Best trigger keeper in existence???? Better than BD???

Adding only 11 grams per cam, at a cost of $1 per cam, and boasting increased function over factory BD trigger keepers, this might be the best trigger keeper out there.

BD has introduced trigger keepers on their new larger size cams. 

Many have seen the benefits of the trigger keeper in reducing racked cam size. Also, trigger keepers can keep cams from snagging on things, and they can even prevent rare injuries that arise from falling on large sharp open-cams attached to your harness/gear sling. 

Consequently, many have sought to attach DIY trigger-keepers to their older cams. After some research I found that there have been some attempts to create a quality DIY trigger keeper.  None of the solutions I was able to find online met my requirements of: (i) being easy to use (at least as functional as the factory BD trigger keeper), (ii) light in weight; (iii) not requiring faffing with any extra/detachable pieces; (iv) releases with slight pressure; (iv) cheap and utilizes easily found parts; (v) easy for DIYer to install; (vi) not interfering with the proper functioning of the cam. 

After some work in my basement, I arrived at a solution that meets all of these requirements and performs better than BD factory trigger keepers.

My solution uses a wire loop on the tigger and a bent pipe clamp on the thumb loop to make a hook:

Cam trigger keeper in operation:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OrwItZRXQHk

You can see how easy it is to operate. It can be reset one handed with the middle and ring fingers.

BENEFITS

EASY OF USE: Note that this solution is superior to the BD trigger keeper as it can be reset with one hand. The BD trigger keeper requires the user to use both hands to reset it (even with two hands is not particularly easy to reset factory BD trigger keepers). The flaws in BD's trigger keeper is that: (i) it uses two separate keepers, and (ii) those keepers are located on the top and bottom of the cam, rather than the side. By placing a single trigger keeper on the side of the cam the trigger keeper can be reset with the middle and ring fingers, allowing one-hand operation resetting of the trigger. This is particularly important if you are on lead and selected the wrong piece and are putting the cam back on your harness or gear loop, or if you are following a lead and wish to stow the cam, retracted, on your harness/sling. 

WEIGHT: This trigger keeper adds only 11 gram per cam. This looks to be about what the new BD trigger keepers add to the cam weight. 

EXTRA/DETACHABLE PIECES/PARTS: None

RELEASE PRESSURE: Better than BD because the DIYers can set the exact amount of pressure required to release the trigger-keeper by adjusting either the length of the 1/6" wire loop or adjusting where the rubber cushion pipe clamp is positioned on the thumb loop. 

CHEAP EASY TO FIND PARTS: The modification requires only one 1/2" rubber cushion pipe clamp, one 4" piece of 1/6" wire, and two aluminum crimping sleeves. The parts can be found online and cost approximately $1 per cam. 

EASY FOR DIYer TO INSTALL: If you can crimp a 1/6" crimping sleeve you can install this on your cams. As you likely have strong hands if you are reading this, you probably do not even need a crimp tool, you can just use a pair of pliers. 

NO INTERFERENCE WITH CAM FUNCTION: It is my estimation that the installation actually improves cam function, as it makes cam retrieval with a nut tool that much easier. Once you snag the 1/16" wire loop, pressure is applied to retract all cam lobes evenly and in unison, improving retrieval of deep-buried cams. Other than this, it does not appear that there is any difference to cam placement/retrieval. 

How to build:

Bend the 1/2" rubber pipe clamp to fit over the cam thumb-loop so that it looks like this: 

Use electrical tape to keep the 1/2" rubber pipe clamp in place: 

Thread the 1/16" wire through the hole in the handle that the existing cam lobe wires are already threaded through and clamp using the aluminum crimp sleeve. Thread the other end of the 1/16" wire through the second hole and clamp it after adjusting the wire to the exact length you want (this will change the pressure to release and the ease of resetting the trigger keeper):

 Trim the crimps flush to the back of the trigger handle and put a dab of glue to prevent the wire from moving and cover sharp edges:

FINISHED PRODUCT:

Potential for Improvements:

It would be nice if someone 3D printed a purpose-built part to replace the 1/2" rubber cushion pipe clamp. This would make the cam look a little more professional, it would eliminate the need to use tape to secure the 1/2" rubber cushion pipe clamp, and it might even weigh less than the 1/2" rubber cushion pipe clamp. Maybe someone can bug AVANT climbing ( avantclimbing.com/) into making a batch of plastic parts that securely snap fit to the cam thumb loop and have a nice rounded plastic hook.

Message to BD:

It is my hope that BD rethinks its trigger keeper design in the future. They should use one rather than two trigger keepers and they should place the single trigger keeper on the side of the cam, rather than at the top or bottom of the cam. This would reduce the weight of the existing BD trigger keeper by 50% while improving its function by making it possible to reset the trigger with one hand and easily retrieve a buried cam by using a nut tool to pull the wire loop. 

BEST OF LUCK WITH YOUR MODIFICATIONS. 

Love the Mcguyvering. Nice.
Someone already made little 3d printed keepers on here. This thread.
Maybe it can provide some inspiration. I think another guy made one that is almost identical to the BD one too.

Thanks for the info. 

I saw the thread you cited before I started working on solving the problem. While the thread presents a solution, I personally did not want an additional moving piece of gear attached to the cam that has to be secured with a piece of cord. Also that solution does not allow for one-hand resetting of the trigger keeper. 

As for cloning the BD factory trigger, that was my first thought. However, the BD factory trigger keeper did not make sense to clone because it suffers from issues (not able to operate with one hand, overly difficult to operate, and overly complex as it requires a spring).

 Joined 22 hours ago

Damn these bots are getting really good.

Briar Horn wrote:

Maybe someone can bug AVANT climbing ( avantclimbing.com/) into making a batch of plastic parts that securely snap fit to the cam thumb loop and have a nice rounded plastic hook.

Ironically, he is the inventor of the Black Diamond trigger keeper:

That is pretty ironic. Maybe that would make him the perfect guy for the job. 

Mr Rogers wrote: Someone already made little 3d printed keepers on here. This thread.

Yep that's me! Those were fun and worked decently, but I am the first to admit that there's plenty of room to improve on the claw-like keepers. This post's version looks really promising. I wanted to shout out this recent post that was a really good and polished 3D printed solution: https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/200489162/fs-custom-trigger-keeper-kits-for-old-model-black-diamond-456 . Max already has parts that mate to the thumb loop of C4's, so I bet he could cook up a thumb loop with your little hook feature. I might play with it too if I have time.

Here's the result of a little tinkering! I like this style of trigger keeper a lot and I think I'll add it to all of my big cams. This one uses a zip-tie instead of electrical tape. It feels fairly solid but time will tell about durability. I found that cables, crimps, and cutters that I already had for working on bicycle cable brakes worked quite well for adding the loop to the trigger bar, although slightly beefier crimps could be a bit better.

For those with printers, the .stl file is available here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1su-IPLQLbTUVZo0EFrPGlVn-slUxVhG9/view?usp=sharing . I printed it in PLA on an Ender 3 at 100% infill with the part oriented so that the ziptie hole openings faced up/down.

Upvoated! Love this thread. Didn't know I needed this keeper. Bam! BD makes a "new" thing. Bam! Random climber improves it (perhaps "improved", although I own none of these).  This is the exact process of how we got here from there. Good stuff, not being snarky: seriously. One min we're bashing bones onto a fire to get marrow out of it and the next we're launching rockets into space and having free time to shitpoast. Bam! 

Looks like a nasty bit of metal exposed to damage your soft goods or flesh. No thanks. Plastic ones seems like a better option. I like the idea though

I think this one and the plastic claws may break when the cam is loaded over an edge that would bend the stem. Perhaps that's why the BD version is built into the back of the stem handles.