Splicing Problem

[Dockhead]

I'm trying to splice a hard eye into a piece of 4mm Dyneema. I've done tons of eyes splices in single braid, but this is the first time I deal with hard eyes.


It's not working -- the tail for some reason doesn't set inside the standing part and slips out.


I guess I should just do an eye as per usual and try to get it the right size, and just set the eye in it.


But for the life of me, I can't understand why it behaves like this.


Anyone have any insights or tips?

[thinwater]

• Use a low friction ring. The Nautos rings have very high walls. Splicing LFRs is commonplace and dead easy.
• I assume you are lock stitching. That should help. Do the lock stitch before you milk the tail in. Alternatively, use a brummel lock. You can pull those tight.
• Use a tube thimble. Far more forgiving and common in winch cables.

Just some thoughts.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by thinwater

• Use a low friction ring. The Nautos rings have very high walls. Splicing LFRs is commonplace and dead easy.
• I assume you are lock stitching. That should help. Do the lock stitch before you milk the tail in. Alternatively, use a brummel lock. You can pull those tight.
• Use a tube thimble. Far more forgiving and common in winch cables.

Just some thoughts.

Thanks! I must be getting senile -- I forgot the bloody brummel lock!! That's the whole problem. I owe you a beer!

[Breaking Waves]

just as a note that thimble shape you are using is not optimal. It is probably decently strong but that squared off throat and low walls makes capture harder than it should be.

I am guessing even with a brummel, after you put a load on it, you will still get an uncomfortable amount of throat gap.

As you may remember from my previous testing - tapered whipping is actually the best way to solve this. You can do either with or without a brummel (there are trade-offs). Get it as nice as you can without whipping. Then load it up several times to near working load, then if you get a throat gap, close it with a tapered whipping. And as part of the whipping you could put in a feature that fully captures the thimble if you wanted to be 'pro'

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Breaking Waves

just as a note that thimble shape you are using is not optimal. It is probably decently strong but that squared off throat and low walls makes capture harder than it should be.

I am guessing even with a brummel, after you put a load on it, you will still get an uncomfortable amount of throat gap.

As you may remember from my previous testing - tapered whipping is actually the best way to solve this. You can do either with or without a brummel (there are trade-offs). Get it as nice as you can without whipping. Then load it up several times to near working load, then if you get a throat gap, close it with a tapered whipping. And as part of the whipping you could put in a feature that fully captures the thimble if you wanted to be 'pro'

Also supremely useful, so thanks!


I will post results when I'm done. I lost my entire inventory of sailmaker's needles to rust (don't ask), so I won't be doing any whipping until delivery comes from SVB. But this gives me plenty to chew on -- thanks!

[Boatguy30]

With a lock, it will be fine on that thimble