How about a chunk of "Det. cord" in a circle or two with the Plasma rope
running through the center. Use a "pull" type of initiator to trigger
the Det. cord.
Bill Higdon
Bill Daniels wrote:
Bob, you need to get some of this stuff and play with it. It doesn't cut
the way metal does - in fact, it's the preferred body armor for knives and
penetrating weapons.

The people who work with this stuff all the time use electrically heated hot
blades. They cut through it like it isn't even there.

Bill Daniels

"Bob Kuykendall" wrote in message
om...

Earlier, "Bill Daniels" wrote:


Why should a hot blade be fragile?
The winch engine starting battery has a
lot of power to heat a robust blade very
quickly.

I would definitely look askance at a system that required electricity
to cut the cable, and I think that most certification authorities
might also. I prefer my emergency systems to be powered by gravity,
strong springs, or if necessary percussion-lit pyrotechnics.


You only need to get the
blade to Spectra's 265F melting
point - far below the blades
melting point.

I'd tend to believe that you need to heat the blade to about twice or
three times that - to account for the fact that you might be trying to
cut the cable as it is running in or out, and so the blade is
transferring heat to a pretty large volume of cable. Also, you'd want
to cut the cable as fast as possible. This might be a neat idea if it
were heated by exhaust from the winch engine...

My preference would be for a sharp guillotine, for which the blade can
pivot slightly to account for minor misalignments between the arm axis
and the plane of the anvil. I'd try an anvil made of a 2" by 6" piece
of MDF (medium density fiberboard) to be renewed after each slice. In
testing, I'd look for 25 cuts out of 25 tries.

Just my few ill-formed thoughts on the matter.

Thanks, and best regards to all

Bob K.