STEERABLE WINCH FAIRLEAD (PLUS MORE)

[Mythicalminer]

I have a Lewis Chainsaw Winch. It holds 150 feet of small (3/16") aircraft cable good for 4,000 lb. pull (can be multiplied with snatch-blocks). The chainsaw winch is very handy as it is portable (I can carry winch & eng. one load), holds a lot of cable, and runs at any angle. However, most of the time I use the winch over and over from the same spot, and wanted a way to support the winch on a stand securely so it wouldn't flop around (most of the time the anchor point was a few feet above ground level so winch/eng. would come up off the ground and I would have to hold & balance the unit and I could see that eventually it would fall on some rocks and possibly damage the engine). I also wanted to be able to run the winch cable out straight from the winch to a block, so the incoming cable was always 90 degs. from the winch drum. (Try not to run winch cable directly to the load in case the load rolls to one side and changes cable angle onto the drum.)

So I built a lightweight foldable/portable stand with adjustable legs to mount the winch on. It works great... however, because of the 150 feet of small cable (3/16"), and the narrow (6" wide) winch drum, it was difficult to get the cable to wind onto the drum single layer all the way across before adding another layer (to hold all 150 feet of cable there are 10 or more "layers", and it's easy to build up on one side and wedge/jam the cable in the winch housing). Normally, the solution is to move the winch side-to-side to feed the cable... but, this is a hassle, and hard to do especially under heavy load.

MY SOLUTION: I made a "Steerable Fairlead" that allows me to force the cable side-to-side as it winds onto the drum using a "rudder bar".... and it works! By playing with the length of the Rudder Bar, and the length of the Front Roller Support from the pivot point, this could be upgraded for use on larger winches.

STEERABLE FAIRLEAD - LINK:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1matX10 ... sp=sharing

[Slatco]

Holy hell thank you for being a member of this site! Your diagrams read like SOP (standard operating procedure) assembly instructions and seem like they are German precision with the quality control of the Japanese. You must be a engineer IRL.

[Jim_Alaska]

As the old saying goes; necessity is the mother of invention. Tom works in a place that makes moving boulders a necessity. so like every other obstacle he encounters, he is always thinking outside of the box. And his results are obvious.

Thanks for sharing that Tom, I am sure it will help others in the same situation.

[Mythicalminer]

Thanks for all the kind words. My intent is to pass-on some of the things I've learned while most of us could still dredge. Those of you that still can are very lucky.

No, I'm not an engineer... in fact, I only had a 10th grade education (although I did graduate). I built 100's of models as a kid (cars, ships, planes, monsters, plastic, balsa & steel). Read a million books, and drove rusted out $100 cars that I had to learn to keep running. I've had many jobs, some good, some bad. Working at the Homestake Mine taught me stuff there's no other way to learn!

However, as the saying goes: "Necessity is the Mother of Invention". I'm the type that looks at a job and then tries to find a faster, better, safer, cheaper way - possibly to a fault (add lazy). I have friends just the opposite, they see a job and jump right in, and lots of times they have to "do over", make extra work, get hurt, break things, or fail.

Quite possibly my biggest mistake was not moving to Alaska... (however, I grew up in MN so do know what WINTER is like... so ended up in SW Oregon instead where I've lived year-round on one of my claims since '87. 4+ miles from nearest neighbors, totally off-grid surviving living in small travel trailers. Most of my mining is dredging, and I usually build my own equipment. Getting a good wire-feed welder (and genny to power it), and learning to use it was a huge blessing! Love to make things....

To be a successful independent miner one really needs to be a "Jack of all Trades".... you see it all the time on the gold mining TV shows.... break-down after break-down. Same goes for small-scale equipment. You have to be able to fix it...

[Geowizard]

Self spooling winch;

During a prior life, I had the opportunity to work on the Cook Inlet for a company called Schlumberger Off-shore. They were in the business of logging oil wells with tools that measured rock properties in wells that were 20,000 feet deep.

The work required winches that spooled 20,000 feet of wireline cable.

Winches were designed with a simple spooling mechanism that resembled a helix. The helix ran a guide back and forth to evenly "lay" the cable on the winch. Here's a video of the concept;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjWDIU8TmEE

This type of accessory has to be machined in a machine shop. Just thought I would share it.

- Geowizard

[Mythicalminer]

Self spooling winch;

During a prior life, I had the opportunity to work on the Cook Inlet for a company called Schlumberger Off-shore. They were in the business of logging oil wells with tools that measured rock properties in wells that were 20,000 feet deep.

The work required winches that spooled 20,000 feet of wireline cable.

Winches were designed with a simple spooling mechanism that resembled a helix. The helix ran a guide back and forth to evenly "lay" the cable on the winch. Here's a video of the concept;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjWDIU8TmEE

This type of accessory has to be machined in a machine shop. Just thought I would share it.

- Geowizard

Sounds similar to a fishing reel... I thought of that but couldn't see how I could fabricate a mechanism strong enough - if at all!
Mythicalminer