Break strength of Epsilon Multicam

**hk2001** · 10-28-2014, 20:23

I picked up some of the Epsilon multicam off of eBay, and with some remnants, made a hammock chair out of it. I've spent quite a bit of time in it with no Ill effects. I weigh in at about 240# at the moment.

This afternoon however, my 50lb 8 year old wanted to jump in with me. 20 minutes into the hang, I hear a tear.

The stitching on the channel ripped a little bit, after struggling to get a pic, I had the revelation of pulling out a light table to show the tear.

Just a word of warning.. 240 is good.. 290 is to much.

**ripstopbytheroll** · 10-28-2014, 21:03

Hmm that's interesting. Given the toughness/abrasion resistance of Epsilon, I would've thought it could handle more.

**sargevining** · 10-28-2014, 22:37

Can't see the pic real well, but it does appear the rip was right along a line of stitching.

**hk2001** · 10-29-2014, 05:48

Originally Posted by sargevining

Can't see the pic real well, but it does appear the rip was right along a line of stitching.

Yea.. that's why I used the light table.. easier to try to see the light coming through than the rip itself.

**SirMarkos** · 10-29-2014, 07:25

That sucks! But, at least it wasn't a catastrophic failure. So that's encouraging and a nice data point too!

**gmcttr** · 10-29-2014, 08:03

I'm guessing you used about 14 stitches per inch. Try 8 spi next time.

**sargevining** · 10-29-2014, 10:16

Originally Posted by gmcttr

I'm guessing you used about 14 stitches per inch. Try 8 spi next time.

Alternatively, you could just write "Tear along dotted line" with a laundry marker----

**Strung out** · 10-29-2014, 10:22

Originally Posted by hk2001

I picked up some of the Epsilon multicam off of eBay, and with some remnants, made a hammock chair out of it. I've spent quite a bit of time in it with no Ill effects. I weigh in at about 240# at the moment.

This afternoon however, my 50lb 8 year old wanted to jump in with me. 20 minutes into the hang, I hear a tear.

The stitching on the channel ripped a little bit, after struggling to get a pic, I had the revelation of pulling out a light table to show the tear.

Just a word of warning.. 240 is good.. 290 is to much.

Thanks for sharing this information with the community.

Please share a photo of the hammock CHAIR so we may be able to assess the stresses on it.
Please include details on where the ripping occurred exactly.

Thank you

**hk2001** · 10-29-2014, 11:48

It's actually set at 10 spi. But it's a 60 year old machine.. I never thought to measure how accurate it was in that regard.

unnamed (1).jpg

This is the best example I have of how it was hung.
Damage occurred at the head end stitching, foot end shows no damage.

**Strung out** · 10-29-2014, 12:12

Thanks for the pic and details.
A quick look tells me you are likely not stressing the material more than someone would in a hammock.
I did not take the time to do any calculations though.

It looks like you have exceeded the general weight recommendations for material in the 1.5oz range and had a failure.
This seems pretty normal.

Good to know that the material held about 240# reliably.

Are you going to cut the ripped area out and re-sew that hem and keep using the chair?