Front	Rear

Open for Rigging	Cam Rotation

Technical Details

I acquired my Fixe Tapir from Olivier Peron Caillet in 2008, but it is older (ca. 1998), and no longer appears in the Fixe catalog.

The body of the Tapir is milled from 20 mm. aluminum and then anodized. The body is open at the top and bottom, with milled guides on the sides. The attachment eye is 18.8 mm. high and 14.8 mm. wide. There are two 14.7 mm. lightening holes drilled in the body.

A hole in the center of the body supports a cam axle that is held in place by a 5.5 mm. round head hex socket cap screw in the rear of the body. The cam axle 10 mm. in diameter at its outer end, but has grooves and shoulders to support the parts mounted on it. The first, closest to the body, is a subrounded pentagonal cam. A spring-loaded plunger in the rear of the cam engages three rounded detents in the body. There is a gap, and then a control lever. An external retaining clip holds the lever in place, and a stainless steel pin connects the lever to the cam so that the two rotate together.

The cover is bent from 2.7 mm. aluminum sheet. It pivots from a round head hex socket cap screw set in the top right corner of the body. The lower portion of the cover is bent inward, and ends at an oval hole that aligns with the eye in the body. There are two slots in the cover. The upper slot clears the pin on the cam, while the lower slot clears the cam/lever axle.

The Fixe Tapir is 120 mm. tall, 76 mm. wide, and 48 mm. thick. Mine weighs 273 g.

The front of the cover is marked with "TAPIR" and the Fixe logo. The rear of the body is marked with a rigging diagram and "MADE IN SPAIN PAT." One side of the body is marked with "ONLY FOR ROPE OO UIAA" and "MINØ10 MAXØ11." The other side is marked "WARNING PROPER USE REQUIRES EXPERT INSTRUCTION." The "OP" stamped on the front of the body are Olivier Peron’s initials.

Comments

The Tapir is well made, and seems to function reasonably well. One nice feature is that the Tapir can be used equally well either left- or right-handed. In a fall (or when lowering loads), friction rotates the cam in the needed direction to wedge the rope between the cam and shell.

Unlike most lever box belay devices, the lever on the Tapir is more of a knob than a lever. When feeding rope, control the knob with the thumb of the braking hand.

The Fixe Taper received Spanish Patent #1,039,374 in 1998.

Warning: Do not use the Tapir on ropes smaller than 10 mm., since it will not lock reliably on thinner lines.