closing loops

[moth 0]

Where can i buy closing loops from in the UK?
preferably on the net

[Yossarian 0]

when i need some i just ask a rigger at a dz, they can usually knock up a few for you, for free if you ask nicely enough

[L.O. 0]

Our have him explain how to make them, and then you will never need one again.

It's so easy, even a caveman can do it.

HPDBs, I hate those guys.
AFB, charter member.

[moth 0]

i already know how to make them but however i do not know where to get the chord to make them with.

[2shay 0]

usually the dz will give you one if you ask. Reason, is that if your closing loop is ragged and you jump it thinking that it might make it the rest of the day until you can get one somewhere else, and lets say you have a premi and screw up the plane (like hitting the tail or something) 1) that would suck 2) the dz has to spend thousands fixing 3)it could have been prevented by giving away a few cents worth of material. Good investment for the dz. So back to the point is that I don't see why the dz wouldn't have them readily available. Make friends with your local riggers. Probably way to much info and probably did not answer your question but you shouldn't really have to buy them yourself.

don't try your bullshit with me!!!

[skytash 0]

depends. I know that DH only gives out free closing loops if you swap it for a worn one. If it breaks while trying to close the container, you need to pay or it.

tash

Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Being alive is a special occasion. Avril Sloe

[2shay 0]

what value would worn out closing loops have for the dz. Maybe I'm missing the point.

As for it breaking while closing. You need to replace way before it breaks, you should be able to see the wear on it before it breaks.

don't try your bullshit with me!!!

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Quote

what value would worn out closing loops have for the dz. Maybe I'm missing the point.

It's a mechanism to get people to replace their closing loop well before it breaks. When people are pro-active about gear maintenance they have an intact closing loop which can be exchanged for a new free one. When they get lazy they pay a small fine for being silly.

[2shay 0]

ah i see

don't try your bullshit with me!!!

[DeNReN 0]

Buy the gutted 550 at www.paragear.com

Item W9680 $0.35 yard USD.

Pick yourself up a set of fids while your at it.

Item S7995 $33.00 USD stainless
or
Item S7979 $9.00 USD derlin plastic


I make and give em out for free.....I also keep a supply of pullups on hand to hand out....costs me hardly anything....

[tdog 0]

Quote

Pick yourself up a set of fids while your at it.

Item S7995 $33.00 USD stainless
or
Item S7979 $9.00 USD derlin plastic


I make and give em out for free.....I also keep a supply of pullups on hand to hand out....costs me hardly anything....

How to make a finger trapn' tool for next to free...

Go to home depot and buy 22 gauge steel galvanized wire in a 100 foot spool.

Unfold 18 inches from the spool, use cutter built in to packaging to cut.

Now the fun part - assuming you want to make an extra special tool, you need a BIC pen, or else you can just tie the wire in knots or something...

Take a BIC pen and remove the insides such that you have only the outer white tube. Use a drill to drill two holes next to each other in the center of the tube, only piercing one side.

Take the two ends of the cut wire - and make clove hitch knots around the pen, but don't seat the knots yet. Take the tails of the wire after you make the hitch and insert them into the holes you drilled in the pen. Persuade the wire to come out of the end of the pen and put a loop in the wire so it is fat enough not to go thru the holes you drilled, but thin enough to slide back inside the pen and seat against the drilled holes.

Pull the wire back into the pen so it is "stuck" and can't come out. Seat the clove hitches tight...

(If you just do clove hitch knots, they will slip and slide and spin. If you just knot the wires inside the pen, they have too much slop. You need the knot on the outside to remove the slop, and the knot in the inside to remove the spin)

Now I know this is ghetto, but at $3 for 100 foot of wire, and a bunch of stolen (non-working to keep it legit) pens from your office - you can actually make the fid for about $0.04 each... Yes, that is cheaper than the closing loops, that will come in at a whoping $.10 each for short ones, $.20 each for long ones.

In case you are completely confused - I have a picture of two tools attached. The "expensive" tool with a grommet and pull up cord, cost $1 to make... But with a choice, I will take the pen one, because it fits in my hand and is ergonomically correct...

So for all those of you who give out closing loops... Now you can give out fids too... he he he... Give a man a loop, he has a loop. Give a man tools to make loops, he will have loops for life... he he he

[2shay 0]

the bic one is kind of like the one i have used before.

don't try your bullshit with me!!!

[JackR 0]

If you're getting the Type IIA from ParaGear, add a Control Toggle to the order. They are small wooden handles with a hole drilled in them. Build it the same as the Bic pen tool, but without the drill.

I get the wire from Wal-Mart. Go to the craft section and they have craft wire at about 22 gauge, but are already cut for you.

Optionally pick up some electrical tape. I wrap the tool handle with this to keep the wire from poking me too bad.

If you win the lottery, grab an entire spool of Type IIA from ParaGear ($20). Enough for closing loops and pull up cords for you and your friends for a long time to come.

Packin' Jack
42nd Lost Prairie: The Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Skydiving
25 Jul - 3 Aug 2009
2007 photos: http://www.skydive.com/prairie/pages/prairie.htm

[riggerrob 558]

Optionally pick up some electrical tape. I wrap the tool handle with this to keep the wire from poking me too bad.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I use tiny heat shrink tubing to hide the sharp ends of wires.

[riggerrob 558]

Closing loops cheap.
Airplane tails expensive!

[riggerrob 558]

Even less expensive is cuddling up to your friendly neighborhood aircraft mechanic and smoozing some lock wire for free.

10/1000 inch for Cypres cord.
32/1000 for most Spectra suspension line
40/1000 for fat Dacron steering lines

Any lump of scrap iron will work for a handle.

[dorbie 0]

Does anyone use a fid for this in skydiving?

http://towmeup.com/splicing.html

[riggerrob 558]

Aluminum finger-trapping fids are available from Para-Gear and several other skydiving supply houses.
Thousands of riggers use fids.
Thousands more use wires.

[2shay 0]

that was the point I was making

don't try your bullshit with me!!!