cutting cutaway cables

[The111 1]

Just got a GTI wingsuit. There are 4 cutaway cables for the wings. They are the same as a standard cutaway cable for your parachute cutaway system, as far as I can tell. Metal cable coated with yellow plastic.

My cables are all a bit too long to fit in the keepers at the end, so I need to cut them. I snipped the end off of the first one, and assumed it would be simple to make the plastic nice and rounded at the new end like it had been before. I figured I could just hold a lighter there and it would take care of it. But once I started trying all I accomplished was causing the plastic to bubble, expand, and turn a reddish brown color.

So I stopped trying before I ruined it, hopefully it's still recoverable... I can snip a bit more off to make a new end if I need to.

Anyone know how to make the end all nice and rounded (thus preventing protuding metal and allowing for easy insertion into loops) after you have snipped to a new length?

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[diablopilot 2]

You were on to something with the lighter.


Use the lighter, but just "warm" the plastic, then use your thumb and index finger to draw the material up to a rounded point.

Sounds like you were just using the lighter too long.


Oh yeah, when you burn your fingers (as I always do) just put 'em in your mouth. Makes 'em all better!

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[The111 1]

Works great, thanks for quick reply!

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[cpoxon 0]

Quote

My cables are all a bit too long to fit in the keepers at the end, so I need to cut them.

Are you sure they are too long? Are they not the original cutaway cables that came with the suit. A common mistake is to assume they are too long whereas actually the excess is designed to fit in the cutaway handle as I believe this gives more slack for flexibility and a greater snatch when pulled. What sort of handles do you have on the cables, pillows or loops? It's a bit more obvious that you can push the cable back down inside on the pillows. With the loops, there is no boundary to stop you pushing the cable down until you flatten the loop out.

Skydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live

[The111 1]

Yeh, they did come with the suit, but they were too long. It was a demo suit that had just come off the line (I put the first jumps on it) and it happened to fit me perfectly so I bought it. My BMI agreed the cables were too long and said I could either leave the excess sticking out or put it inside the wing (if you didn't know this was possible, right at the end of the last loop you can get the excess cable to go inside the wing and just float around in there). For that day I put it inside the wing, but he also said in the future I could cut it a bit so it would fit in the keeper where it's supposed to.

Look at the attached picture, that shows my cables at their new lengths, you can see they will take up most of the keeper. They were 2-3 inches longer before and were too long for the keepers.

Damn, to answer your other question, I have loops, and I see now what you mean... it is possible to retract the cable a bit into the handles. But it is also true that it flattens out the loops and then they don't sit as nicely. Oh well. I will be at a boogie next week and Jari is supposed to be there. I will ask him if this is still ok. I understand your point about having a weaker snatch force if you get the cables retracted into the loops a bit. But I've done practice cutaway on the ground like this and it's still super easy.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[ernokaikkonen 0]

The cables on my GTI were too long as well. I emailed Birdman and they said that the cables aren't cut to match the suit and that I should determine the right length for the cables myself. So I did, and trimmed the cables. Not a big deal for me, but I can see how it could be a problem for someone with no experience on working with the Lolon-cable.