Just a few points.

The sort of incidents I described are very rare, which is why people are
sometimes not ready for them and may be caught. It would take many years
of operation with synthetic before one could be sure that it could never
behave as wire occasionally does.

It is not just energy stored in the wire due to elasticity, it is also the
energy due to its weight and speed. Synthetic may have less weight, but it
still has some.

Will winches be designed only for synthetic cable, and never used with wire?
Even if the intention is to use synthetic, the winch should be designed so
that wire can be used, and winch drivers should be trained for this.

W.J. (Bill) Dean (U.K.).
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"Bob Johnson" wrote in message
...

Hi Bill --

After my limited experience with it, I can't help but think that
synthetic is going to be a lot safer and less nasty to work with during
breaks or whenever else it has to be dodged or handled. It's light as a
feather, soft as a baby's butt and stores absolutely no energy.

BJ


"W.J. (Bill) Dean (U.K.)." wrote:

A winch should never have any doors or windows open while actually
launching. The cab must be fully enclosed, doors and windows shut.
The windows must be of laminated glass or similar, with Lexan or
something similar on the inside surfaces. Any openings not glazed must
be protected with expanded metal sheet, weldmesh or similar.

If the cable breaks, and sooner or later it will, it can get inside the
winch through any opening with amazing ferocity.

One of the Long Mynd amateur winch drivers had the back window slightly
open. The cable broke, came in through the window and attacked his
clothing. He considered he had a very lucky escape, and has given up
driving the winch.

At another club one of the most experienced of all winch drivers parked
his car directly behind the winch and facing it, what he thought was a
safe distance away. This was at a busy club which has done many
thousands of winch launches every year for a very long time. The
cable broke and flew back, trashing the back of his car and round the
car to break one of the front door windows. I saw the car afterwards
and asked who had run into him.

This sort of thing does not happen very often so it takes people by
surprise. It is a completely avoidable risk and is just not worth
taking.

W.J. (Bill) Dean (U.K.).
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"Martin Gregorie" wrote in message
...

snip

Climate control: there is a diesel burning heater for winter and the
sliding doors open in summer.

Martin Gregorie