I'm posting these in the Gear forum due to the focus on the Rope Wrench (invented by Kevin Bingham), covers technique as well.

Rope Wrench ascent and descent on hitch only

Rope Wrench combined with handled ascender for ropewalker ascent

-AJ

awesome videos! Thanks for posting!

Man I really like the concept of the wrench! I liked the idea so much I was looking into buying one until I saw the price Looks great and very simple but I have a hard time believing it should cost 125$ I might tinker around with making my own when I get the time..

Dan

Price is reasonable for a "made in the USA" piece of innovative gear. Think about how much it costs to source the materials and manufacture it (not including R&D hours and materials which must be significant). Then it's wholesaled to a retailer, retailer usually doubles whatever they paid to arrive at the retail price.

That said if you can make one yourself more power to you!
-AJ

Not hoping to sidetrack this thread

anyone with a little computer tech knowledge in them can create virtually anything anymore...without the skills to do the manufacturing by hand...

check out Ponoko!

Essentially you can create a 3d model of an object (using free software such as Google Sketchup or Blender if you don't have an alternative), Pick a material (their plastics are actually super strong if you go over a few mm in thickness), slightly modify your model to fit that particular materials requirements (some materials allow tighter bends and thinner materials than others). Pay for it and thats it. Its super reliable AND you're able to essentially make a 'store' out of your designs (you get a cut of the profit depending on what price you set the item at).

I would NOT suggest anyone to try selling their own RW... but there is no reason that you wouldn't be able to do some manufacturing/tinkering to try something new...

I've made some small things as gifts for my wife... Its reasonably cheap and quite honestly down right simple once you get familiar with a some software... Was thinking about making a RW that was midline attachable using some strong plastic... Must put some more thought into this tho! (being able to have this material '3d printed' will allow for designs that normal lathes/mills couldn't do... such as a hollow sphere with no seams). They even have a metal material that you can 3d print with!

The side plates could be a high density plastic, you still need the metal friction surfaces between the side plates.

Thanks for the link on the 3d printer!
-AJ