Zip Lines - Backyard

[ID Bronco]

I have an acre and my wife wants me to build a zip line. Does anyone on here have experience? I have watched many youtube video's but have no idea how to figure out the engineering of it.

I also believe I need a few parts and thought I would see if anyone has any.

I need:

A treestand (steel, ladder type with platform ) For a beginning point on my pine tree.

a pulley, speed pulley, tandem pulley or what ever they are really called.

I think the rest is easy to source locally.

I am also thinking 3/8" cable. Yes, no?

On the braking system I see some DYI setups - are they worth paying for?

Thanks

 

[Jinx]

My Brother in Law has 20+ acres up in Washington State and set up a killer Zip Line across a ravine for his kids.

Some of the cool things he had:
-He fabbed a swing box type seat the hooked to the pulley that would hold an adult and a kid complete with harnesses to keep you on it.
The zip line was 30+ feet above the ground at the highest point.
-His braking system was pretty slick to. He didn't want to rely in the kids being able to hit the brake manually so he put a ring around the cable at the end of the run and attached bungee cords (not the kind you tie down a load with ) to it then secured to surrounding trees and other anchor points. This way as the kids came screaming down the line the pulley would make contact with the ring, the bungees would absorb the momentum then send them back a little ways. So no hard stop.
-the only down side was walking the swing seat back to the top. He had a 40+ foot rope that you simply uncoiled and walked back across the ravine and then up the hill. Then coiled it back up and hooked it to the seat for the next riders. Which wasn't bad but wasn't all that fun. We talked about making a return system to get the seat back to the top but due to the length of the zip line it wasn't really practical...

Hope that gives you some ideas...

 

[rholbrook]

The harness has to have the pulley on it somehow.

Something like this or this

 

[jeeper]

I made one back in Jr high across a friends back yard off their deck.. We used a rope for whire, and a bicycle rim, fork , and handle bars for our pulley/rider set up.. Worked great until some neighbor kid split his head open on the wheel.. Then my buddies mom made us take it down..

 

[johngottfredson]

I have a 100' zip line in my yard I put up for my kids. $180 on amazon and its pretty slick, actually. Comes with a seat, handles, pulley setup, pretty stout quality for the price. It can handle adult weight easily, although if my target demographic was adults i would do something bigger. All the neighborhood kids can't get enough of it, although I only have their feet a few feet off the ground the whole time for liability sake...
http://www.amazon.com/100-Night-Riderz-Series-Zipline/dp/B00C1G41ZG

 

[ID Bronco]

Thanks for the input, I am definitely doing it, I just need to decide if a kit is worth the money or if I should piece it together. A good trolley from Petzel is around $60 then the cable, brake, ect will add up. I figure $150 budget without a tree stand to start from.

Can anyone help with the math on speed, distance, and height. I have no idea how to calculate it.

 

[nnnnnate]

Update on this? Did this get built?

 

[ID Bronco]

I am picking up my telephone poles on Wednesday. So it is going slow, but going. I have to find a backhoe to lift them and set them.

 

[mesha]

pure awesomeness

 

[nnnnnate]

How deep are you going to bury the post and how high above ground do you plan to have the line? What is the distance that you plan to have it span? I guess above ground height doesn't matter since you can just extend the seat or handle so whoever is riding stays close to the ground.

I was on amazon yesterday and a bunch of zipline stuff popped up in the "recommended" area. I guess I had looked at them a while back and amazon was getting into my subconscious. I then went to youtube and found a bunch of videos and now really want to build one again. My kid isn't 3 weeks old but it doesn't matter. I want to have an awesome backyard to play in. My backyard is about 100' deep by 85' wide so at a diagonal it could be a decent run.

 

[ID Bronco]

I am not really worried about the height as much, I plan on using a harness system instead of just a seat. From what I have heard, the power companies only put a 25' pole in the ground 5'. They told me they have way more stess, pull on the line withe wires than I will ever have on it. I think I will also anchor them in with cable and a dead, buried weight.

I'm still figuring the length because I need to miss the drain field, the trees, ect. It will be really cool.