High-quality black-and-white photographs of large old machines and tools

[mklotz]

Marv, how does one splice the ropes?

Ralph

The "rope" is really a heavy, three strand string. There is only one join; the finished "belt" is a single loop. In order to get the loop size correct, it was formed with the rope in place on the model. In my younger days I built a lot of ship models so I was familiar with the splicing process but I expect one can find information on that on the web. Once spliced, the individual strands were reinforced with sewing thread because I didn't trust the cord's friction to handle the strain.

The whole process is a real exercise in frustration and fidgeting. I don't care to repeat it. Fortunately, if I did have to repeat it, I can now measure the existing one to get the loop size and not have to spice the new one on the model.

Animated knots has a whole section devoted to splices...

https://www.animatedknots.com/splicing-knots

This one...

https://www.animatedknots.com/short-splice-knot

shows an animation of splicing two pieces of three strand rope, much like what was done on my minature rope drive engine.