Gear4Rocks Links Cam Review
|
Not an engineer, but to stop a fall, aren't the forces on any cam's axle down in the middle and up where the lobes connect? Unless the threads extend from the end of the axle to under the lobes, they aren't involved in shear? Said another way, the ends of the axle aren't weight bearing, so does it matter if they have threads? |
|
dannl wrote:Not an engineer, but to stop a fall, aren't the forces on any cam's axle down in the middle and up where the lobes connect? Unless the threads extend from the end of the axle to under the lobes, they aren't involved in shear? Said another way, the ends of the axle aren't weight bearing, so does it matter if they have threads? Edit: Oops, I guess shear force is parallel to the axle. So I see why that would be bad. When the cam is loaded, how much force ends up on whatever is retaining the lobes?0 force in theory. If it is a bottoming placement that got torqued, it could take some force, but I'm betting the axle itself or the lobes would bend first in that situation. |
|
Vidal wrote:...I do notice that the main cam axle is most likely threaded (since it appears to have nylock nuts on both sides of the cam holding the lobes in place). In comparison to BD cams, which have a solid, most likely machined axle with cir-clips keeping everything in place, Gear4Rocks cams would, in theory, have higher stress concentrations at the threads. ...FWIW, BD's axle terminations are peened/riveted, not circlips. Also Gear For Rocks isn't the only one to use threaded axle terminations... Aliens, OP Linkcams, single stem RE cams and certain generations of Forged Friends do as well. |
|
This thread is so amusing I had to actually create an account to respond. Lots of talk about products people have not even tried. |
|
Great review! Have you tried the 1axle cams? |
|
PDXGREG wrote:Y'all might want to try them before you go all sua sponte and condemn them.+1 RLTW? |
|
IsaiahZ wrote: +1 RLTW?everyday |
|
Keenan Waeschle wrote:same as what brendan said, your reviews rock!ditto! |
|
Hey... I'm happy to see a full review of this set of cams. I bought a full set (aluminum nuts and link cams) last year. I want to show you what looked like the #5 cam (red) when I received it (brand new). You will all understand that I never used this cam with this major casting failure. I'm seriously questioning the quality control. It should have never been shipped to a customer. |
|
jffortier wrote:Hey... I'm happy to see a full review of this set of cams. I bought a full set (aluminum nuts and link cams) last year. I want to show you what looked like the #5 cam (red) when I received it (brand new). You will all understand that I never used this cam with this major casting failure.Looks to me that it's the result of poorly aligned shearing dies rather than a casting flaw. Then again, given the cracking all over perhapes they actually are cast. Mind posting a view of the side of the cam/lobes? |
|
Rick Blair wrote:Phil, Since you are into testing Eastern European gear, how about giving these things a go? viamontgear.com/gear/tricam…They have an Eastern Washington phone # and pictures of Eastern Washington climbing. Exploring their website more I have found that the owner actually goes to the same university as me. The product is American, the man is Czech. Now you got me all curious. |
|
Aric Datesman wrote: Looks to me that it's the result of poorly aligned shearing dies rather than a casting flaw.+1 But makes me wonder if the lobe material is being stamped and otherwise handled correctly. |
|
Gunkiemike wrote:But makes me wonder if the lobe material is being stamped and otherwise handled correctly.FWIW, all of pics on their site look to me like the lobes are milled, so frankly I found the indication of them possibly being stamped surprising. I'd be very surprised if they were cast, as history has shown it can lead to poor grain structure and lobe failure (I forget the brand at the moment, but it was 10 or so years ago), plus that's either a big capital expenditure for a niche market or paying a premium for small runs at a casting house (read: milling from an extrusion would be cheaper with better grain structure). I can kinda see stamping being a possibility, but even then tooling costs would be kinda high compared to milling out of plate or bar for relatively small runs (read: stamping is generally a high volume production thing with long lead times and high tooling costs). As I mentioned, I'm kinda curious what's going on with the lobes in that pic... |
|
Rick Blair wrote:Phil, Since you are into testing Eastern European gear, how about giving these things a go? viamontgear.com/gear/tricam…Missed this earlier... I actually have a set of them (bought as a souvenir while in a climbing shop in Prague ages ago) and they work well enough. The springiness of the wire helps hold them in place fairly well (especially keyed into solution pockets where nuts and regular tricams won't stick), but makes placing the smallest ones a total PITA until you get the wire kinked just right. Plus the wire holding them up like that when racked causes the larger ones to catch on everything, so they didn't stay on the rack long. That said, the smallest is a useful sub-Pink-Tricam size and stayed on my rack for quite a while. Apparently a year or so after I bought them they came out with another version where the wire was free to rotate around a pin, which might solve the racking and placement issues. Never seen that version in person though, nor a mention or review on any of the climbing sites. And keep in mind I'm a Tricam fanatic, so YMMV. EDIT- Found the newer version... Combi Tri-Cams. viamontgear.com/gear/combi/… |
|
Aric I am a big tricam fan myself. I brought a set up to the orange on the Maroon Bells traverse a few weeks ago, they went in everywhere. They get bad mouthed a lot but I think their simplistic design is amazing, great utility. Maybe I will check out a set of those Viamont things. Thanks for dredging up this post. |
|
I have a set of the "basic" wired viamont tri-cams (no swivel or axel). They were very cheap but appear very well made. I have hung from them a few times and not died yet. They are nice for placing one handed and sorta cam themselves into place with the wire acting as a spring! Cool bonus. I haven't fallen on them yet, but am sure that they would be fine. |
|
|
|
I'm bumping an old thread to find out if 3 years after the review, anyone has fallen on one of these cams. |
|
Rob Davis wrote:I'm bumping an old thread to find out if 3 years after the review, anyone has fallen on one of these cams.They probably arent around anymore... |