Recovery Straps 101

[metallocide]

After seeing couple of great "scale-wise" items made on this forum. I decided to give recover strap a try and see what it takes to make one. Bear one thing in mind, its my first try and am still on a learning curve so to speak. :?

I went by Wallyworld as advised on this forum and grab couple of shoe strings with various type of colors. Also set of heat sinks in 3/16 and a bottle of krazy glue while I was in the store as well.

Then I cut the tip of the shoe string then sleeved the 1" long heat sink with approx 1" to spare. Blast it with a heat gun till the heat sink stop shrinking. Immediately fold the heat sink into half before it started to cool down. Hold on to it till the heat sink became cool and hard.

Trim the excess to the desired length (approx. 1/2") then apply generous amount of krazy glue. Sleeve the 1/2" long heat sink to approximately 1/8" away from the "looped" heat sink. Blast the section with heat gun till the heat sink stops shrinking. During the process, it will dry the krazy glue indefinitely.

I measured the strap and cut it at approx 24" then repeat the steps above to complete my first recovery strap.

Again, this is my first attempt and Im eager to learn new tips to master fabricating recovery strap or so forth. If any one of you have tips or methods differ than what I did - please DO share.

[metallocide]

I managed to do 3 set of recovery straps and Im getting hang of it, I think.

By the way, I got couple of PM's, asking what brand(s) of shoe strings and sizes. So here it is fellas:

Yellow/Orange shoe strings: KIWI brand in 45"/114cm from Wallyworld.
White shoe strings: SHOE GEAR brand in 30"/76cm from CVS Pharmacy.

Hope it helps.

[kingarrthuu]

Thanks for the information.

[finishline]

Those look good

[metallocide]

Originally Posted by kingarrthuu

Thanks for the information.

Testing these badboys to see if they are up to par soon.

[metallocide]

Originally Posted by finishline

Those look good

Thanks. Appreciate it man.

[Rock Krawler]

Those look very scale

[mtnbiker93]

man those are cool! guess im making another trip out!

[3insal]

thanks for the info made one today,put a metal end on like tow strap i carry in my truck.used a nail that i bent hope it's strong enough.[/IMG]

[ynmech]

Nice I'll have to try it.

[pardonmyn00b]

The straps look good. Another thing you can do for extra strength is sew the pieces together before you glue them.

[metallocide]

Looks good and scale!

Originally Posted by 3insal

thanks for the info made one today,put a metal end on like tow strap i carry in my truck.used a nail that i bent hope it's strong enough.

[metallocide]

Thanks for the advice. I'll try couple methods besides krazy glue and see which one will budge well under stress.

Originally Posted by pardonmyn00b

The straps look good. Another thing you can do for extra strength is sew the pieces together before you glue them.

[dps50]

Originally Posted by metallocide

Thanks for the advice. I'll try couple methods besides krazy glue and see which one will budge well under stress.

I am interested to know the strength of using just glue. I sewed mine then wrapped with thread. I like the look of the heatshrink, next time I will do that with just a few stitches for strength.

How wide is are the shoestrings?

[metallocide]

Originally Posted by dps50

I am interested to know the strength of using just glue. I sewed mine then wrapped with thread. I like the look of the heatshrink, next time I will do that with just a few stitches for strength.

How wide is are the shoestrings?

KIWI brand - 8mm
SHOE GEAR brand - approx 7.75mm

[Andyjk]

So I had a go at some bungee and recovery straps. I'm pretty impressed with how they came out! Some pics for you:

[70duncan]

This are looking good. Great job on them

[eemmaaxxxx]

Fantastic! This is one scale accessory I will be wanting to add to my rig. Any pics / vids of them in action? Have you tested them to breaking strength or see how much they can hold?

[MaxxZilla]

Originally Posted by metallocide

Testing these badboys to see if they are up to par soon.

I made a couple of these straps today with shoe laces and tested them. The shoe lace material ended up breaking right in the middle, I sewed the laces together then crazy glued them together with heat shrink over the top. So the that method makes the eye loop stronger then the material.

[99frontierxe]

I like those. I'll have to give it a try! Very cool idea, man. ;)