A Machine That Turns Plants Into Rope

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[bytesandbikes]

Breaking the stiffness out of the feedstock, and wetting it are good starts. In traditional rope making you tend to do 2 more steps: retting and combing. Retting is leaving the feedstock underwater for a few weeks. Combing is just what it sounds like, but with sharp metal combs.

[Kowzorz]

You consistently have the most interesting, unique, well-produced, and informative videos on this platform.

[josuelservin]

Cattails reeds are used here in Mexico to weave the seats of traditional dining chairs.
I would love to see another video using green reeds once the season arrives, that's how they use it for the chairs!

[zukoHD]

I remember watching you at the age of like 11 years old and being absolutely stoked about how cool your videos were.
I would jump at the opportunity to show my cousins and friends all the cool things you showed me how to build.

Here i am 11 years later at the age of 22, almost 23, attempting to double major in chemistry and animal biology with a focus in veterinary medicine and surgery. It was videos like yours that inspired me to really understand how things worked, how things were built nd what made them run, and even why.
It went from small cool little science based toys and gadgets, to physics puzzles and experiments, to mechanical engineering.
When i got older i got into working on bicycles, skateboards, instruments, and then soon after all of that cars.
After cars i got interested in biology, how humans and animals function in general, and that finally led me to chemistry, how literally everything works. Its all a product of chemistry on this planet.
I wouldn be where i am now if it wasnt for people like you man, so thanks for leading me the right way.

[rebeccamcvicar]

Oh my gosh. My hubby has followed you for years then he showed me this video. I make cordage by hand for basketry but that machine is very fast! You did really well with the cattail. Finer fibres by stripping them down thinner and always make them a little damp. Helps heaps. Thanks for sharing!

[zechariahp]

You might have a better chance at making rope by also extracting the bast fiber and removing the outer portion of the plant. That's how hemp rope is made. Also, your rope will be stronger by using thinner strands of the fiber due to the Hall-Petch Relationship.

[KarolOfGutovo]

Another way to maximise straw length would be to use an older kind of cereal - recent cultivars have more fruit by using less energy on growing the straw, so if long straw is what ypu need you're gonna need a different cultivar. There are some specifically for thatching, those might work best.

[stuartbrumett]

If you want to make rope from shorter fibers you will need a large hopper with channels running to each intake funnel. That way as the coils form they can spin and gather other fibers as they do. Check out machines that make rope from coconut fiber to see how that works.
Also, if you want to make strong rope you should stretch the rope when you're done to tighten the coils and if there are weaknesses in the rope it will break during stretching and not later while you're using it.

[GuildOfCalamity]

Just a tip: when measuring rope/cord, measure one loop's worth and then start making loops of the same diameter and then count the total loops an multiply by the first measurement. You can make the loops around your arm like when you draw up an extension cord.

[gfixler]

I got into spinning yarn a few years ago, and it's fun seeing how much this matches up. We also have to lubricate the wheels, start things off with some leader yarn, prep the fiber in various ways for the same reasons you noted, and keep feeding in the right amount to keep it from getting too thick or thin (unless you want "thick & thin" yarn for artistica reasons), or breaking and disappearing onto the bobbin. I also became excited about finally having a use for the 2' tall weed grass covering my back yard, spinning twine, but alas, it's all so brittle, it breaks into little pieces at the slightest twisting. I need to replace my yarn with flax, so I can process it into linen yarn. I'll have to try wetting the weeds to see if that works.

[ponyote]

I definitely appreciate that you immediately upgrade a machine to better suit you. This is such an unusual thing and I never really thought of there being a machine that makes rope. Thanks for making this.

[thomasrogers]

In my experience factory equipment is the absolute top tier of user friendly. If you think about it they need to get every level of intelligence to do the proper task repeatedly with the smallest amount of training possible, that's best accomplished if the tool or process is simplified

[justinbanks]

If you want to try to have an adjustable speed to it so you can go slower as you get used to it (the foot pedal seems to just be on/off) you could get one of the router adjustable speed controllers and plug the machine into it. That way you could control the 'top speed' which might help with the start/stop.

Harbor freight sells one I've used for two different things for around $20

[willdigforfood]

What you stumbled on with soaking and smushing cat tails a bit is really similar to how a lot of fibres and simple cordage are processed by hand: a period of 'retting', leaving bundles of raw fiber submerged in a pond or pool of water for a solid week or so straight, followed by a vigorous battening to break up the fibers into more pliable strands.

[redhairshanks]

I'm studying materials science right now and your videos are the exact kind of reason I went into engineering, I love seeing what people can make and mess around with when they have a bit of engineering experience. Your radiative cooling paint is a genius idea, and I hope I can experiment myself with something like that someday. Over all, this is an awesome channel and I hope you keep doing whatever cool experiments you think of. Cheers from Wales

[zncon]

The lack of quality in that equipment when it was just out of the box is almost impressive. I mean why even bother making something that badly?

[clockdragon]

I think nettle would work really well too ! they can be quite long and were notoriously used for their internal fibers.

[bimmerse]

That machine is surprisingly intriguing to me.... I'm sure doesn't meet safety requirements here, but it looks extremely useful. And that rope is a fantastic resource

[ohoiboi]

You make us proud an engineering mind to fix whatever's wrong with what you bought lol. 😢 it's beautiful to see. Love the videos

[RangerOfTheOrder]

I'd be interested in seeing this done with disposable grocery bags. They're made of HDPE, so if you could get it to work, the resulting rope should be pretty strong.