sklag Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 To make them lighter, How many is too many? Does this weaken them, and reduce their fall rating? (dumb question) Quote
Choada_Boy Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 To make them lighter, How many is too many? Does this weaken them, and reduce their fall rating? (dumb question) Then why ask it? Yes, removing metal from a metallic system can weaken the metallic system. And depending on where you remove it from, relative to how it loads when catching a fall, you could seriously diminish its performance. Quote
Water Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 you must be doing something so amazing to save weight by doing that. i understand long-distance hikers cutting the toothbrush handle off, eating only dry cold food, etc.. but their life is not in jeopardy by drilling holes in things, cutting straps off, etc..only comfort compromised. drilling in climbing gear sounds not worth it. how much drilling would save you how much weight? and would that be worth the risk?... Quote
markwebster Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 the old hexes from the seventies were made with thicker aluminum, and yes, they were drilled, but by Chouinard, not us climbers. I still carry a few of them. The new hexes he started making in the eighties were made from thinner aluminum...I assume they weighed the same as the thicker drilled ones with equal strength. I personally would not drill a hex that has already been designed for maximum strength to weight ratio. Quote
billcoe Posted October 1, 2009 Posted October 1, 2009 the old hexes from the seventies were made with thicker aluminum, and yes, they were drilled, but by Chouinard, not us climbers. I still carry a few of them. The new hexes he started making in the eighties were made from thinner aluminum...I assume they weighed the same as the thicker drilled ones with equal strength. I personally would not drill a hex that has already been designed for maximum strength to weight ratio. As I understand it, Chouinard learn to drill them from climbers who were drilling the early ones. They use to make a template for climbers to do this themselves. Then Chouinard started drilling them out at the factory. Then they got tired of drilling and just lightened the material. If you have the new hexes, then drilling them may be unnecessary and weaken them as the weight of the early ones was engineered out. Depends which generation of hexes you have.... Quote
sklag Posted October 1, 2009 Author Posted October 1, 2009 got the old ones. from like the 70's and 80's. I figured that drilling in them was a bad idea, just wondering though because I've seen pics of drilled out hexes (alpinist 27) and thought about it. Quote
tradhead Posted October 2, 2009 Posted October 2, 2009 I would imagine that you could drill holes in strategic locations in the thin wall hexes and not significantly affect their strength. Look at the difference in weight between the current camalots and the last generation; partially realized due to greater lightening of the cam lobes. To do so safely would require analytical tools not available to most. Quote
LostCamKenny Posted October 2, 2009 Posted October 2, 2009 you must be doing something so amazing to save weight by doing that ... cutting excess pack strap webbing is the next stage of this affliction. when you can't find any more ways to lighten ur rack then you turn to the real absurd stuff Quote
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