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majid_sabet
Sep 16, 2008, 7:42 PM
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click download
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/...orts/View.aspx?id=40
http://www.grough.co.uk/...ask=view&id=1103
Tuesday, 16 September 2008 by Bob Smith
Climbers are being warned to check a vital piece of equipment after camming device broke during a fall.
The British Mountaineering Council examined the piece of gear after a climber fell 16m (52ft) after coming off a route at Bosigran in Cornwall. The climber was, according to the BMC, very lucky not to be badly injured in the incident.
The metal cams stayed in the crack where the climber had placed them, but the rest of the device was found on the ground.
The inspection revealed that the wires connecting the camming device – a Rock Empire number 1 – to the sling had snapped and the conclusion was that failure was caused by metal fatigue caused by flexing. The technical report, by Daniel Middleton, said that the design of the device made it difficult for users to check for signs of potential problems.
A spokesman for the BMC said: “Flexible camming devices have helped revolutionise modern climbing.
“It isn't very common, but the flexible wire stems can become damaged by repeated use. Checking for damage isn't always easy with some modern designs, but is worth the effort because damaged wire stems can fail when loaded in a fall.
“Check for broken wires or signs of corrosion every now and again. If you do spot anything, retire the unit or contact the manufacturer for advice.”
The manufacturers, Rock Empire, were sent a copy of the report but didn’t respond, so the BMC decided to publish its findings.
The report states: “Failure of the wire cable in other units of the same manufacture could lead to serious injury or worse to the user. With the design employed, it appears that this may occur in other units, which on inspection by the user appear to have plenty of life left in them.”
The full report can be downloaded from the BMC website. You can see the cams at the Rock Empire site.
(This post was edited by majid_sabet on Sep 16, 2008, 8:00 PM)
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devkrev
Sep 16, 2008, 7:58 PM
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man, my rock empire rockets...er...whatever were my favorite cam, next to aliens.
dev
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ryanb
Sep 16, 2008, 8:06 PM
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https://www.thebmc.co.uk/modules/technicalreports/View.aspx?id=40
Cable failure at the junction with the braze similar to that yellow alien failure.
i say back up placements close to the ground no matter what type of gear.
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adatesman
Sep 17, 2008, 12:23 AM
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dingus
Sep 17, 2008, 12:28 AM
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Wait a minute.... something is missing here, something critical, something constant, ....
WHERE'S THE MAJID HATE???????????
Who will be first to 'blame the messenger?'
I know! Let's play
"SHOOT MAJID IN THE FACE" (its fun for the WHOLE FAMILY!)
DMT
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deltav
Sep 17, 2008, 12:28 AM
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this is why I climb with BD
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ryanb
Sep 17, 2008, 12:29 AM
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adatesman wrote: Or not so similar, given that RE cams have the cable swaged to the head rather than brazed like Aliens.
Right you are.
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mtnrock
Sep 17, 2008, 10:05 PM
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haha even your baby sister let her have the first shot
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seatbeltpants
Sep 18, 2008, 7:25 AM
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majid_sabet wrote: “Check for broken wires or signs of corrosion every now and again. If you do spot anything, retire the unit or contact the manufacturer for advice.”
aaargh, easier said than done - i just gave mine a once over and the gap at the end of the plastic sleeve is pretty small at best. as far as i can tell mine are kosher, but this article is right, the design doesn't make it easy to spot any potential damage so who knows...
steve
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tradrenn
Sep 18, 2008, 8:56 AM
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Thanks for posting this.
V.
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budman
Sep 18, 2008, 12:28 PM
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deltav wrote: this is why I climb with BD
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coolcat83
Sep 18, 2008, 12:45 PM
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i think swaging is most popular with cams designs as opposed to brazing but either way they have that connection area, even the bd's have a stress point at the head there, no way around it (well some engineer could probably figure it out). i have some flexcams that have a black plastic cover to the cable but i can see in the gap, and it also seems like the cable is pretty beefy, maybe mal can tell us what's used? curious
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patmay81
Sep 18, 2008, 2:38 PM
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deltav wrote: this is why I climb with BD
I almost bought a set of RE robots (or whatever they are called), they are so friggen cheap! now I know why!
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seatbeltpants
Sep 19, 2008, 4:01 AM
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patmay81 wrote: they are so friggen cheap! now I know why!
yeah, this is the bit that doesn't quite make sense to me - maybe prior to this accident this part of the cam wasn't identified as a weak point, but if the cable needs to be strong enough to hold a truck and it also needs to flex, why not make it thicker than is currently the case? or would that bugger up the functionality?
steve
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