UKC

dont know if this subject has been covered before.anyway i saw an ingenious way to repair cams with broken wires,without the expense of replacement wire kits.a guy i climbed with a while back,ben derby,had used the nylon 'wire' u use in garden strimmers.ive just mended 2 of my cams and its ideal.
just thread a length through the relevent holes in handle and cam lobes.cut off leaving 3mm protruding through the holes in the cam lobes.then with a knife heated on the gas stove press down on that to form a 'rivet' head.job done.a few minutes work and only about a quid or so for a reel. compared with a typical £9 for a set of wires for just one cam.

In reply to minexplorer: good idea. Most things in life can be bodged back tolife. . I love taking things apart and trying to remember how to put them back together aga
in.

In reply to minexplorer:

my much loved climbing partner use to 'fix' his with gardening wire

you spot the placement
you reach for the cam
you see the gardening wire and a doubt forms
you squeeze the triggers and watch the wire slowly disengage

ah the joys of DIY

john

In reply to John Kelly: yeah john i can imagine garden wire pulling out and being generally unflexible.bens idea seems to have stood up well.nylon strimmer wire is very flexible and resilient.melting the ends over to stop them pulling out will resist the sort of pressure they will recieve.ive tried pulling really hard on the triggers and cant get the melted ends to shear off.worth a go i think.

In reply to minexplorer:

There was a discussion about this a few months ago including an excellent explanation of the repair technique.

The strimmer wire repair is supposed to be long lasting.

The tool of choice for melting the end blob and softening the wire to form a 90 degree bend is a mini blow torch. I bought one for £2.99 on fleebay, just need a bit of enthusiasm now to do a bit of DIY.

In reply to Rick Graham:
>

This one?
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=525984&v=1#x7080469

In reply to minexplorer:

As seen on Chris Tan Death Products (TM)

http://www.kakibusok.plus.com/Equipment/RewireCams1/Rewire1.htm

The rest of that site contains a variety of useful/interesting/unwise/insane gear ideas and is well worth a read.

In reply to JJL:

Thats it. Thanks.

How are they lasting?

In reply to Rick Graham:

My strimmer nylon repairs have lasted longer than the original trigger wires. They are much more difficult to break than the wires, no stress concentrating swages and what have you.

In reply to Jack B: Indeed, a good experienced climbing partner too. I was out with him today.

In reply to minexplorer:

Strimmer cord works well but it is quite stiff and only really works on larger cams (friend 2 upwards)

In reply to GrahamD: Fishing line for the smaller cams?

In reply to minexplorer:

I just use . . . . . . . wire! I don't even bother with the plush plastic coated stuff Chris shows on his website. Buy the gauge that fits the holes ( I can't remember what it is) from a hardware shop (used to be called an ironmongers). You get a great big reel - enough for several lifetimes of broken cam wires - for about £1 odd. I first tried thinner wire to get more flexibility but it broke , which is why I'm suspicious of e.g. strimmer or fishing line.
I've been doing it for years for self and mates - never had to re-do one yet. The only slight downside is the wire sometimes distorts a bit in your sack (the bigger the cam the more likely) but you just have to manipulate it a bit as you rack it.

In reply to John Kelly:

So then you just ram the cam in and let your second worry about it; sorted!

In reply to minexplorer: Old guitar strings.

In reply to Jack B:

i had totally forgotten about Chris Tan Death Products (TM) thanks for reminding me

In reply to minexplorer: I use strimmer cord for repairs, I found that melting the end tended to fail, so I just tie a knot, that works fine.

In reply to Martin Bennett: Inspired by this thread I've dug out an old knackered cam and been experimenting with quite stiff garden wire. Seems fine except it's been a bit of a fiddle to get exactly the right length, as it's quite hard to bend accurately. And also because it's pretty stiff it wants to hold the cam lobes apart a bit, unless I give it exactly the correct length and just the right angle of bend in the middle. I guess it'll always be prone to distorting in transit as you say...

Still it seems to work OK and I can't think why I've left it so long to try

In reply to Dan Bailey - UKHillwalking.com:

Excellent - a convert. That's two of us so far using what seems to me to be the simplest and most effective solution. You're right about the length being critical - it comes with practice though, and a pair of very thin long nosed pliers plus effective wire cutter make the job easy.

I haven't tried the garden wire yet but I did find you could buy some wire rope and copper crimps for a fraction of the price of a kit. As with the garden wire, getting the right length if your "template" is in pieces is a pain. Howevee, I have been repairing the triggers for a quite a few years like this and never had one go so far.

In reply to minexplorer: I brought the repair kit from outside for £9, and was surprised to find it will repair 2 cams 0-3 and 3-5 takes about 5 mins to do so for my own peice of mind buying the repair kit out-weights saving a few pounds....................