speedline....

[budroe69moni]

i've been reading up on speedlines and
i was curious about how many of you use
them and how often???? what's the minimum
amount of gear required????? and any other
tricks of the trade you can think of would be
appricated!!!!
let me know,
budroe
p.s. a couple of illustrations from the artists
in the crowd would be great!!! you know who
you are!!!!

 

[rborist1]

:Eye:

 

[Tree Critter]

I use it any time I can. I am usually short on ground help, and with a speed line I don't end up with my climb line tangled up in brush. The brush ends up much closer to, or right at the truck. I guess at a min. you could get by with a rope for the speedline, a figure 8 on the ground end to put slack in the line to slow down the stuff you're speedlineing, some loop runners to choker the stuff, biners to clip the loop runners on to the speed line, a retrieval line to pull the biners and loop runners back to you. Of coarse it works better if you run the stuff down on a pulley with a plate to attach multiple pieces. If you speedline anything large, be sure to take the side loading into account.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

With a simple speedline all you need is the rope, carab and sling. The big problem there is that they can move pretty fast, big divots.

or the carab can flip and it moves slow requiring some assistance.

It goes up from there, the bigger the load, you may want a tentioning device, clevice rigging plate, pullies control/return line, friction break for the control line, equipment to redirect the speedline so that you can move it away from the last load to keep the climber moving....

They are very ad hoc devices, you build or engineer them for the current situation. I've seen them used as vertical control devices to keep big loads from bouncing, and horizontal tranfer riggs so that the load can be moved over buildings or revines.

As Maas is redy to point out, the forces that can be applied when working with any real load can be hazardous, so backing up the anchor spars is essencial.

 

[ORclimber]

whenever I zip anything over a structure or fence I use a control rope attached to the pulley the load is hanging on to control speed. the zipline always seems to sag more than I think it will, and I've smacked a few gutters, also bent a chainlink fence when a groundman pulled the zip tight but didn't tie it off around the figure eight. can save a lot of brush dragging when it fits.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Here's an old image from one of our previous discussions on speedlines.

 

[rbtree]

I remember that gif.

I can see little advantage for that method of speeding. Instead of using a gibbs to allow adjustability, we make use of a bight in the speedline. We control the slack with a z pulley system. That way, the branch can, if need be, be swung around or even lifted up as the line is tightened.

 

[rbtree]

By pretensioning the line, most of the stretch is taken out, making it easier to clear structures. To limit shock loading, a heavy branch should be caught first with the lowering/control line, then let zip away.

Sometimes, we use the chipper winch for line control...noisy but very convenient.

With a tree like this maple, back guying is very important. The anchor forces can be up to seven times the weight of the branch, and that would be before line tensioning.

 

[Kevin]

I don`t see a need for the $70 Gibbs, why is it there Mike?

 

[treeclimber165]

Originally posted by Kevin
I don`t see a need for the $70 Gibbs, why is it there Mike?

Ya gotta find SOMETHING to use it for, since it sucks for ascending.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I threw the drawing up for discusion, there are many ways of setting up a speedline.
The speedline is static, no need to mess with tensioning and untentioning for each piece lowered. As you work your way up the tree, you raise the gibbs, which holds the strap, to the height you are working.
Once you attach the strap, you clip it to the gibbs and simultaniously pull down on the tagline as you push up on the gibbs. This pre-tensions the system.
This system has the advantage that the climber does everything except disconnect the limb, cut it up and put it in the chipper.
This way the groundman isn't standing there waiting for the climber(like rb's picture), and the climber doesn't need to wait for help from the groundman. It's very fast and efficient.
When I use this set up, I can get stuff to the groundman as fast as he can clean it up, we both stay busy. If I were working a 4 man crew, I would do things differently.
If you need to lift the piece, then you are best to use a traditional set up like rb showed, or Fred Berklehammer had a neat idea to put a load hauler(one directional pulley device) on the speedline that would allow you to pull the load up to the static speedline.

TC165's insult of the gibbs is kinda like saying a pliers is a bad tool, because a vise grips is better. Well, every tool has it's use.
The gibbs doesn't have to be there, a cheap prussic and steel carabiner might work just as well for you, or tie knots in the rope if you want. I personally have 3 or 4 gibbs, so I use them.

 

[Frans]

Mike Mass said:
"The speedline is static, no need to mess with tensioning and untentioning for each piece lowered. As you work your way up the tree, you raise the gibbs, which holds the strap, to the height you are working.
Once you attach the strap, you clip it to the gibbs and simultaniously pull down on the tagline as you push up on the gibbs. This pre-tensions the system."
I really like the concept of pretensioning the speedline. Many times I have bounced the load onto the speedline becouse it was lower than the piece I was cutting. So if I could adjust the length of the tether to the speedline I would really be doing good.
However using the Gibbs in this fashion seems kinda dangerous to me in that the device is not made for loading in that fashion.
Is there a stronger way to do this? Are the one way pullies strong enough?
thanxs
frans

 

[Kevin]

What about dropping it onto the line with a 8 ?

 

[Dan Flinn]

Since I first saw a speedline, I incorporate it in a lot of my removals. Escpecially with the bucket - I can send limbs away from the truck and to the chipper.

The simplest one I use is with no tension, just let the ground men hold tight until the limb gets in the LZ and let go. This, of course, for smaller limbs.

Dan

 

[FBerkel]

Originally posted by Frans
.
Is there a stronger way to do this? Are the one way pullies strong enough?
thanxs
frans

My idea for the one-way pulley (which I haven't tried, yet), would probably entail using a heavy duty ascender (like a Gibbs!), in conjuction with a block. When I presented it to MM, he pointed out that a wallhauler or minitraxion would probably be too light.

This apparatus would be clipped onto the running block on the speed line. The haul-back line would be used to hoist the limb up to the speed line through the one way pulley. In other words, the haul back line is teathered directly to the piece, through the one-way pulley, raises it up and then controls the descent. Depending on the pitch of the speed line, this might cause the running block to back up toward the anchor while hoisting; I don't know yet.