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Big Wall and Aid Climbing:
How to make Russian Aiders:
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fenderfour
Aug 30, 2006, 4:49 PM
Views: 26622
Registered: Sep 12, 2005
Posts: 177
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I tried to upload these pics to the RC.Com gallery, but I kept getting errors. I would like to have them hosted locally so that they will stick around for future use. Can someone help me out with that?
Leg hook side
One wide strap goes around the calf just below the knee. The hook is positioned on the inside of the knee to facilitate hooking the rigs of the aid-tree.
The wide black webbing around the knee is 2" wide seatbelt webbing, about 24" long. The buckle at the end is a nickel plated steel double-back buckle.
The narrow yellow webbing is 1" wide tubular. The buckles are nickel plated steel as well. The main piece of webbing running from the hook around the bottom of the foot is about 50" long.
The black webbing on the footbed is 2" wide tubular webbing. It's about 9" long.
The short strap across the top of the foot is 1" wide tubular. It is about 18" long and has the same nickel plated buckle as the main webbing.
Leg outside
Foot
Here's a close-up of the footbed. The buckles are on the outside of the leg to reduce wear.
Assembled aider
Disassembled aider
The aider is actually two pieces. The long yellow strap goes through the bottom loop of the hook with a half twist and buckles back on itself.
Buckled footbed close-up
The inner (smaller) strap goes around your foot so that it doesn't slip out of the aider. It is sewn continuously along the footbed. I tried using the aiders without this strap and it was a real pain.
The original aiders had a strap that went around your ankle to perform this function. It tended to get in the way, so I copied the straps used on the Metolius Easy Aiders instead. I've used them heavily and they worked well.
Unbuckled footbed close up
Footbed close-up showing pooch
I added some extra material when I sewed in the footbed. This was mentioned in the Kung-Fu aider How to and it seemed like a good idea. The reason you leave the extra material is so that your weight is carried by the wider 2" webbing instead of the main 1" strap. I wanted one continuous strap from the hook all the way around the foot so that I wasn't entirely screwed if the stitching for the footbed failed.
Front side of hook
The hook plate is a piece of Ti bar stock 1" wide x 2 1/2" long x 1/8" thick. The hook has been welded to the base plate. The loops are made from thin wall Ti tubing that has been smashed a bit to elongate the radius.
Side of hook
The hook itself is 1/4" dia Ti bar stock. The hook is about 1 3/8" from the front side of the plate to the tip of the hook as shown in this photo.
Back of hook
You can clearly see that the hook is held on with 3 countersunk screws. The base plate of the hook has three tapped holes to accept the screws. I used a soldering iron to make neat holes in the knee strap. I also used a small piece of webbing as a "pad" for the metal to webbing interface. I think that the metal will wear on these small pieces of webbing instead of the main strap.
Plate Dims: 1" wide x 2" long x 1/8" thick
Notes on Construction:
I bought all the webbing and hardware (except hooks) from Seattle Outdoor Fabrics: http://www.seattlefabrics.com/. The hooks could be easily manufactured by anyone with a welder.
I left about 2" of material to sew buckles on. I used a 10# test nylon upholstery thread. I did not have a bartacker, so I used a straight stitch.
-- edited to show photos instead of links--
(This post was edited by fenderfour on Nov 3, 2007, 6:02 PM)
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Post edited by fenderfour
() on Nov 3, 2007, 6:02 PM
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