Spencer tape question

[bullbuck]

baileys has them $90.00 bucks tho
http://www.baileysonline.com/itemdetail.asp?item=15535&catID=9819

nice,a guy i knew had one,it was sure nice for a guy like me,that at the time might not be smart enough to pull my tape before a buck on a sidehilled log that might roll?,or even worse get carried away limbing and feel that sudden jerk....ziiiiiinnnnnggggg ch ch ch,sound at exactly fifty feetglad i grew out of that ...somewhat

 

[redprospector]

by the way,a guy i used to work with used to have a tape splicer,basically a mini rivot gun.does anyone know where you can get one of those anymore?just curious

I got one from Bailey's for $50 if I remember right, but that was 22 or 23 years ago.
If you need to use it come by and I'll let you borrow it.

Andy

 

[bullbuck]

I got one from Bailey's for $50 if I remember right, but that was 22 or 23 years ago.
If you need to use it come by and I'll let you borrow it.

Andy

appreciate the offer andy,but im sure as you know,i have had to resort to carpentry...but i still keep a brand new spencer 50'in my bucket,comes in handy on the bigger jobs...been itchin to put nice humboldt in a decent chunk of wood thoughdo they have classes to deal with that type of withdrawal???lol

 

[redprospector]

appreciate the offer andy,but im sure as you know,i have had to resort to carpentry...but i still keep a brand new spencer 50'in my bucket,comes in handy on the bigger jobs...been itchin to put nice humboldt in a decent chunk of wood thoughdo they have classes to deal with that type of withdrawal???lol

I don't think so, but if you find one let me know. I'll enroll with you.
I'm still waiting for the state forestry to get me the specs on that "priority" stimulus money job I told you about. By the time they do I may be too broke to afford fuel to get to the job.
I hate dealing with the government.

Andy

 

[hammerlogging]

I got one of the newer 50 footers and stretched it a little to hard laying out stream boundaries. Needless to say the tape broke where it attaches to the reel. Thought it would be an easy fix of drilling a new hole in the tape and re tensioning it. Wrong. I'm about to take the whole thing apart, but is there something I probably broke when I pulled the tape too hard?

You might have tore a tooth off a gear and the broken piece is floating around in there clogging up the action.

 

[RandyMac]

I always liked that rattlesnake sound when you snag and break off the tape end while cutting in brush.

 

[hammerlogging]

I always liked that rattlesnake sound when you snag and break off the tape end while cutting in brush.

like when you accidentally snag your pull cord while your saw is running?

 

[hammerlogging]

speaking of which- saw this on the road out today:

saw one last week, but also on the road. Saw a baby copperhead in the woods yesterday, they're the ones that are the real buggers.

 

[wowzers]

Got it fixed. Had to take the thing apart. The piece that fits in the return coil spring had come out of the slot in the spring. Good as new now.

 

[joesawer]

Where is Caleb?

 

[madhatte]

I have about ten of 'em in a drawer that all need one repair or another. We're eating them like popcorn this year for some reason. Hint: Madsen's sells the bits and pieces way cheaper than anybody else I've found.

75' refill @ Forestry Suppliers: $60
75' refill @ Madsen's: $16

I will be placing an order soon for everything I need to put this pile back together. Don't forget to replace the gears when the rewind gets jerky. Also the backing plates get bent and can hold the reel in place and keep it from turning. New screws are cheap and will save plenty of aggravation later.

 

[redprospector]

I haven't had to fix one in quite a while. The guy's I had working for me kept walking off with them, or loosing them. I just had to buy new one's.
It's funny though, when I started deducting the cost of the tapes out of their paychecks, they quit disapearing.
I thought I was pretty nice, I alway's had to supply my own equipment.

Andy

 

[teatersroad]

I'm going to indulge here, for my fresh and intimate knowledge of the 'spring of doom'. I needed a tape, so I pawed through milk crates here at squatters camp and found what I took to be some rebuildable 50' tapes. As with a lot of projects around here, this may have had more to do with the resurrection than being cost effective.

With the spring out on the floor, splayed two direction or more; flipped first clockwise, then counter clockwise; trace back toward the innermost radius of the loop and find what would be the outside of the spring at that point. Follow that side all the way to the outermost loop, not minding the flipping and flopping at all. With the cup side of the blue housing facing you, press the outer side spring against the housing and onto the retainer pin so that it will wind into the cup in a clockwise direction, as you face it. Turn the cup like a little steering wheel, counter-clockwise, pressing and holding the spring in with thumbs and palms the whole way. The spring will follow easily. Place unit face down and walk away. I had a steel ruler I'd slip over the open face for handling otherwise.

The failing of two of these tapes was that the tightest radius of the spring would not bind on the tabbed bushing that drives the reel. You can give the spring new shape there with needle nose pliers.

I picked up new posts, screws, and belt hooks at the hardware store. I need a refill, but I see that Madsen's has repair ends. One tape is good enough to warrant that. we'll see.

 

[madhatte]

Here's one for the historians: when did Spencer go from steel gears to aluminum ones? Every time I have to rebuild an oldie and toss the worn-out steel gears, I chuckle to see that the teeth are worn rather than broken. Seems like that'd be a pretty dumb detail to change.

EDIT: aaaaand, while we're at it, I I'd like to also mention that the current generation of Spiegel-Relaskops are made with inferior plastic windows and come from the factory un-calibrated and un-damped. I am not thrilled with these developments. Oh, and you neef a T10 driver to open 'em up, too. Say goodbye to field fixes!

 

[clinchscavalry]

Here are a couple of tips for the Spencer tapes. To reinforce the first six or eight inches, instead of electrical tape, try Scotch brand stripping tape, the kind with fiberglass reinforcement in it. It's much tougher than electrical tape and you can see through it.

As for the nail in the end, take some old time TV antenna cable, the flat kind with a covered wire running up each side. Cut about 2 -2 1/2 inches of it, loop it around the part of the tape the nail normally afixes to and stick a sharpened, aluminum roofing nail through it. Cheap and effective

 

[madhatte]

Interesting update:

Called up the manufacturer today to gripe about the pot-metal gears in there. You know how the spring side suggests that the tape is manufactured in Seattle? Well, the guy I talked to was in PA, and referred to "a company" they have make those gears. I have no idea where they're actually built now.

He referred to the switch from steel gears to "powdered metal" gears about 15 years ago as "strategic". Apparently there was a known bad run on those gears about 5 years ago, but they have all been replaced since. I told him about the failures I've been seeing, and he asked me to collect the damaged parts and send them in.

Hopefully, they are a proactive enough outfit that a bit of consumer pressure will bring back QC standards to where they used to be.

 

[slowp]

I always liked that rattlesnake sound when you snag and break off the tape end while cutting in brush.

Oh my. That is a story. We were marking timber in a rattlesnake infested area on a hot day. We seldom saw any snakes--I think we were too noisy. One day, we heard a scream and our boss, who was terrified of snakes was running full tilt towards us yelling about being bit by King Zipper. He was panicky. Then, we got him stopped and he was looking for the fang marks, and figured out it had been his tape. We laughed so hard we could hardly keep working.

 

[nw axe man]

View attachment 181551View attachment 181552View attachment 181554View attachment 181556
Here's a few pics I took of tapes that I use.
Notice the long black tape end. On Madsens catalog you can buy these 18" tape ends all ready for a nail. I don't use the ring on the tape end as it's too long and the nail gets wrapped around upside down when it comes in. I use a hog ring in the tape end with a hammered nail. You can see how I hammer the hammer end flat and then twist it to fit over the hog ring. I then place the nail in the vise and pry the nail 90 degrees to make sure the nail is easier to pull out. I file the inside of the nail to actually cut it's way out of the log as you pull the tape to reel it in.
On the pic of the tape you'll notice the nylon roller on the spacer. I take the roller off and cut off about 1/8 inch off and put it back on. That's most often the critical wear part of the tape as the roller doesn't "roll" when the tape slides over it.
For a tape lubricant I use a very fine fishing reel grease. It's very light so it doesn't clog up and gum up. I take the tape completely apart including the spring and lightly lube it up. All moving parts are lubed. I take the gears and clean them with carb cleaner before being lubed.
Typically if you're making 40' logs a 65' tape with a 40' filler works very well. Again, like mentioned before in this thread, it will come back and bite like a snake.
When I pull the tape from a log I lift my hand in the air when pulling it out and get as much of the tape above the tree. Then I throw the tape on the ground. When it comes in it coils on the tree in front of me thereby keeping me from getting "nailed". Works for me.

 

[madhatte]

Pretty sure that's the same Old Timer pocketknife I carry!

 

[paccity]

modded spencers. cool, i like the oldtimer also. use mine for diggin splinters.