My brain cannot get over the idea that 1/8" is "better" than 7/64" because of its increased breaking strength, so I use 1/8". I assure myself that the thinner diameter cord is fine but I feel more assured using a bigger rope.
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Dynaglide is a personal preference. It's smaller diameter 1.8 mm vs. 2.8 mm for 7/64 amsteel. Its very marginally lighter and comes in a high viz green that I love. I also find it easy to splice and low tangle as it is relatively stiff. It also means that I only have to have one rope at home. everything I build is dynaglide.
Now, I'm going to address this once, and will make no further comments on the subject. Both lash/zing it! and dynaglide are made of HMPE but dynaglide goes through some special processes to increase its strength (pre-stretching / tension locking) also, not all HMPE is equal. I hang ~18" off the ground, and I feel that "life support" safety ratings are unnecessary here.Does that mean theres no risk of injury? No. But I take that risk into consideration, and dynaglide whoopies actually have a very good track record.
HYOH, I know I will.
Dan.
FWIW...all the listings I find for dynaglide list it at 2mm and 1000# avg. breaking strength vs. 7/64" amsteel blue's 1600# avg. breaking strength.
I have made several attempts to get New England Ropes and its parent company to tell me about the breaking strength of Dynaglide or to comment on the single line of marketing copy that is, to my knowledge the entire basis of Dan's and other's belief. They have not responded.
No arborist company --I have contacted four -- has responded that they know there is anything behind the claimed breaking strength. One salesperson opined that for arborist use, differences in succeptibility to snagging was as important as breaking strength. Throw line that doesn't snag has an easier life, not being pulled as hard. No arborist uses throw line to haul up more than a few hundred pounds. Two responded that talk about breaking strength was "bs", about as worthy as the claim different throw lines make for the properties of their finish.
For color: Amsteel Blue is available in yellow and in fluorescent orange. When I posted an inquiry a year ago asking what the orange whoopies I had were made of, several knowledgeable folk here told me it was Dynaglide. When I went to archives, I found that orange had been a color in an early group buy, and weighing the whoopies confirmed that they were 7/64" Amsteel Blue.....or too heavy to be Dynaglide.
So, OP, weigh opinions and beliefs with the appropriate grain of salt.
Last edited by DemostiX; 04-15-2012 at 10:41.
me and my girlfriend both use 7/64 and have never had any problems, i weigh in at #200
boot
The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us. ~Bill Watterson
Personally, I am more than happy with a safety factor of 5 for my hanging. As Dan said, I'm 18 inches or so off the ground and am willing to take a chance with a 5 to 1 safety factor. I'm not going to say you should go with one size or the other. 7/64 is what I use. It's a very common size for suspension use and is less expensive than 1/8th. As with any activity, its up to the user to feel what is safest for themselves.
Don't let life get in the way of living.
current westmarine priceing for amsteel is- .23$ for 7/64ths. and .38$ for 1/8th. not double, but a price difference bigger that an additional 1/64th of matl. would warrent .i doubt if you'd get and reply from the manufatures directly. they are in the biz of supplying rope to the marine sector which is a huge market! hammock hangers??... whatz that??!!.... the breaking strength is listed on west marine site...i doubt if westmarine made up these numbers, mostly becaues the exposure to liability is just too much , even for a retailer of their size......i might add that in most cases of rope failure it's either a case of the buyer expecting too much of the selected rope or the simple bad pracitices of not inspecting the rope for "the signs of wear". face it, we all are offenders of the last
Last edited by the_gr8t_waldo; 04-15-2012 at 12:26.
Prices from Redden Marine. Other stats from Samson
Nominal $/ft mass 100 meters BS
Size
Label
7/64" $0.21 500g 1600 lb
1/8" $0.34 760g 2500 lb
Your analysis confuses nominal and real size and uses the metric of diameter instead of diameter squared, which is proportional to mass, and pretty much proportional to strength, and price. The above example is typical. A half more = a half more. All with rounding, and consideration that some part of the mass is coating. The connection of mass to to strength is so strong that standards and testing organizations permit the use of yield formula from construction type and fiber characteristics to declare strength for ISO certified firms. (ISO / DIS 2327, BS4928, EN919)*
In this comparison, I would be confident that the difference between 8 and 12 braid would be a factor in strength estimation.
On liability: Nobody assumes liablility for hanging from throw line but the customer. Throw line is explicitly made for objects.
I doubt if among climbers and spelunkers "hang you own hang" is an understood agreement among those sharing gear.
*Find Samson technical paper "Testing of High Strength Synthetic Rope" by Stenvers, Roberts, and Chou
Last edited by DemostiX; 04-15-2012 at 13:25. Reason: citation
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