loose fit band and holding you to the trolley would be better than falling at the speeds Brian talked about.
 
thcri said:
Yeah it probably is a watch. But to me having a loose fit band and holding you to the trolley would be better than falling at the speeds Brian talked about.
Click to expand...
True I suppose, but watching that kid, he looks positively fearless and fit.:yum:
 
thcri said:
Looks like their wrist have a band around them to prevent them from falling off as they go down the line??
Click to expand...
They are on their own. They know they're ****ed if they hit the end of the trolley.
I just spent some $$ getting a better break system
 
pirate_girl said:
True I suppose, but watching that kid, he looks positively fearless and fit.:yum:
Click to expand...
He's both (fearless and fit).

OK, he was wearing the watch so he knew what time the county fair started.
He hit the fair and had a mediocre time since the power went out on most every ride.
 
bczoom said:
He's both (fearless and fit).

OK, he was wearing the watch so he knew what time the county fair started.
He hit the fair and had a mediocre time since the power went out on most every ride.
Click to expand...

I figured that! :smile:

Why did the power go out on most of the rides?
 
thcri said:
Looks like their wrist have a band around them to prevent them from falling off as they go down the line??
Click to expand...
NEVER, NEVER does the kid get attached to the line. That's a recipe for disaster. I insist they crash-and-burn over being strapped to the equipment.

I did order new brakes and stuff today.
 
pirate_girl said:
Why did the power go out on most of the rides?
Click to expand...
Big ass thunder storms, that came in quick and weren't expected...
He was on the top of the biggest rides when the power went out. I'm thankful that he knew the issue and knew it best to sit tight. The firemen were scrambling to saving the panicking children and my boy just sat there (admiring the view or thinking he's gotten his money's worth on the ride or...).

Bottom line, he didn't care about the power outage.
 
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