Epoxy Putty Fillet

This pertains only to the GG+ that has the rope tab on the cam arm removed (could also be done on the GG 2019 but I don't recommend because of the strong spring cam arm spring). The major reason for the possibility of the rope getting caught behind the cam arm, is two-fold: 1) The cam arm forms an stepped edge, and, 2) the notch that is formed where the body and cam arm come together. 

Both of these could allow the rope to get pulled under the cam arm which has an edge and could sever the rope. While I have not heard of it actually happening, it seems to me to be a very real possibility. It’s not too difficult to simulate a sideways fall where the rope can fairly easily be forced under the cam arm which has a fairly sharp back side. 

One of the ways to mitigate that concern is to use a two-part epoxy putty and form a fillet that smooths out the difference in height and also fills in the notch so the rope cannot be caught and pulled underneath the cam.

This was an initial try where I just smoothed and leveled the difference in height between the body and cam arm but didn't fill in the notch. While this works fine, the rope can still get pulled behind the cam arm due to the "notch" still being there. The next try and extended the fillet so that it both leveled the body to the cam arm and extended it to fill the notch. See the first photo for end result.

Here's the steps that I used:

1) First I trimmed plastic spine about 3/8”-1/2” to give the putty enough of the back plate to stick well to and provide support. Then I wrapped the cam arm in cling wrap so the epoxy wouldn't stick to it. I lightly roughed up the finish with emory paper where the epoxy was to stick and cleaned with alcohol and let it dry before applying the epoxy putty.

2) The putty was kneaded for 5 minutes (as per instructions) then was molded by hand to as close to final shape as possible. I had to work quickly because it hardens within 5 minutes. 

3) After 24-48 hours, I filed, ground, and shaped it to final form - then smoothed it using successive finer grades of emory paper. This was tedious but I’m happy with the results.

 

 

 The end result is a nice smooth fillet that allows the rope to flow smoothly around the cam and out the bottom with the round stock 'biner acting as an additional bearing surface. This shows an old retired 'biner and is not the actual one I use, which is a DMM Ceros Locksafe.

Unknown... How long the epoxy will last before wearing down??? I used a two part epoxy steel putty that is strong and should wear fairly well. It will likely depend upon how often it is used and how clean the rope is. If it started wearing enough to cause issues, it would be easy enough to patch with additional epoxy putty. 

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