DIY custom alfifi

Im broke ! Show me your custom DIY alfifi ! 

I know i know i ill buy one from skott once i have money, but do you have tips on making one with a regular fifi and cam buckle ? What did you try what worked what didn't ? 

Hey I tried doing something like this once (before I heard of the alfifi). I taped open a carabiner and used something like a Purcell prusik.

I mean this with the utmost respect though: just save up and buy it from Skot. It’s way better, it’s tested, you’re supporting an awesome fabricator climber. Surely you’ve paid some money for everything else needed for bigwall aid climbing?

I would make plasma in my body, sell that plasma, and buy a real one.

The Alfifi is an amazing piece of gear because of how convenient and streamlined it is...a cobbled together homebrew is probably going to give up on that convenience and streamlining and kind of defeat the point. 

I guess technically you could girth hitch a fifi to a Yates aider or a similar adjustable aider+hook of choice, but it's not going to be the same, cuz the connection point won't get tight enough

If you cannot get an Alfifi, this thing sort of works

Kong Resting Fifi. You can get it for a few bucks

J Dwrote:

Im broke ! Show me your custom DIY alfifi ! 

I know i know i ill buy one from skott once i have money, but do you have tips on making one with a regular fifi and cam buckle ? What did you try what worked what didn't ? 

Check your email.  

I met this guy, Danny Bell, in Zion a couple months ago on Touchstone.  He made his own All Free Free, as well as a set of Russian aiders.  Looks like he could have found a ratchet buckle on the side of the road and then he would have a Free All Free Free.  Here's the video if you want to check it out.  Looks interesting and it worked, but I would still say buy one from Skot.  Do yard work for neighbors for money or sell anything in your house you don't need.  What Skot makes is fantastic. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VmBBg8Yt3Q

Elliot Spauldingwrote:

I met this guy, Danny Bell, in Zion a couple months ago on Touchstone.  He made his own All Free Free, as well as a set of Russian aiders.  Looks like he could have found a ratchet buckle on the side of the road and then he would have a Free All Free Free.  Here's the video if you want to check it out.  Looks interesting and it worked, but I would still say buy one from Skot.  Do yard work for neighbors for money or sell anything in your house you don't need.  What Skot makes is fantastic. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VmBBg8Yt3Q

Little add on to the story.  
I saw a video or post of his, I hit him up and sent him one of the hooks that I used to weld on to make the discontinued A3 model.
Haven’t seen any updates or anything about what he ever did with it.  

Go fund me

I modified an NRS Canoe strap that has been holding solid for a few years now:

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

Congratulations! You DIY'd an adjustable daisy. Unfortunately, an Alfifi you did not DIY. 

Too bad that pesky wire gate would just be impossible to remove...

Even removing the gate wouldn't make it a diy Alfifi--

The distance from the hook to the buckle (and thus your tie in) is a significantly longer. Most of the time that won't matter, but sometimes it will.

 Additionally, the Alfifi is rigid between the buckle and hook--this, in conjunction with how compact the hook/buckle is, allows you to unhook and release the buckle while reaching up to a higher piece in one motion.

Don't get me wrong, for most pitches and most people's aid climbing method and tempo an adjustable daisy (or an adjustable daisy+normal fifi) can replicate everything the Alfifi does--but it's not going to replicate the exact convenience and ease of use the Alfifi brings to the table. I can't really imagine any reasonable DIY equivalent short of just replicating it by welding a hook to the cambuckle.

I'll stop gratuitously hyping the Alfifi now, but it really is that slick.

Not really trying to argue that a home sewn strap is an identical replacement for a version 4 commercially produced product, just trying to give a dirtbag what he asked for, a few ideas. Due to the way that stiches were added, the buckle and carabiner are essentially rigidly attached together, IE, you can hold just the buckle and the carabiner moves with it since all of the "eyes" that gear pass through are an extremely tight fit. I was in a position of wanting to try aid climbing in the middle of winter without dropping hundreds of dollars, and this accomplished that.

I made one a while back from a random tie down strap cam buckle I had laying in my garage and a piece of scrap metal I rough cut out with a grinder and cleaned up with a die grinder and it works great. I welded the hook into the buckle and painted gold for shits n giggles. If I did it again I would've used a wider piece of metal to have the hook extend a bit more for easier hooking. Oh also the original buckle I have in the first two photos is aluminum which I didn't realize at first and didn't work.

The Alfifi is great kit, and Scott is a good guy. Got to hang with him the week before last under El Cap. 

In addition to the initial cost of an Alfifi, the webbing and cam teeth wear out relatively quickly. So budget that. 

I, too, was pursuing your alternatives. I got flamed here, but the thing is quite smooth: 

Fi-Fiend

Cheers from Osaka,

John  

John Shultzwrote:

The Alfifi is great kit, and Scott is a good guy. Got to hang with him the week before last under El Cap. 

In addition to the initial cost of an Alfifi, the webbing and cam teeth wear out relatively quickly. So budget that. 

I, too, was pursuing your alternatives. I got flamed here, but the thing is quite smooth: 

Fi-Fiend

Cheers from Osaka,

John  

Perfect time for me to mention the cam lever on the newest version is replaceable, making the newest version the best and longest lasting yet!  
 They are available from me anytime.  Message me.  

The Skot Richards Alfifi is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by Dr. Piton.  One of the four great aid climbing innovations of the last twenty years.  No harness should be without one.  

Sure, you can try to do it yourself, but why would you want to?  You are going to use your Alfifi on EVERY SINGLE MOVEMENT upward on the wall.  Why would you want anything less than perfection?

And speaking of perfection, Skot is into the fourth if not fifth generation of improvements! He actually listens to us - the guys who use it - and adapts and improves based on our feedback. Unlike big gear manufacturers like BD who continue to undersize the cables on their peckers, and still don't know how to design a portaledge properly.

There are any number of ways you can save money on the big wall - our book HOOKING UP is full of such ideas, and in buying the book, you will learn enough money saving tips to completely underwrite the cost of the book several times over.  Just sayin'...  But if you want to save money on a wall, the last item you should forego is a Skot Richards Alfifi. It is FUNDAMENTAL.  Don't leave the ground without yours.  

Cheers, eh?
PtPP aka Dr. Piton

Russell Houghtenwrote:

This is a blatant violation of rule #6…. And yes Pete, in this case, there’s a 6th thing! 

Hahaha!!

Kevin DeWeese wrote:

In the sixth rule of thine God, Skot of the Wall Gear, "Though shalt not hook thy alfifi to thine bolt hangar;  for thy alfifi shall surely bend as flesh before temptation"

The Book of Alfifi, Chapter A: Verse 5

Correct!!!   Violation of rule 6 shall result in certain cursing and extensive repentance.  

Is breaking that rule really that bad?  I definitely Alfifi the bolt hanger because it's higher.  I think my instructions also say don't climb above where the Alfifi is hooked in.  I break that rule too.  I am guessing that it's safer than my morning commute through traffic, but maybe I am wrong.  Am I ok or will all of you yell me and tell me "Yer gonna die!"?

Elliot Spauldingwrote:

Is breaking that rule really that bad?  I definitely Alfifi the bolt hanger because it's higher.  I think my instructions also say don't climb above where the Alfifi is hooked in.  I break that rule too.  I am guessing that it's safer than my morning commute through traffic, but maybe I am wrong.  Am I ok or will all of you yell me and tell me "Yer gonna die!"?

I bent an alfifi hooking to a bolt last season and pulling in. It bent back but do not recommend trying this out.