"Winch-bit" drill-powered winching

JumbleDuck said:
The clue is in the name ... impact driver. They don't produce a constant 1,000Nm, just intermittent whacks. Very intermittent, on the cheaper ones.
Click to expand...

Just to re-enforce that, I have a decent lightweight cordless 1/2" impact wrench. I think it gives around 300Nm of torque.

If I put a 30mm socket on it I can wrap a rag round it and pretty much stop it turning by hand! Sure, all those high impact whacks make your hand hurt but the average torque isn't high at all.
That is the great thing about impact wrenches, it will take a nut off way better than standing on the end of a breaker bar but it will not shear the bolt the nut is seized onto like the breaker bar might.
 
brman said:
...That is the great thing about impact wrenches, it will take a nut off way better than standing on the end of a breaker bar but it will not shear the bolt the nut is seized onto like the breaker bar might.
Click to expand...

One day it will, believe me!
 
JumbleDuck said:
I occasionally introduce myself when giving public talks by saying "I'm an engineer. That's a bit like being a physicist, only with communication skills and friends."
Click to expand...

Isn't it a bit more like being an applied Newtonian Physicist? I don't suppose you have to worry about Quantum and Relativistic effects very much.


I would be a bit careful about the "communications skills" bit - one S Hawkins is a pretty good communicator despite not even being able to talk! And I think he calls himself a physicist...
 
As an octogenarian I have just added a winchrite to the boats inventory to supplement the 2 electric Genoa winches. I use it to help furl the Genoa, adjust the mainsheet and particularly the out haul which I cannot see and winch by hand at the same time. Yes, there is torque but, providing you keep the winchrite at 90’ to the body, it is controlled without excessive force.
I still mainly winch by hand and usually use the electric power to fine tune but it has enabled my wife (septuagenarian) and myself to continue quite extensive cruises.
Whether Marita or winchrite highly recommended!
 
AntarcticPilot said:
Isn't it a bit more like being an applied Newtonian Physicist? I don't suppose you have to worry about Quantum and Relativistic effects very much.


I would be a bit careful about the "communications skills" bit - one S Hawkins is a pretty good communicator despite not even being able to talk! And I think he calls himself a physicist...
Click to expand...

personally I can't believe we have Physicists and Engineers using specific cases to stereotype groups...... ;)
 
brman said:
personally I can't believe we have Physicists and Engineers using specific cases to stereotype groups...... ;)
Click to expand...

I'm neither - a Geologist, with a career in Geographic Information and Data Management! And geologists often have to proceed from the specific to the general; we don't have the luxury of controlled experiments. But I've worked with scientists of all varieties along the way.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
I'm neither - a Geologist, with a career in Geographic Information and Data Management! And geologists often have to proceed from the specific to the general; we don't have the luxury of controlled experiments. But I've worked with scientists of all varieties along the way.
Click to expand...

My daughter is currently doing a dissertation on Geographic Information and Data Management, I think she is finding more involved than she expected!

I probably shouldn't of quoted you in my comment, in fact you were pointing out at least one exception to the norm (if there is a norm at all). I just couldn't resist pointing out the irony of the discussion. :)
 
AntarcticPilot said:
Isn't it a bit more like being an applied Newtonian Physicist? I don't suppose you have to worry about Quantum and Relativistic effects very much.


I would be a bit careful about the "communications skills" bit - one S Hawkins is a pretty good communicator despite not even being able to talk! And I think he calls himself a physicist...
Click to expand...

I expect you mean Stephen Hawking. Wasn't there a fictitious Hawkins?

Mike.
 
brman said:
My daughter is currently doing a dissertation on Geographic Information and Data Management, I think she is finding more involved than she expected!

I probably shouldn't of quoted you in my comment, in fact you were pointing out at least one exception to the norm (if there is a norm at all). I just couldn't resist pointing out the irony of the discussion. :)
Click to expand...

I used to run a short 3-day introductory course for scientists at British Antarctic Survey, mainly so they'd have some idea of the capabilities of GIS - it was very much a linking technology for an interdisciplinary organization like BAS. I think most of them were quite surprised to find how much was involved!
 
Thank you Jumbleduck, for explaining how the impact wrench works. I never knew; now I do.

On that theme, here's a surprisingly good explanatory video...

...don't be discouraged by the presenter's hat or his youth or his accent - he's very clear and thoroughly able.

 
To get back to the OP's question I have a "Cranker" complete winch driver which includes the Milwaukee right-angle drill but with the chuck removed and a winch adaptor substituted. It has changed our boating lives completely as we were thinking of giving up before buying the Cranker (my wife and I are both septuagenarians.) We use it mostly for furling our yankee and mainsail but it is quite capable of hauling someone up our 60ft mast too. Despite what was said in a previous post it has a maximum of 122Nm of torque but you can vary it on the trigger. We used it this year for our 6 month cruise and it never ran out of power during a day cruise but I did recharge it pretty well daily. The state of charge indicator has never shown less than 3/4 charge. It is a pretty good piece of kit although it is heavy.

As far a torque reaction is concerned I have never had a any problem holding it, particularly as the drill has a variable speed trigger and you can back off the power if you sense the line is getting too tight. This is where the Cranker and similar systems score over conventional electric winches. Not to mention that one Cranker costs a lot less than one electric winch and yet it will drive any winch you have. Although we use ours on low speed it is so much faster than hand winding so we can furl quickly using a winch even in strong winds.

I have no connection with the makers of the Cranker save as a very satisfied customer. Thoroughly recommended!

Mike
 
AntarcticPilot said:
Isn't it a bit more like being an applied Newtonian Physicist? I don't suppose you have to worry about Quantum and Relativistic effects very much.
Click to expand...

In my undergraduate programme, even the civils had to take the mandatory course in quantum mechanics. Plenty of engineers deal with quantum and relativistic effects!
 
JumbleDuck said:
In my undergraduate programme, even the civils had to take the mandatory course in quantum mechanics. Plenty of engineers deal with quantum and relativistic effects!
Click to expand...

I stand corrected. In my undergraduate days, the nearest I got to Engineering was to do first year Crystalline State, a topic shared by metallurgists and mineralogists; I read "The new Science of Strong Materials" as part of that. ISTR that it included the great engineering dictum at the head of the chapter on adhesives: "When all else fails, use ruddy great nails!"
 
AntarcticPilot said:
I stand corrected. In my undergraduate days, the nearest I got to Engineering was to do first year Crystalline State, a topic shared by metallurgists and mineralogists; I read "The new Science of Strong Materials" as part of that. ISTR that it included the great engineering dictum at the head of the chapter on adhesives: "When all else fails, use ruddy great nails!"
Click to expand...

You show taste. The New Science of Strong Materials is one of the best engineering books ever written, along with Structures, also by Gordon. We only did a wee bit of crystallography (Miller indices!) while our metallurgical contemporaries went into far, far more detail.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top