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Cheap Drop Net update


gollum

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Hi folks,

 

I found that having the drop pin on the underside of the sliders a bit unreliable.... the pins have a habit of snagging the net when the cord is pulled and because I am using a counterweight system to do the pulling ( I'll explain this further on) the net could remain half lofted at the point where the pin snagged. I thought maybe putting the pull pin at the top would be an improvement and so far it seems to be. Also it has the added bonus of not giving the bag in the net anything to catch on to if it gets blown up to the poles in cross wind.

post-14723-1210956172.jpg

 

The 2nd issue was that the tension required on the header and foot lines to get the net really well set was such that the sliders on the beginning and end poles would occasionally stick. After all the trouble of setting up and the risk of theft whilst left...for the net to fail to drop was not funny. :( It seemed logical that part of the reason was down to the end sliders having a greater tension and therefore greater friction due to their lack of balancing by poles on both sides. So I changed the 2 end sliders for 40mm internal diameter scaffolding pole (I know this is getting a bit like scrapyard challenge but bear with me). They weigh in at 2.75Kg each and bury themselves if they hit damp soil!

post-14723-1210956200.jpg

 

The last mod was to use a guy line that runs the entire length of the set.

It is attached to 40mm rings every 5 yards. I peg it down on the ground under maximum tension and then use the rings as guides for pole placement. This gives a good straight line, the poles are always exactly 5 yards apart and has the advantage of guaranteeing that the top of the poles are the same distance away from the next pole as the bottom. This last bit is achieved by sliding the rings up the poles after they are set and securing them at the top with a pin under the ring. Then when the guys are tensioned after the net is lofted the pull is equal on each pole. If the end poles are vertical so are all the others. This helps a lot in reducing friction on the sliders and aids the smooth/reliable dropping of the net.

post-14723-1210956251.jpg

 

The counterweight system I mentioned earlier.... Basically its a plastic guttering downpipe with a small paint tin full of melted lead inside it which is attached to a cord that runs over a pulley wheel set at the top of the pipe. The paint tin is held in position near the top by a pull pin that goes through the side of the pipe. The pipe is strapped to a pole and set in the ground so that the pulley wheel is level with the pull pins on your drop net poles. The cord that comes from the paint tin goes over the pulley wheel and is attached to the first pull pin on your net. When the pin under the paint tin is pulled it drops and the cord yanks the pull pins out from the net. I need it as I wanted to be able to activate the net from the best place to beat the rabbits in rather than being stuck at the side of the net level with the pull pins to pull the cord. By using this method, the angle you are in relation to the net is determined by where you put the pin that holds up the paint tin. Drill holes every few centimetres around the pipe and then you have the choice when in the field.

post-14723-1210956294.jpg

 

Any opinions on improvements would be very welcome.

 

Good luck all.

 

G

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Excellent post gollum,did or has Mick Mansbridge a similar type net?Sure I saw him demonstrating something similar at a country fair once?Have you used your net in "Anger" so to speak?How effective is it in the field? :victory:

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That looks really good Gollum.......you will only find out any major snags with it when you use it a few times.......but try it out and report back your findings..........it certainly looks as if it will do the business. ;)

 

Rolfe.

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Excellent post gollum,did or has Mick Mansbridge a similar type net?Sure I saw him demonstrating something similar at a country fair once?Have you used your net in "Anger" so to speak?How effective is it in the field? :victory:

 

Cheers Mackem

I havent seen Mick Mansbridge's version though I googled him after you posted. From what I read I would expect he does have some form of drop net system as he sounds accomplished in other long netting methods. It's not a new idea, H Wymans "Art of Longnetting" mentions it and there are some posts on here too. My angle was trying to do it on the cheap. The whole system has cost me 45 quid for a 50 yard drop which is roughly the same as a shop bought long net without any of the drop system. So that parts worked out well, but the use in the field is as yet unproven. I have recently got permission that has a long stretch that is ideal for drop netting but I want to expand the system up to 20 poles before I net it. I'll post when I have tested it thoroughly and hopefully get a few bunnies in the process.

 

Happy hunting.

 

G

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hi gollum...looks impressive.

 

looking at your top picture & the lengths of your drop pins, are they needed to be that long ? cant see why. have you thought about shortening them so they only go through one side so the distance needed to travel to drop the poles is less ?

 

rich

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hi gollum...looks impressive.

 

looking at your top picture & the lengths of your drop pins, are they needed to be that long ? cant see why. have you thought about shortening them so they only go through one side so the distance needed to travel to drop the poles is less ?

 

rich

Hi Richie,

The pins are quite long but there is method in my madness :)

As the wind can sway the poles a bit when the net is lofted I allowed a bit extra on the pin length to account for the pulling effect on the pull cord. This was before I had put the full length guy on so now I guess they could be cut down as the sway wont be able to affect the length between pole tops. That said, I havent had any problems with pulling the pins out, only that they were catching on the bag as mentioned above. The new guy line seems to lock all the poles together really well but my guess is that without lateral stabilising guys on every pole, there will always be a bit of sway. My major concern is that the net actually drops, every time... Which sounds simple enough but in practise it's a slow process ironing out all the little things that can end up causing problems. Snag points, tension etc.

 

I did a test drop the other night, and got 4 beautifully bagged up. But as this was on the same day that I set the net up I was surprised to catch anything at all. To be honest I was just testing to see if it would drop after a windy day.

 

Thanks for your input, hows thing going in your part of the world? Are you still "getting amongst em" or waiting till next season? My permissions mainly want year round control so I'm still keeping busy. With 9 kits to feed...its just as well that I am :)

post-14723-1211016874.jpg

 

All The best.

 

G

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hi gollum...looks impressive.

 

looking at your top picture & the lengths of your drop pins, are they needed to be that long ? cant see why. have you thought about shortening them so they only go through one side so the distance needed to travel to drop the poles is less ?

 

rich

Hi Richie,

The pins are quite long but there is method in my madness :)

As the wind can sway the poles a bit when the net is lofted I allowed a bit extra on the pin length to account for the pulling effect on the pull cord. This was before I had put the full length guy on so now I guess they could be cut down as the sway wont be able to affect the length between pole tops. That said, I havent had any problems with pulling the pins out, only that they were catching on the bag as mentioned above. The new guy line seems to lock all the poles together really well but my guess is that without lateral stabilising guys on every pole, there will always be a bit of sway. My major concern is that the net actually drops, every time... Which sounds simple enough but in practise it's a slow process ironing out all the little things that can end up causing problems. Snag points, tension etc.

 

I did a test drop the other night, and got 4 beautifully bagged up. But as this was on the same day that I set the net up I was surprised to catch anything at all. To be honest I was just testing to see if it would drop after a windy day.

 

Thanks for your input, hows thing going in your part of the world? Are you still "getting amongst em" or waiting till next season? My permissions mainly want year round control so I'm still keeping busy. With 9 kits to feed...its just as well that I am :)

post-14723-1211016874.jpg

 

All The best.

 

G

 

 

 

im still keeping on top of them, all year round.

 

got a new bunch of kits aswell, 10. ill be keeping a few & getting rid of the rest, their doing well.

 

let us know how you get on with the drop net...

 

 

any chance of you getting out with a camcorder & getting it in action ?

 

 

be good to see !

 

 

rich

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im still keeping on top of them, all year round.

 

got a new bunch of kits aswell, 10. ill be keeping a few & getting rid of the rest, their doing well.

 

let us know how you get on with the drop net...

 

 

any chance of you getting out with a camcorder & getting it in action ?

 

 

be good to see !

 

 

rich

 

I'll try it, but ive only got a digi camera with a video option....its not great quality but I'll see what I can do.

Of course I'll have to be selective and only post when I have a net full :) Seriously though, I'm planning a 100yard drop next week, Ive just made up another 20 pull pins and Im in the process of drilling the remaining 10 poles. Assuming it still drops ok, I'll setup Monday and drop Wednesday night. Watch this space on Thursday...

 

HH

 

G.

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  • 1 month later...
Hi folks,

 

I found that having the drop pin on the underside of the sliders a bit unreliable.... the pins have a habit of snagging the net when the cord is pulled and because I am using a counterweight system to do the pulling ( I'll explain this further on) the net could remain half lofted at the point where the pin snagged. I thought maybe putting the pull pin at the top would be an improvement and so far it seems to be. Also it has the added bonus of not giving the bag in the net anything to catch on to if it gets blown up to the poles in cross wind.

post-14723-1210956172.jpg

 

The 2nd issue was that the tension required on the header and foot lines to get the net really well set was such that the sliders on the beginning and end poles would occasionally stick. After all the trouble of setting up and the risk of theft whilst left...for the net to fail to drop was not funny. :( It seemed logical that part of the reason was down to the end sliders having a greater tension and therefore greater friction due to their lack of balancing by poles on both sides. So I changed the 2 end sliders for 40mm internal diameter scaffolding pole (I know this is getting a bit like scrapyard challenge but bear with me). They weigh in at 2.75Kg each and bury themselves if they hit damp soil!

post-14723-1210956200.jpg

 

The last mod was to use a guy line that runs the entire length of the set.

It is attached to 40mm rings every 5 yards. I peg it down on the ground under maximum tension and then use the rings as guides for pole placement. This gives a good straight line, the poles are always exactly 5 yards apart and has the advantage of guaranteeing that the top of the poles are the same distance away from the next pole as the bottom. This last bit is achieved by sliding the rings up the poles after they are set and securing them at the top with a pin under the ring. Then when the guys are tensioned after the net is lofted the pull is equal on each pole. If the end poles are vertical so are all the others. This helps a lot in reducing friction on the sliders and aids the smooth/reliable dropping of the net.

post-14723-1210956251.jpg

 

The counterweight system I mentioned earlier.... Basically its a plastic guttering downpipe with a small paint tin full of melted lead inside it which is attached to a cord that runs over a pulley wheel set at the top of the pipe. The paint tin is held in position near the top by a pull pin that goes through the side of the pipe. The pipe is strapped to a pole and set in the ground so that the pulley wheel is level with the pull pins on your drop net poles. The cord that comes from the paint tin goes over the pulley wheel and is attached to the first pull pin on your net. When the pin under the paint tin is pulled it drops and the cord yanks the pull pins out from the net. I need it as I wanted to be able to activate the net from the best place to beat the rabbits in rather than being stuck at the side of the net level with the pull pins to pull the cord. By using this method, the angle you are in relation to the net is determined by where you put the pin that holds up the paint tin. Drill holes every few centimetres around the pipe and then you have the choice when in the field.

post-14723-1210956294.jpg

 

Any opinions on improvements would be very welcome.

 

Good luck all.

 

G

 

pm sent mate hope to hear from you soon.

 

jonny

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Hi folks,

well I set up the nets...

 

post-14723-1213889706_thumb.jpg

 

Left em for 3 days

 

post-14723-1213889722.jpg

 

Good news, net operated flawlessly over 100 yards. :drink:

 

Bad news, only 2 rabbits caught :wallbash::no: :realmad:

 

The little devils are very wary of the net & poles. This field definitely has rabbits in numbers, the hedge is directly next to a 5 foot deep drainage culvert that has hundreds of holes all along its length. The grass is like a bowling green and there are runs crisscrossing everywhere....

 

I'm convinced that they will overcome the fear its just a question of time. The problem is I dont want my nets nicked and I think the longer they are lofted the more likely this is.

 

So the answer it seems is dummy nets. H. Wyman had exactly the same problem as me and thats how he solved it.

The idea is you make up some dummy nets with old scrap netting and loft them up on cheap poles in the same position as you intend to do the real drop. Then just leave them and observe the set until you can verify that the rabbits have lost the fear and are passing under the dummies.

When your sure they are, exchange the dummies for your real nets and then do the drop.

 

I picked up a point on another post in the long netting forum where somebody mentioned that they had to set the poles at 10 yard intervals to get the rabbits to pass under the net. So I tried my rig with the poles at 10 yards and it still drops fine. Excellent news in fact as it means I can expand the drops up to 200 yards with the existing poles and sliders. It may require scaffold sliders every 50 yards to help drop the net but still, 200 yard drop is still a huge distance. Also I ditched the idea of mounting the longnet on to its pegs and then strapping them to the the sliders. Now its just a hoop of wire around the slider going to another small hoop on the front. This allows me to tie the header and footers direct to the slider and saves loads of time and gets a better tensioned net set too.

Another change is not banging the poles in to the ground. It takes forever to get everything plumb vertical and the banging is definitely not good. Instead I am now using lateral guy lines off every pole as well as the top guy line that runs the entire length of the set. (see first post) This part is untested but I think that by making a 40mm diameter hole about 4" deep for the bottom of each pole (to prevent it moving) the combination of lateral and top guys under good tension should hold the entire rig solid. Then its a lot easier and quicker to set vertical by adjusting the guys.

 

To make dummy nets I scrounged some round silage bale netting. Its ideal, cheap £75 for 3600 metres, and is easy to thread on to lines. Still trying to source cheap poles....any suggestions anyone...they need to be 9 foot, lightweight and less than £1 each. I thought bamboo would do it...until I got the price!

 

Anyway, will keep you all posted, anyone thats been through this process before that can give me any pointers...any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Happy hunting.

 

G.

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dont know the price, but how about inch and quarter waste pipe, comes in 3mtr lengths (9'9") could put a 45 degree cut on one end as a spike, would be light enough to carry, and still look like the proper poles, when you swap them over

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dont know the price, but how about inch and quarter waste pipe, comes in 3mtr lengths (9'9") could put a 45 degree cut on one end as a spike, would be light enough to carry, and still look like the proper poles, when you swap them over

 

Hi Stubby

 

If its the same pipe I'm thinking of (solvent weld or pushfit overflow pipe) the 22.5mm is too flexible. I think even the 40mm would be a struggle to stay stable at 9 foot :(

 

Thanks for the suggestion, and also thanks for all your efforts on the alternative locator. Shame it didnt work out but really good of you to go to the trouble and post for us all. :signthankspin:

 

Cheers mate.

 

G.

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Wahey.....Homebase are doing 2.4 metre bamboo canes for £3.99 for 10. :gunsmilie:

 

Bit shorter than I planned but.....it means my entire dummy rig will have a value of £7! :yes:

 

Not too fussed if anyone nicks that.

 

More news when I've tested to see how long it takes em to get over "the fear" :)

 

HH all.

 

G

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