Do you clean your cutaway cables every month?

[skymama 37]

After reading a post in the Incidents forum, I was just wondering if cleaning the cables is part of skydivers' routine maintinence of their rigs these days.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[Nutz 0]

I voted every once in a while. I clean them when my reserve is repacked.

"Don't! Get! Eliminated!"

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

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After reading a post in the Incidents forum, I was just wondering if cleaning the cables is part of skydivers' routine maintinence of their rigs these days.

I didn't want to get too far off topic in Incidents, so I didn't go into it there, but one of the comments in that post was about giving the rig to the rigger with the main attached.

When I do a reserve, one thing that I inspect is the 3ring release. The whole thing. Handle, cables channels and everything (yes the rings and attachment webbing too).

That means releasing it and checking that the long cable goes into the RSL side.

It also makes it easier to repack the reserve when the main is not in the way.

Skymamma, you're a mod - Shouldn't this be in General or Gear & Rigging??

Edit to clarify: By "long cable" I mean the one that releases 2nd.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[Halfpastniner 0]

My riggah cleans and oils the cables every repack. (Its the former mechanic in him. He oils everything).

BASE 1384

[d_squared431 0]

It is early and she is not fully caffeinated yet...

TPM Sister#130ONTIG#1
I love vodka.I love vodka cause it rhymes with Tuaca~LisaH
You having a clean thought is like billyvance having a clean post.iluvtofly

[skydiverbry 0]

She needs to see me to get her caffiene levels up!![coolei


Bry

--------------------------------------------------
Growing old is mandatory.Growing up is optional!!

D.S.#13(Dudeist Skdiver)

[Zep 0]

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My riggah cleans and oils the cables every repack. (Its the former mechanic in him. He oils everything).

If my rigger puts oil on my cables then he aint gonna be my rigger for long, (silicone aint oil)

Gone fishing

[skymama 37]

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My riggah cleans and oils the cables every repack.

Yeah, but now that is only twice a year. I believe you're supposed to clean them more than that.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[JohnMitchell 16]

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Skymamma, you're a mod - Shouldn't this be in General or Gear & Rigging??

Naw, 'cause the lazy people like me would never see it.

[riddler 0]

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I believe you're supposed to clean them more than that.

Seems like it should be tied to the number of jumps you do, more than the calendar. I keep a can of ACE silicon spray in my skydiving tools, but I usually only do this on repacks. If I jumped several time a day, all year, I would do it more often, but on a good year, I only get about 100 jumps. I feel OK about only doing it twice a year, since I don't jump all that much.

The cable does get pretty dirty and oily. Some other good things about doing it are you can take the opportunity to flex your three-ring binder loops, you can get an idea if there's dirt or pebbles in the cable housing, and you can make sure that the ends of the cables are properly housed in the hard riser housing (sometimes they sneak off to the side).

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[Halfpastniner 0]

Guess I should have said lube not oil.

BASE 1384

[skyrider 0]

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My riggah cleans and oils the cables every repack. (Its the former mechanic in him. He oils everything).

If my rigger puts oil on my cables then he aint gonna be my rigger for long, (silicone aint oil)

You got to them before me! Oil can not only damage things, it holds dirt...I seriously doubt any rigger woudl use oil!

[billvon 3,120]

>That means releasing it and checking that the long cable goes into the RSL side.

This is not something you can assemble wrong; either your cables are correct or they are not, and if you put the wrong cables into the wrong housings, one side will have several feet of extra cable and the other will not even clear the housing - so you won't be able to assemble the rig anyway.

However, it is indeed a good idea to make sure your cables are trimmed correctly when you replace the cutaway handle.

[kmills0705 0]

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It is early and she is not fully caffeinated yet...

Or she is up late and has had too much Choco Vino!

Kim Mills
USPA D21696
Tandem I, AFF I and Static Line I

[amstalder 0]

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It is early and she is not fully caffeinated yet...

Or she is up late and has had too much Choco Vino!

I had Choco Vino Last night! Great study drink

[Remster 30]

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Skymamma, you're a mod - Shouldn't this be in General or Gear & Rigging??

I'm telling you... The work quality of those greenies has been going downhill since the last guy quit!

Remster

[gearless_chris 1]

I go about every other month.

"If it wasn't easy stupid people couldn't do it", Duane.

My momma said I could be anything I wanted when I grew up, so I became an a$$hole.

[Butters 0]

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That means releasing it and checking that the long cable goes into the RSL side.

This is not something you can assemble wrong;

Sure it is ... you can bypass the Collin's Lanyard.

"That looks dangerous." Leopold Stotch

[Nutz 0]

Yeah, you just can't get good help these days.

"Don't! Get! Eliminated!"

[turtlespeed 226]

Well - maybe you shoulc clean them out yourself . . .

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun