Deformed 3 rings?

[freeflye73 0]

The large ring of my risers have been dented and deformed. see attachment. Anyone else had this problem?. I was told that it has been seen before. The rings are cadmium plated. The risers has about 200 jumps and are not subject to hard openings.
Just curious how common this is.
//JF

[IanHarrop 43]

Someone smarter than me might be able to confirm if this fits with Bill Booth's comments quoted here:

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1702258#1702258

"If you will look at cadmium plated middle rings with over 100 jumps on them, you will see a slight "compression" of the plating evenly all around the "back" side of the ring."

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[riggerpaul 1]

This is likely the result of contact with the harness ring during opening.

Even gently used rings can show this effect. Hard openings are not a prerequisite.

If the plating is not broken, and there are no sharp spots to abrade the webbing, and the ring is not elongated, the ring is still fine.

[freeflye73 0]

"If you will look at cadmium plated middle rings with over 100 jumps on them, you will see a slight "compression" of the plating evenly all around the "back" side of the ring."

Well as you can hopefully see in the picture, they are not "slightly compressed" they are reltively deep dents in the middle ring.


"This is likely the result of contact with the harness ring during opening."


"Even gently used rings can show this effect. Hard openings are not a prerequisite."
The ring is according to the manufacturer to soft, and a proper one will not show this effect.

The risers are replaced and are not being jumped. I asked about this because i have never seen this severe deformation in my 10+ years in the sport and neither had my rigger.
//JF

[riggerpaul 1]

Quote

Quote

"If you will look at cadmium plated middle rings with over 100 jumps on them, you will see a slight "compression" of the plating evenly all around the "back" side of the ring."

Well as you can hopefully see in the picture, they are not "slightly compressed" they are reltively deep dents in the middle ring.

Quote

"This is likely the result of contact with the harness ring during opening."

Quote

"Even gently used rings can show this effect. Hard openings are not a prerequisite."

The ring is according to the manufacturer to soft, and a proper one will not show this effect.

The risers are replaced and are not being jumped. I asked about this because i have never seen this severe deformation in my 10+ years in the sport and neither had my rigger.
//JF

Okay, I looked at the picture again, and I guess the dimpling is more severe than I first appreciated.

Is the ring still flat (as opposed to potato chipped) and circular?

If the ring is significantly less strong than it should be, I would expect the shape to change, not just the surface.

Why are you shocked at the notion of contact with the harness ring during opening?

If there's any dimpling at all, it didn't come from contact with the webbing. The webbing will stretch some, and some metal to metal contact is possible.

I have certainly seen rings with the dimpling that BB mentions in the quote that Ian posted.

If the ring is still flat and circular, and there are no sharp edges to abrade the webbing, I don't see that this is an immanently life threatening situation.

I cannot tell from the picture. Is there other deformation of the ring other than this surface problem?

[freeflye73 0]

The rings shape are not deformed, they are still round and flat but there are some sharp edges, and a was told by the manufactures rigger not to jump them anymore.
The was me trying to be ironic, since i tought it was pretty obvious what caused the dents. I blame the jetlag for that comment sorry
//JF

[RiggerLee 63]

You can buy new parts all day long. As some one who has worked in the industry I'm all for that. Suport the skydiving economy! Save us from recesion! But please don't do this because you have some ilusion about how it is makeing skydiving safer for you. Please. Cad is soft. It's a sacrifical metal. It's only job is to protect the surface. That ring just has a slightly heavier coating. I've seen lots of risers that looked just like that. On an abrasion scale of 1-10 I'd give it a 2 or maybe a three I can't see from the picture. That's low. Any excessive wear on the riser? Not just pollish where it's rubbed the resin smoth and shiny but wear? You know there's a lot of things I'd sweet way more then that.

It seems to have become really popular to have become ultra concervitive. It's an easy stance to take exspecaly here on the web. People comeing up with comments just so they can be heard. There are a number of people here that I really enjoy hearing from. People with real knowlage that we can all learn from. It seems the adverage knowlage of jumpers has gone down even in the time that I've been in the sport. As good of a tool as a site like this can be and as hungry as people are to learn they are consumed by fear and uncertinty. It's a mistery and frightens them. Playing off there fears to garner there attention is not the most productive thing in the world. And now it's like we are in to the second or third generation of this. Now these fears are being treated as fact as they are being passed down. Some times I wonder if this is all a good thing or not.

Lee

Lee
lee@velocitysportswear.com
www.velocitysportswear.com

[linestretch 0]

Very funny I should see this because I have the same issues...and they are new. I contacted the manufacturor and was told it's the cad plating. After closer inspection, it does appear to be the plating but there are still some sharp raised edges that I don't like. I'm still waiting to hear back and no I won't post who makes them....not yet anyway.

my pics & stuff!

[fcajump 164]

I have a set that look very much like yours.

Purchased 2008
Canopy - Spectre (no hard opennings, loaded ~1.2)
Total jumps on risers - <24
Riser mfg - don't ask, and no its not the same as my gear mfg. I'll discuss this topic, but not looking to burn anyone.

Initial online contact produced no reply.

Phone call a week a later resulted in little results, bottom line is that we're agreeing to disagree. While the platting is soft, it is my opinion that some of the edges are sharp enough to cause damage to the webbing over time.

I understand that parts supplied to the gear mfg have varying QC. A heavier coating than normal, or incorrect tempring, lack of polishing (or too much) can result in parts that later cause issues (cosmetic or functional). We've seen that before, and we'll likely see it again.

The question that I look at is how the mfg responds to it (both one-on-one and publically). This has highlited some manufacturer's for their quick decisive responses, and brought others down.

In this case I am personally disappointed in the mfg's response.

How often have we looked at gear after the fact and said "well - duh... that should have been obvious" Yes, we have gotten conservative... and that is why we are having the lowest number of gear related problems in the history of the sport. And it is that attitude that I wanted in my rigger, the attitude I take as a rigger, and the attitude I want from my gear suppliers.

As someone in the market for a couple additional sets of risers this year, and a new rig in the next two years, this mfg's position did have one affect... it sent me to someone else for my additional gear at this time.

I'll likely use these risers for a canopy I don't fly often and bump this thread if I have any additional observations on the condition (ring or webbing).

Blue ones,
Jim

Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...