Maybe risk of death by boredom

scottydoesntknow: [static.tvfanatic.com image 447x332]

Maybe risk of death by boredom

my work is done here...apparently scotty does know.

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If a zip line costs you $200 you fail on a fundamental level. A quick visit to Lowes.com says a 4" hay fork pulley is $17. Half inch maypole rope (presumably you're leaving it outdoors) is about 70¢ a foot. A tiedown rachet rated to 900 pounds costs $20.

So unless you completely fail at "how to make shiat myself" a zip line shouldn't cost more than $40 plus rope - say 50 feet for another $35 if you're building a kind of long one.

What remains is to figure out where to put it and make the angle enough that you go fast enough that it's not boring.

/I imagine a bicycle helmet is probably a good idea too...

Remember kids: EVERYTHING will kill you. Just give up and stay inside. And order take out.

unlikely: If a zip line costs you $200 you fail on a fundamental level. A quick visit to Lowes.com says a 4" hay fork pulley is $17. Half inch maypole rope (presumably you're leaving it outdoors) is about 70¢ a foot. A tiedown rachet rated to 900 pounds costs $20.

So unless you completely fail at "how to make shiat myself" a zip line shouldn't cost more than $40 plus rope - say 50 feet for another $35 if you're building a kind of long one.

What remains is to figure out where to put it and make the angle enough that you go fast enough that it's not boring.

/I imagine a bicycle helmet is probably a good idea too...


Those are the kind that give you nekkidizing facists.

The more the media talks about the potential risks of zip lines, the more popular zip lines become. "Kits are available online for as little as $200"

And believe me, marketers are totally in the dark on that. God save us when they realize the correlation.

vpb: unlikely: If a zip line costs you $200 you fail on a fundamental level. A quick visit to Lowes.com says a 4" hay fork pulley is $17. Half inch maypole rope (presumably you're leaving it outdoors) is about 70¢ a foot. A tiedown rachet rated to 900 pounds costs $20.

So unless you completely fail at "how to make shiat myself" a zip line shouldn't cost more than $40 plus rope - say 50 feet for another $35 if you're building a kind of long one.

What remains is to figure out where to put it and make the angle enough that you go fast enough that it's not boring.

/I imagine a bicycle helmet is probably a good idea too...


Those are the kind that give you nekkidizing facists.

I think you just found a new name for the World Naked Bike Ride.

unlikely: So unless you completely fail at "how to make shiat myself" a zip line shouldn't cost more than $40 plus rope - say 50 feet for another $35 if you're building a kind of long one.

You might want to crack out a ruler and figure out how long 50 feet is. I'm guessing that most people want zip lines that are longer than the walk from their kitchen to their dining room.

Failing to see the big deal. These things existed 40 years ago anyway, because a buddy of mine had a wire strung between two trees on a slope. You hung onto the handle and slid on down. Wheee.

unlikely: If a zip line costs you $200 you fail on a fundamental level. A quick visit to Lowes.com says a 4" hay fork pulley is $17. Half inch maypole rope (presumably you're leaving it outdoors) is about 70¢ a foot. A tiedown rachet rated to 900 pounds costs $20.

So unless you completely fail at "how to make shiat myself" a zip line shouldn't cost more than $40 plus rope - say 50 feet for another $35 if you're building a kind of long one.

What remains is to figure out where to put it and make the angle enough that you go fast enough that it's not boring.

/I imagine a bicycle helmet is probably a good idea too...

This is what we did when I was a kid, minus the bike helmet. We also used a metal cable instead of rope. Connected at the start to a single tree, ending attached to another cable stretched between two other trees. We also used a trapeze bar instead of a harness. No one ever came close to getting hurt. We'd just give the pulley or cable a good spray with silicone lube every once in a while.

hubiestubert: Remember kids: EVERYTHING will kill you. Just give up and stay inside. And order take out.

Which will at least kill you slower.

vpb: Those are the kind that give you nekkidizing facists.

dot tumblr dot com.

Cause we all know Ziplines are the leading cause of flesh-eating bacteria infections.

Are ziplines A Thing nowadays? Who didn't try and rig up one in a friend's treehouse or out an upper floor window/roof? Pretty much every sleep away summer camp I went to featured ziplines into lakes. No safety gear except mud.

The Larch: unlikely: So unless you completely fail at "how to make shiat myself" a zip line shouldn't cost more than $40 plus rope - say 50 feet for another $35 if you're building a kind of long one.

You might want to crack out a ruler and figure out how long 50 feet is. I'm guessing that most people want zip lines that are longer than the walk from their kitchen to their dining room.

You also might wanna calculate the tensile load involved in keeping the rope reasonably taut with say a 200lb rider, which is MUCH MUCH more than 200lbs. Especially given the dynamic loading.

unlikely: If a zip line costs you $200 you fail on a fundamental level. A quick visit to Lowes.com says a 4" hay fork pulley is $17. Half inch maypole rope (presumably you're leaving it outdoors) is about 70¢ a foot. A tiedown rachet rated to 900 pounds costs $20.

So unless you completely fail at "how to make shiat myself" a zip line shouldn't cost more than $40 plus rope - say 50 feet for another $35 if you're building a kind of long one.

What remains is to figure out where to put it and make the angle enough that you go fast enough that it's not boring.

/I imagine a bicycle helmet is probably a good idea too...

Also the load on the bearings is pretty extreme, vastly more speed than a hay fork pulley was made for. But, if the bearings fail, they'll seize, which will just mean it drags to a stop. The proper cable rating and proper cable terminations is more critical, since that's what actually results in you falling to the ground at high speed.

I prefer to jump from the last rung on the ladder

Silly Jesus: [img2-3.timeinc.net image 300x400]

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Whar hands, Whar?

We had a homemade zip line at my house 20 years ago. Cable running up the hill ending at a chain strung between two trees. Dowel attached to a pulley. Hang on for dear life and be running before you hit the end or you go flying. The pulleys would actually show grooves from the braided cable and eventually just bust. Good times.

Copeland fell into the Tallapoosa River on May 1 after a homemade zip line broke. She suffered a deep gash in her leg which became infected with the bacteria Aeromonas hydrophila, which recent tests showed are at "normal" levels in the river. Copeland went to the hospital several times complaining of pain before she was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis. By that point, it had spread throughout her body and she came close to death several times.

I see a lot of fail when it comes to a contaminated river, and poor diagnostic efforts by a medical staff. But hey, let's blame a broken zip line.

So this chick falls off a zip line and cuts her leg when she fell into a river filled with bacteria. Why are zip lines getting blamed? If she was in a canoe in that same river and it tipped over and she got a cut, would people start saying "canoing will kill you!" Or what if she was fly fishing and had an accident, would you expect people to start warning about all the dangers of fly fishing?

I feel bad for the girl, but this is reaching pretty far to drum up fear mongering against ziplines. She could have fallen out of a boat or off a wakeboard, suffering the same injuries, and you'd have a "OMG boating can result in flesh eating bacteria and amputations!" intro instead of a "OMGWTFBBQ ziplines can result in flesh eating bacteria and amputations!" intro.

I am now going to build a zip line from my roof to my pool.

/stay off my ziplawn

Wheeeeeee

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Damn, is that really her?

If a zip line costs you $200 you fail on a fundamental level. A quick visit to Lowes.com says a 4" hay fork pulley is $17. Half inch maypole rope (presumably you're leaving it outdoors) is about 70¢ a foot. A tiedown rachet rated to 900 pounds costs $20.

So unless you completely fail at "how to make shiat myself" a zip line shouldn't cost more than $40 plus rope - say 50 feet for another $35 if you're building a kind of long one.

The zipline I'm on in the photo I posted was 850 feet IIRC.

$ .70 * 850 => $595

So that's $632 total

// a 50 foot zipline isn't even worth looking at

// Edit, it was 750 feet (that still makes it $525 on rope alone).

Clothesline kits are even cheaper. You can make a really really unsafe and fast zip-line with one of those.

And they weren't kidding about 'big'.

This was the launch platform.

Err 740 feet

// damn, too early in the morning, my math coprocessor is shot.

lordargent: Err 740 feet

// damn, too early in the morning, my math coprocessor is shot.

Got that f00f bug huh?

lordargent: If a zip line costs you $200 you fail on a fundamental level. A quick visit to Lowes.com says a 4" hay fork pulley is $17. Half inch maypole rope (presumably you're leaving it outdoors) is about 70¢ a foot. A tiedown rachet rated to 900 pounds costs $20.

So unless you completely fail at "how to make shiat myself" a zip line shouldn't cost more than $40 plus rope - say 50 feet for another $35 if you're building a kind of long one.

The zipline I'm on in the photo I posted was 850 feet IIRC.

$ .70 * 850 => $595

So that's $632 total

// a 50 foot zipline isn't even worth looking at

// Edit, it was 750 feet (that still makes it $525 on rope alone).

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I don't think they use rope either.

Shaka Bro!

TheHappTroll : I don't think they use rope either.

Nope, steel cord.

Oznog: You also might wanna calculate the tensile load involved in keeping the rope reasonably taut with say a 200lb rider, which is MUCH MUCH more than 200lbs. Especially given the dynamic loading.

Doesn't really have to be all that taut if you've got enough slope on it. Especially if you're using a fairly broad rope and a descender made out of something with fairly large wheels, like rollerblade wheels.

When I was a kid ours was a bit of guy-line wire like you'd use on an electrical pole, you can get those pretty tight basically permanently with proper fastening.

lordargent: If a zip line costs you $200 you fail on a fundamental level. A quick visit to Lowes.com says a 4" hay fork pulley is $17. Half inch maypole rope (presumably you're leaving it outdoors) is about 70¢ a foot. A tiedown rachet rated to 900 pounds costs $20.

So unless you completely fail at "how to make shiat myself" a zip line shouldn't cost more than $40 plus rope - say 50 feet for another $35 if you're building a kind of long one.

The zipline I'm on in the photo I posted was 850 feet IIRC.

$ .70 * 850 => $595

So that's $632 total

// a 50 foot zipline isn't even worth looking at

// Edit, it was 750 feet (that still makes it $525 on rope alone).

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I was on a canopy tour down in Honduras. 14 legs and you only touched the ground once the rest of the time was tree to tree. Shortest zipline was probably about 500 feet. Longest was 1 KM.

/wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee *deep breath* eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Um yeah, I think I will stick to going to a camp ground annually to use their zipline. Put on harness and climbers helmet, climb up tower, hook pulley and rope (attached to harness) to the steel cable and jump. The pulleys being attached to each harness saves time not having to wait for a pulley. They also have obstacle courses at 20' and 40' feet in the air suspended by steel cables. Same type of climber gear only with two ropes and clips (one rope hooked at all times). Somewhat of a challenge once you get pass the height. I have gotten as comfortable as the crew that runs it. I'll leave the homemade stuff for the ER patients.

Seriously, that is just bad luck for that young lady. Glad to hear she in good spirit about it.

If you are thinking of buying one, you better get it before the [insert opposition party of choice here] decide to ban it!

...Or that's what alot of people are probably thinking, anyway.

/Whenever the media gets in a huff about something, the nanny state isn't far behind.

We had a logging company doing some work on the family Tree Farm and they were using a cable logging system that had a cable strung from the top of a truck-mounted mast out to an "anchor" tree 1200'-1500' feet away, downhill. As soon as I saw the setup, I thought they should leave it up for a few days after they cleared the trees from the strip and charge admission. Since it had been used to haul out trees that weighed up to ~half a ton, I was confident that it would be strong enough. The stop, however, looked a little sketchy.

Link

Zipline kills man who was on nearby chairlift

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Damn, is that really her?

Yep, and what you can't see is the missing foot on (I believe) her right leg and the entire missing left leg up into her hip and abdomen.

lordargent: And they weren't kidding about 'big'.

This was the launch platform.
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That looks decent but I bet the zip line I did in Jamaica was bigger and longer. It also had free Jamaican Punch Rum at the end that was stronger than anyone expected. Everyone on the bus was really quiet, trying not to indicate to everybody that they were drunk. The bus livened up when everyone realized everyone else was drunk.

Oh jeezus christ, I built my first zip line at about age 12 and never had a problem.

/not quite the distance of a football field, from near the top of one tree to damn near the bottom of another.

I had a pulley/handlebar that I found years ago. I looked up some engineering on the intertubes. I bought 100 feet of cable and hardware for not much money at all. I rigged up a tot's car seat to it and my four-year-old loved it. I wish I still had some slopey land.

Oznog: You also might wanna calculate the tensile load involved in keeping the rope reasonably taut with say a 200lb rider, which is MUCH MUCH more than 200lbs. Especially given the dynamic loading.

THIS.

My buddy lived in front of a small gorge with a creek at the bottom. We decided installing a zipline to get people to the beer store more quickly was a good idea. The trip across the gorge was about 200ft. We built small ladders and platforms and ran high tensile galvanized cable. Ratcheting the cable for proper tautness took a lot of time, testing and effort. We built a pulley with a climbing harness and kept a rope attached to retrieve the pulley/harness or to help pull someone back to the house.

It probably cost us about $500 and worked flawlessly hundreds of times. Worth noting: lots of guys chickened out rather than try the zip line but I do believe the ladies were 100% brass balls - every single woman who we dared to try it went ahead.

Late, as usual.

I have a zipline. I bought it for my ex-wife's birthday (before she was my ex). We (I) connected it between two trees in the yard and it was a farkin' h00t for many years. A couple of things you should know. If you're putting up a zipline, you don't need a significant angle. All that gets you is a hard impact with a tree. 1 or 2 degrees is plenty. Also, a platform that little kids can get on will be impossible for grown-ups and vice versa. Instead, build a ramp with steps. Also, the longer the zipline, the thicker the cable you'll need. The cable for a 75 foot line is much thinner than what you need for 110 feet.

Here's how I know. The tree that the old zipline was attached to died and had to be cut down. So, I bought enough metal rope to extend it to the next closest tree in the yard. It sagged like a mofo. There was simply no way I could turnbuckle it enough to make it tight enough that you didn't drag your ass on the ground at some point during the ride. And then nature solved my problem. A tree limb broke and landed on the zipline. It *destroyed* the turnbuckles and the hooks I had buried in the tree. I bought the next size larger cable to replace the old ruined one. I also bought the largest turnbuckles that I could find at home depot. But, evidently, the hooks I'd used were the largest that they stocked. And, those simply weren't enough.

So, for a few months, the zipline stayed coiled up in a pile in my shed. One day, I was driving past a climbing/outdoor store. I thought, "I'll bet they have stuff that can hold 300 pounds!"

They didn't. They explained that all their stuff is rated to *catch* 300 pounds that has just fallen 100 feet. Everything is rated to like 30,000 pounds.

Made all the difference in the world. 1/2" cable, 110 feet, climbing caribeners, winch-rated turnbuckles.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee! wheee, wheee, wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!