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Re: Material: joining shock cord ends *PIC*
By:mtkayak (Mike Trutwin)
Date: 4/19/2011, 1:11 pm
In Response To: Material: joining shock cord ends (Ian Cummins)

: I'm looking at mtkayaks' boat in the Spray Varnish thread. How do
: you join the ends of the bungees like that. I know it's covered
: in a heat shrink tube but what's holding the ends together?

: Ian

mark the bungee where you want the ends. I used a dot of white out.
stretch the bungee and apply CA to a 1" section centered at the mark
spray the wetted CA area with CA accelerant
release tension on the bungee
cut the bungee at the mark. I used a fine toothed hobby saw for a clean cut.
(this is all just to reduce the diameter of the bungee ends. Also good for threading an end through any small hole.)
I used a 1" long piece of the 1" wide webbing strap I had left over from the seat back strap for the joiner. (note: it is fairly thin webbing strap)
slightly melt the ends of the webbing strap to stop any fraying
Sting your bungee though the loops on deck
Clamp off the bungee somehow so you can touch the ends of the bungee without tension
add a drop of CA to one end of the bungee
touch it to the other end of the bungee and spray with CA accellerant (this kind of holds things in place for the next step)
Take the 1" square webbing strap and wrap it around the splice. (the length should be just enough so that the ends meet flush without overlap)
It's easier to CA just one edge first, then keep rolling it around and applying CA
Apply rolling pressure with some wax paper between your fingers and the bungee.
soak the joint in CA and hit it with CA accelerant.
(I though about making a 2 piece wood clamp that would help make this procces easier but it took the lazy route.
I also could not find any heat shrink around the 3/8" size needed, and 1/4" just didn't quite fit over the joint so I painted on about 3 coats of Plasti-dip. I think the liquid electrical tape is the same.

I had first tried the method of peeling back the outer webbing of one of the bungee ends in hopes to roll that back over onto the adjoining end and CA'ing, but it would just get too unraveled for me. I might have to practice a bit with that method as it would leave you with a thinner result.

I had also thought about using a 1/4" thin walled Carbon Fiber tube as a ferrule. Could be as little as 1/2" long. I think if you just shoved the reduced bungee ends into it and applied CA it would hold good. A little heat shrink over and call it good. Again I didn't have any Carbon Fiber tube handy.

Messages In This Thread

Material: joining shock cord ends
Ian Cummins -- 4/18/2011, 8:21 pm
Re: Material: joining shock cord ends
Scott Baxter -- 4/18/2011, 9:04 pm
Re: Material: joining shock cord ends
Jay Babina -- 4/19/2011, 9:19 am
Re: Material: joining shock cord ends
Ric Moodie -- 4/19/2011, 11:10 am
Re: Material: joining shock cord ends
Ross Leidy -- 4/19/2011, 12:25 pm
Re: Material: joining shock cord ends *PIC*
mtkayak (Mike Trutwin) -- 4/19/2011, 1:11 pm
Re: Material: joining shock cord ends
Ian Cummins -- 4/22/2011, 5:51 pm
Re: Material: joining shock cord ends
StephenHJ -- 4/22/2011, 7:42 pm
Re: Material: joining shock cord ends
Bill Hamm -- 4/23/2011, 8:01 am
Re: Material: joining shock cord ends
Steve Hill -- 4/23/2011, 4:15 am
Re: Material: joining shock cord ends
Kim Haubert -- 4/26/2011, 1:21 pm