UKH

Hello,

the triggers on my Ultralight camalots keep snapping. Does anyone have a many recommend durable solutions for repairing them?

cheers,

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

have you tried fishing line or strimmer cord, I've used this in the past on other makes and found it more durable than the original wire.

In reply to CurlyStevo:

As above, it makes me wonder why strimmer line isn't just used in the first instance. Cuts of the repair revenue stream I guess, in built obsolescence just like the Morris metro. Look how well that ended.

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

First thing I do with every cam I buy is put a glob of epoxy where the wire goes into the swages, i.e. where they always flex and fray and break. Stops the problem completely.

In reply to Ennerdaleblonde:

Metolius do use cord (kevlar?), rather than wire, on their ultralight master cams -- always wondered why other cam manufacturers use swedged wire which doesn't take the beatings well. Careful packing of cams into a bag (eg harness bag) will help extend their trigger wire life.

In reply to Jon Read:

Bd X4s used Kevlar, then solid wire on the smallest sizes.

The best thing to do is buy a length of wire and new swages (plus a swaging tool). If you beef up the wire diameter slightly it should last longer and it's super cheap to replace next time. You can buy enough wire and swages for about 50 wire replacements for less than £20. 

Or you can send them to me for disposal... 😂

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

I use steel wire i got from B&Q

In reply to Jon Read:

They're glued in so when they wear out it's a tricky job to replace them. I don't think the manufacturers themselves even do it. Steel cable on the other hand, is pretty easy if you have the tools. 

In reply to Tom Ripley Mountain Guide:

I think one of the reasons the triggers break fast is that there is no stopper on the stem, which prevents the trigger sliding up, particularly when jammed in your pack. 

Normal Camelots and Dragons both have this, and their triggers last much longer.

Has anyone tried adding one on? I was thinking a cable tie and a wrap of insulation tape might work okay. 

In reply to Alex Riley:

Very interesting - would the sort of tool you mean be something like this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Glarks-Crimping-Crimper-Fishing-Aluminum/dp/B07R16....

I have a wild country techical or flexible friend that broke a trigger cable at the weekend, so I am looking to repair it (or send it off to be repaired). I'm guessing the wire is about 1mm, maybe 0.75mm, but that's a guess.

In reply to gooberman-hill:

I use 1 or 1.5mm 7x7 (braid type) stainless steel for regular sized cams.

Yacht chandlers are a great source of stainless cable of all sizes (as well as power tools for adding swages).  In my case Bristol Docks.