OT:Pulley clothesline system

Zachary Hoyt · May 4, 2009

I just put up a set of pulleys for a clothesline and put up regular clothesline rope, but when I hang much weight on it it sags down a lot. What kind of rope could I use that wouldn't sag? I have seen synthetic clothesline at the hardware store but never used it, and I don't know if it would act any different. Thank you very much for any advice you can give.
Zach

bo · May 4, 2009

It's all going to sag. That's why they have clothes line poles to hold it up. Make on....long pole with a V cut into the top.

Anonymous-0 · May 4, 2009

You need more tension in the lines but there will always be sag unless you get them incredibly tight. May need stronger rope as well.

ChrisinMO · May 4, 2009

We've got a pulley setup here also. We use wire rope encased in plastic. You can get a lot of tension on it and it doesn't stretch as far as regular clothelines rope. It still does sag with a heavy load, just not as much.

Christopher

Stephen in SoKY · May 4, 2009

Here ya go:

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Home_Goods___Laundry___Drying___Lehman_s_reg__Best_Clothesline___11001?Args=

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Home_Goods___Laundry___Drying___Clothesline_Ratchet___52748?Args=

MarkB_MI · May 4, 2009

You'll need to have very strong attachments for your pulleys if you expect to get your lines tight.

Let's say you want to put 20 pounds in the middle of a 30 foot clothesline with no more than a six inch droop.

Since each half of the clothesline carries half the weight of the load, we split the weight and distance in half.

Force = weight/2 x (length/2)/droop
Force = 20/2 x (30/2)/.5
Force = 10 x 15 x 2
Force = 300 pounds

Zachary Hoyt · May 5, 2009

Thank you all very much for your help. I will try the stuff from Lehman's, it looks like it would work pretty well. I have some pretty good attachment points for the pulleys, and as far as I can see the load on the pulleys should be the same for the same amount of weight whether the line is tight or saggy, but maybe I am missing something.
Zach

greygoat · May 5, 2009

A lot of the Amish around here are using the
pully system. Once one tried it, others want it,
so it"s spreading. It appears, from the road, that
they are using a very large diameter pully,maybe
12 inch diameter, going from a porch to a tree,
and some appear to be about 100 feet long,(thus
200 feet of cable) and they don"t sag much.

Brian G. NY · May 5, 2009

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the little "spreaders" made to connect the top and bottom of the line to reduce sag. I don't know why they are called spreaders when they actually hold the top and bottom lines closer together.They are little Cs made out of either aluminum or wood with a small pulley on both top and bottom. As the clothesline is being loaded, one of these "spreaders" is installed every so often to equalize the load. If I do it right, there should be a link with a picture.
Clothesline Spreader

MarkB_MI · May 5, 2009

Zach,

The weight of the load is supported by the vertical component of the clothesline tension. So if you have a vertical loop (nothing but sag), the tension in the line is one-half the weight on the line. But as you pull the ends of the line apart, the tension on the line must increase because the load hasn't changed but the vertical component of the line's tension is reduced.

You can have a perfectly straight clothesline if you figure out how to exert infinite tension on the line.

OT:Pulley clothesline system

Zachary Hoyt

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bo

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Anonymous-0

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ChrisinMO

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Stephen in SoKY

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MarkB_MI

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Zachary Hoyt

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greygoat

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Brian G. NY

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MarkB_MI

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