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angry
Feb 7, 2010, 2:47 PM
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This really could have gone in the lab or here at indoor gyms. Here is my absurd idea. I have retired ropes, probably 400 meters, maybe more. Core shot to hell, totally blown, and been sitting in a leaky shed in Bermuda (mildew anyone). The best pieces have already been given away to boaters and taken for my personal capers. It would cost me $400 to ship them to Sterling for recycling. F that. If I threw them away they'd be incinerated. Their ash would be used for brick and fill dirt over by the airport. That's what happens to trash here. Soooo, my inner MacGuyver got to thinking. Could I make climbing hold molds and pour molten nylon in? Making my own weird and probably shitty holds all the while calling it recycling (except I'll burn more energy and ollute more in the melting process, but that's a subject for a different thread). Casting nylon just can't be that hard, look at all the gun stocks made out of it. I could make my molds out of either concrete or wet beach sand. If I made large holds I'd put some chicken wire inside to reinforce. So is this possible? With a big pot and a burner, can I melt a pile of ropes into a totally liquid and castable goo? Will it be as bad ass strength wise as other nylon casts (again, thinking about my dad's awesome nylon 66). Am I gonna die? Revolutionize the modern world? Eat a spider in my sleep? Trigger an interstellar war?
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acorneau
Feb 7, 2010, 2:53 PM
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angry wrote: This really could have gone in the lab or here at indoor gyms. Here is my absurd idea. [Edit to remove a lot of blathering.] Am I gonna die? Revolutionize the modern world? Eat a spider in my sleep? Trigger an interstellar war? There is a very recent thread on making your own holds on RouteSetter.com that may give you some ideas: http://www.routesetter.com/...pic-622/?recent=4632 I don't know how well the nylon will melt down but if you do get it melted I'd bet that the holds will be slicker than crab snot.
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angry
Feb 7, 2010, 2:57 PM
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acorneau wrote: angry wrote: This really could have gone in the lab or here at indoor gyms. Here is my absurd idea. [Edit to remove a lot of blathering.] Am I gonna die? Revolutionize the modern world? Eat a spider in my sleep? Trigger an interstellar war? There is a very recent thread on making your own holds on RouteSetter.com that may give you some ideas: http://www.routesetter.com/...pic-622/?recent=4632 I don't know how well the nylon will melt down but if you do get it melted I'd bet that the holds will be slicker than crab snot. I've done a lot of climbing on crab snot lately. It's not that bad. They'll have plenty of texture but the base material will be rather slick. They'll be my personal stash of really fucked up evil holds.
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j_ung
Feb 7, 2010, 3:46 PM
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Go for it. IMO, you need to keep the temperature under control, though. Don't let the goo boil, or you'll lose a lot of it to the atmosphere.
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MS1
Feb 7, 2010, 4:21 PM
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Borrow a pot from someone you hate, because you aren't ever going to get that shit clean again. Tell us how it goes.
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qtm
Feb 7, 2010, 4:42 PM
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Aren't nylon parts made by injection molding? So the high pressure helps to keep it liquid and it sets rather quickly once in the mold? It might be difficult to get it to melt consistently on a stovetop as you lose a lot of heat. Maybe a large cast iron dutch oven in the oven? That might give you the best, consistent temperatures. Of course the dutch oven is going to cost a lot more so maybe as a last resort if a normal pot on the stove doesn't work. Interesting question, let us know.
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adatesman
Feb 7, 2010, 5:23 PM
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kball
Feb 7, 2010, 5:38 PM
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This might kill you, but FWIW. maybe a pressure cooker with a tap plumbed in? The pressure would allow for increased temperature, and the pressure/tap could allow for pressurized injection molding? Food for thought....
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dynosore
Feb 7, 2010, 5:43 PM
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Unless you have access to a dessicating dryer and an injection molding machine (you'd still need molds at several thousand dollars each for even a small hold), you will find molding nylon 6 is a nightmare. Weave some rugs.
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dynosore
Feb 7, 2010, 5:46 PM
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kball wrote: This might kill you, but FWIW. maybe a pressure cooker with a tap plumbed in? The pressure would allow for increased temperature, and the pressure/tap could allow for pressurized injection molding? Food for thought.... Even a small injection molder generates many tons of injection and clamping force. For instance, it would probably take at least 30-50 ton machine to make even a 2" hold. Pressure cooker falls several orders of magnitude short of this.
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rock_fencer
Feb 7, 2010, 6:39 PM
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weave some hammocks out of the core strands then sell them...
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Jmoon528
Feb 7, 2010, 8:03 PM
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Make a huge carpet.
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ax
Feb 7, 2010, 10:41 PM
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I just used some old rope to cover the seat of a stool! There are so many other ways to not waste the rope... I think you'd be wasting your time trying that... and end up with a big blob of unusable mess.
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rschap
Feb 7, 2010, 11:27 PM
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Hell yeah, do it and post pics and results.
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scottek67
Feb 8, 2010, 5:56 AM
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rschap wrote: Hell yeah, do it and post pics and results. agreed
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bill413
Feb 8, 2010, 6:48 PM
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Just thought of another method of making the holds: Chop the rope up into short segments, stuff it into a mold, and pour in some epoxy. The rope would serve as filler/some texture. More texture would be had by using sand molds (or sand inside the mold proper).
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angry
Feb 11, 2010, 12:52 AM
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I tried it the other day. Total stinky failure. Without the right equipment, I won't be trying again.
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dyee
Feb 11, 2010, 1:59 AM
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You could try melting it with chemicals, like acetone. Cast them and wait for the acetone to evaporate.
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dynosore
Feb 11, 2010, 2:58 AM
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dyee wrote: You could try melting it with chemicals, like acetone. Cast them and wait for the acetone to evaporate. No, you couldn't, nylon doesn't dissolve in acetone, at all. The only chemicals that will dissolve it are chemicals you don't want to use. Something thick like a climbing hold would never work for this type of process any ways, regarldess of the polymer. Nylon is not suited to home molding, in any way shape or form. It's almost like I already said this.....17 years of polymer research talking here, maybe I can't climb too well but I know a thing or 2 about polymer processing.
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qtm
Feb 11, 2010, 6:11 PM
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angry wrote: I tried it the other day. Total stinky failure. Without the right equipment, I won't be trying again. Yes, but was it fun?
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angry
Feb 11, 2010, 6:41 PM
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qtm wrote: angry wrote: I tried it the other day. Total stinky failure. Without the right equipment, I won't be trying again. Yes, but was it fun? Propane torch + anything = fun
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camhead
Feb 11, 2010, 8:23 PM
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I actually brought this up the other day with a friend of mine who does quite a bit of hold shaping/molding, and he said that nylon would never be soilid, or binding enough, even after it dries fully. And that the fumes would be a brain cell Darfur.
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