That is awesome! Makes me want to make one myself. Great job and I can wait to see some video featuring this cable cam.
-Brett
-Brett
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
Yeah, you would not want to put anything much bigger or less armored on my type of zip line than a GoPro. Putting a DSLR on my shuttle would be a really bad idea. 
6
Ok, here are details.
Get some bulk bungie at any hardware store, or pull it out of the bottom of an old jacket, etc. Find some strong and springy, but thin stuff. It needs to fit through your pulleys easily.
Tie a loop in your main line. Tie an end of the bungie to the loop using a sheet bend (google it). I put some wire heat shrink tubing over the knot to make it really clean. Don't melt your lines when shrinking the heat shrink tubing.
![]()
![]()
On the other end of the bungie, tie in a plastic washer or similar that does not fit through the pulleys (I used a clove hitch and bowline- google it). If you use a washer like I did you can pass the zip line through it so it all wraps nicely onto the spool:
![]()
To go around a tree branch, I tied a loop into the line and at the very end another loop with a cheap metal clip:
![]()
To go around a bigger tree you can just clip the metal clip straight onto the main zipline and it will constrict around the trunk.
Here's the downhill end of the setup. I walk the spool uphill to the starting point.
![]()
I recently got a smaller spool of 200# test Spectra fishing line. It's smaller, stronger, and green so in some cases it will be less visible in the vid. I also made a few changes to my shuttle to make it smaller. Despite how cheap the pulleys are, they work surprisingly well.
![]()
Get some bulk bungie at any hardware store, or pull it out of the bottom of an old jacket, etc. Find some strong and springy, but thin stuff. It needs to fit through your pulleys easily.
Tie a loop in your main line. Tie an end of the bungie to the loop using a sheet bend (google it). I put some wire heat shrink tubing over the knot to make it really clean. Don't melt your lines when shrinking the heat shrink tubing.
On the other end of the bungie, tie in a plastic washer or similar that does not fit through the pulleys (I used a clove hitch and bowline- google it). If you use a washer like I did you can pass the zip line through it so it all wraps nicely onto the spool:
To go around a tree branch, I tied a loop into the line and at the very end another loop with a cheap metal clip:
To go around a bigger tree you can just clip the metal clip straight onto the main zipline and it will constrict around the trunk.
Here's the downhill end of the setup. I walk the spool uphill to the starting point.
I recently got a smaller spool of 200# test Spectra fishing line. It's smaller, stronger, and green so in some cases it will be less visible in the vid. I also made a few changes to my shuttle to make it smaller. Despite how cheap the pulleys are, they work surprisingly well.
1 - 18 of 18 Posts
