petur 0 #1 July 8, 2002 Hey all! In a thread posted in march I read a very informative reply from Bill Booth himself regarding cutaway cables, housings etc. In his reply he wrote: "Jump shack IS using Teflon, which they color code red. We do not use it for too many reasons to go into here." Ok, I bought that same type red teflon cable from Jumpshack in april , simply because of a neater look and color of the pad . Should I put the original yellow cable from RWS back on my rig... and if so, why?--- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jimbo 0 #2 July 8, 2002 Hmm. It would be great if Bill would post the downside of the teflon cables. I'm sure a lot of people here are interested in hearing them. - Jim"Like" - The modern day comma Good bye, my friends. You are missed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
weid14 0 #3 July 8, 2002 teflon is a soft material that "cold flows" over a period of time. Meaning, that if you exert some pressure on it, the tendancy is for the material to "give" and not recover it's original shape (which could be bad if it conforms to the white loop or cut away housing). There are additives that are used to improve it's physical properties in that respect (glass, carbon, etc). That may be one reason he (Bill) doesn't like them. Although John Sherman at Jump Shack will tell you why the teflon (there are like 2 or 3 different major grades of teflon, and many different subgroups off of those) is OK to use, too. I think there is an article at their web site about them. When they first came out there were cracks in some of them, but that problem was rectified. I'm not quite sure why he (John) wanted to make the switch in the first place. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,354 #4 July 9, 2002 >I'm not quite sure why he (John) wanted to make the switch in the > first place. The stated reason, I believe, was that the teflon cables have less friction and thus make for easier cutaways. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
petur 0 #5 July 22, 2002 The following is a reply I received earlier today from T.K. Donle at RWS, posted here with his permission. Quote Hello Petur, We carefully tested the red Teflon cable when it was introduced in April of 1997. In its current form, it is not approved for use with Relative Workshop Vector, Micron, or Sigma Systems. Here are the reasons why. 1) Due to its slick nature, Teflon does not stick well to other materials, including stainless steel cable. One local manufacturer of these new cutaway handles has already discovered long runs of Teflon separating from the cable. Can you imagine pulling your cutaway handle, only to find the Teflon still running through your 3-Ring loop, thereby preventing a cutaway. 2) It's difficult, if not impossible, to melt the Teflon to effectively cover the sharp, exposed cable ends. Instead of melting into a liquid state, Teflon tends to evaporate into a gaseous state when heated. (This is referred to as "sublimation.") We understand the current supplier of these handles is simply blunt cutting them with no further end preparation. We've heard a recent report of a sharp cable-end snagging the 3-Ring loop and damaging it. 3) A local rigger reported that the outer Teflon coating shrunk noticeably during a 120-day inspection cycle on one of his customer's rigs, exposing the end of the inner cable. Samples provided to us by the current supplier also exhibit this problem. 4) Red Teflon can be sucked through the grommet at the end of the cutaway cable with less force than the standard yellow Lolon-F cable now in use. This is a major disadvantage when coupled with out-of-spec risers that can heavily load the 3-Ring loop. 5) Teflon coating is softer than Lolon-F. You can easily create an impression on the surface with your fingernail. Worse yet, the 3-Ring loop and the housing grommet will imbed themselves into the Teflon under high loads, hence the increase in pull forces at 2000 lbs. We know we're getting 2000 lbs.+ loads due to the number of broken risers that we have seen over the last 6-8 years. In our estimation, red Teflon cable exhibits far too many problems in its current form. Teflon coatings are not a cure-all for improperly made 3-Ring risers. And don't forget Relative Workshop has been producing cutaway handles with the yellow Lolon-F coating for over 14 years, and we've never had a reported problem with it when combined with properly constructed risers. And if you were to think about improving the qualities of Teflon, you'd want to make it slightly harder so it wouldn't be so impressionable; You'd make it slightly less slick, so it sticks to the cable permanently; You'd add something to it so it wouldn't sublimate when heated so one could form a bullet-shaped end...........and what you come up with is Lolon-F! And you've already got it! Hope that answers your question. Loose the red stuff and go back to your original RWS yellow Lolon-F handle, and you'll be safer for it! Best regards, T.K. DONLE Tandem Program Director Quality Assurance Manager Vice President The Uninsured Relative Workshop, Inc. 1645 Lexington Avenue DeLand, FL 32724 --- P. "It Hurts to Admit When You Make Mistakes - But When They're Big Enough, the Pain Only Lasts a Second." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites