Rope Walk Set Up And Operation
1. The whirl end should be fixed to a wooden bracket and mounted to a vertical post (garage door or other)
2. The looper end should be mounted on a horizontal trolly approx. ½ “ X 4 X 6 with small wheels at the corners.
3. A 4” X 4FT.LG. wooden channel should be made for the looper runway. It should be supported on legs so that when the looper trolley is standing on the runway the centre of the looper disc is in line with the centre of the whirl disc. Centre line of looper and whirls should be about 4FT. from the ground.
4. At the rear of the looper channel a guide roller is mounted and a srting is attached to the eye bolt at the rear of the looper and led over this guide roller, ending near the ground. A fishing weight is attached to the string. This tensions the rope during lay up.
5. Place the locking pin through the hole in the looper frame and disc. The looper trolley is placed at the rear of the channel and 3 strands of cotton/linen line are tied to their respective eye bolts on whirls and looper. Line tension should be as equal as one can possibly make it.
6. To make a 3 strand R.H rope with R.H thread the whirls are turned clockwise (looking towardsthe looper end) effectively unwinding the threads initially untill they become left handed. As this takes place, the looper trolley will slowly travel towards the whirls.Stop the whirls when the looper has travelled about one quarter of the length of the intended rope length. ie. making a 12FT. rope:- looper travels about 3FT.
7. Remove the locking pin from the looper frame/disc, and turn the looper disc anti clockwise (looking towards the whirls). The rope will lay up. Inspect the rope at intervals to see progress. Do not overwind. Before cutting the rope loose from it's moorings spot glue each end or seize with seizing line to prevent unravelling.
8. If making L.H rope, rotation of whirls and looper discs should be reversed.
9. 4 strand rope can also be made L.H or R.H
10. Some experimenting must be expected, to get a feel for the correct turns, tension on the counterweight,etc.
VERSION 1
VERSION 2
Both versions could be simplified by using only 3 hooks instead of 6.
Ball bearings could be replaced with oilite bronze bushings on the whirls.
Brass cup hooks could replace the hooks shown on both drawings.
