"Craig Freeman" wrote in message
...
We recently converted from 3/16 7x9 cable to 3/16 plasma rope on our
winch.
"Plasma", made from Honeywell "Spectra" fiber, seems to have some real
advantages over wire or cable. Some benifits include light weight,
11.48lbs
per thousand, (that's not much even converted to metric!!), hollow braid
(no twisting), 5000 lb breaking strength (that a lot even converted to
metric!!), 25% increase in launch heights. We operate from asphalt and
it seems to be holding up wery well. Expensive? Yes! However in our
environment it promises to far outlast steel which would make it cheaper
in the long run plus the added benifits. Sorry this sounds like a
commerical
I was just so tired of that !@#$@#%%^# wire. If anyone else has any
experience
with this stuff is there anything we should be looking out for?

Happy Winching,
Craig-

You should be looking out for:
1. A lot of fun not interrupted by wire tangles.
2. A lot more soaring from the higher release heights.
3. A lot more soaring from the lower costs of the launch.
4. A lot fewer band-aids consumed due to fewer wire cuts on your hands.
5. No wire failures due to rust.

The stuff gets ugly and fuzzy as it wears out so you have a lot of visual
warning long before it gets too weak to use. BTW, I think washing it
occasionally might extend the usable life - you'll have to figure out how to
do that.

I just checked (again) the maximum safe working load of 3/16" 7x7 steel.
It's about 900 pounds if there are no dynamic loads. Spectra is WAY
stronger than that and it doesn't seem to be as sensitive to dynamic loads.

Thanks for the report.

Bill Daniels