How to build a zipline 

@ Nate "...Hopefully one day when I'm a grandpa...." Well, one grandpa to another 110' is all I have to work with :-(

Is a platform a necessity?

Whare do u get it

We have two ziplines: One goes across the small ravine, then you unclip the harness, walk up the hill about 15 feet, attach the harness to the second zip line, and come back across the ravine.

There are two lines, so we unhook the trolley (Petzl Tandem Speed Pulley) after every ride and carry it with us to the other line. If you use quick-release carabiners, they open and close very easily and you learn the thumb movement to open/close them in just a few tries, so unhooking and re-hooking is easy, even for kids.

Stan C. I built a 500ft and a 200ft zipline in my yard, my lessons learned are: Buy the cable from an industrial materials website (it is way cheaper then those zipline kits), use blocks behind the cable attached to the tree (my 1st zipline is now fully embedded in the tree), buy a second trolley (in case one jams up and someone gets stuck halfway which has happened to us), run a test line with string first to make sure you have the right trajectory and know what obstacles are in your way, rig up the highest point first, and lastly keep your turnbuckles set to the medium position so you can tighten/loosen to fine tune once you have the line tight.

NothingTo DoCrew I know this is years old but what do you mean by industrial materials website? Home Depot? Cable is expensive!

There is one line that goes out, and another line that comes back to the start.

We have two lines, 1dt line goes out, 2nd line comes back. The 2nd line ends at a spot lower on the slope than the 1st line, so you have to walk uphill a little bit to get back to 1st line.

These turnbuckles are very stout, they weigh about 15 pounds each. if you saw their construction and the depth/type of threads on them, you wouldn't worry. If this was a commercial operation with daily use by 250-300 pound average obese customers, I'd go with a redundant setup. but this is just for occasional family use.

I have seen all sizes break under load, they are cast, not a bar of steel. It may well last a long time. But, if it breaks under load, someone will be seriously injured. Also, you should consider cable weight, because this weight is in addition to your rider. Using another length of cable (with eyes ) in parallel to the turn buckle (same length) provides a backup plan and may reduce system pull.

Doc Dichenberm If you've seen ALL sizes break under load, then you have a very weird job. The way I see it, if you're building or riding a zipline, you should do all you REASONABLY can to reduce risk, but there is a limit, and a certain amount of risk has to be accepted. I'm willing to accept that something rated to hold multiple thousands of pounds will hold me and my few hundred pound passengers. Sure, a turnbuckle might break, and I might get hit by lightning or board the wrong plane and crash. The amount of risk with these turnbuckles is about the same as those possibilities.

I work as a stage rigger, we use a ten to one ratio of system strength to load. Under normal circumstances a system may be fine but,introduce winds or rain (materials absorb water) and the system buckles under load. Having a safety on the rig is just good sense

Doc Dichenberm I work building commercial zip lines, turnbuckles are considered to not be ok due to as you said the lack of redundancy. Usually a bolt is drilled through a tree or pole (or tree wrap) and is backed up with a copper swaged choker.

This is 3/8" galvanized cable, or some people call it wire rope.

We have two ziplines. One takes you out and the other brings you back. When you get to the end of the first line, you have to unclip from the Petzl Tandem pulley and move it to the second line, then ride it back to the start. We considered attaching a short rope to the pulley to walk it back by hand, but that seemed like no fun, so we built the second line so you can ride back.

@@mcwhitet Excellent ideal... My grand kids would love it!

Probably about 15 mph. It depends on how much tension you put in the line with the turnbuckles. My line is pretty tight, so a slacker line will be a little slower.

Ross S okay thank you

No they're not, I checked them three times during construction and had them checked by a friend who does this for a living.

The wire rope clamps ARE installed correctly. "Never Saddle a Dead Horse", which means the larger metal saddle goes onto the LIVE side, which is the working side of the cable, and the smaller bolt portion goes on the "dead" side, which is the cable end as it returns to the live side. These clamps are installed correctly.

He installed them correctly. The Crosby clamp 'saddle' refers to the wire clamp plate. not the u-clamp... I'm not one to correct people online. but if you put the u-clamp on the live side of the bite and tension to the correct torque you will damage the cable and potentially kill someone. Please don't do that. If in doubt with any rigging operations seek professional help.

@@davidcahill2154 Look carefully, some of these clamps are correct but others are not. Note the cable around the tree at the beginning, it is NOT correct. The rule is as stated above "never saddle a dead horse" meaning the wide "saddle" part of the clamp should not be on the short "dead" end but on the main line portion holding the load. This does protect the main cable from potential damage and failure at less than the full rated load.

@@dness8 Are you watching a different Video? You can clearly see the short end on top at the end you are talking about (see 2.02 seconds and 0.44). and the saddle (cable clamp) is fitted to the bottom with the U-clamp on the top attached to the short end. The assembly is place upside down from the way it is presented at the start (0.13). Which is probably throwing you off. My only criticism of the system is that there is in-adequate spacing on the in the bottom end of the main line where it connects to the tree sling.