Todd	Todd-Storrick

Overview

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Todd
(#1616)

Front	Rear

Left Side	Right Side	Front: Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired my Todd Handled Belay Device from Peter Todd in 2008.

This Todd Handled Belay Device is 208 mm. tall, 51 mm. wide, 72 mm. thick, and weighs 922 g. It consists of a body, cover plate, and cam assembly. The body is milled from a 51 mm. x by 140 mm. x 25.4 mm. block of 6061-T6 aluminum. It has a 12.7 mm. hole 15.9 mm. from the top and right side for that allows mounting the cover plate on a home-made 1/2-13 UNC stainless steel bolt. The bolt is secured with a stainless steel lock nut. The rope channel is a 63.5 mm. high, 15.9 mm. deep slot whose top edge is 31.8 mm. below the top of the block. A 12.7 mm. hole for the cam axle is drilled 25.7 mm. below the top of the slot and 22.2 mm. from the left side of the block. The bottom of the block is milled to a semicircle, and a 21 mm. hole is drilled for the attachment carabiner. The cover is made from a 9.5 mm. piece of 6061-T6 cut to the same outline as the body, except that a curved slot extends from the axle hole to the right side of the cover plate.

The cam is a 34.9 mm. diameter, 15.9 mm. thick piece of 6061-T6 with a flat milled in one side and a 12.7 mm. hole drilled 6.4 mm. off center. The cam is attached to the axle with a set screw. The axle is stainless steel, 12.7 mm. in diameter with a 10.1 mm. diameter head. The axle extends 25.4 mm. beyond the back side of the body. Two aluminum blocks bolted together clamp the back side of the axle pin. One block is 21.7 mm. high, the other 33.1 mm., and both are 44.5 mm. wide by 25.4 mm. thick. A 12.7 mm. stainless steel rod is threaded into the larger block and extends 118 mm. from the block to form a handle.

There are no markings on the device.

Comments

Peter Todd sent me pictures of his belayer in October 2008, along with the following description:

I created this device as an art project two years ago. We had an assignment to take an "everyday" mechanical device and recreate it, with a twist. So, I took a grigri, and recreated it, the twist being the 1 kg. weight and total lack of any agency approvals. :) It’s beefy to say the least, all constructed out of 6061 bars and stainless steel. Most ’biners won't fit it, I designed it around an especially large one that I bought specifically for the project. The main axle is half an inch, although one defect in the design is my planned press-fit of the cam to the axle wasn't secure enough, so I ended up pinning it instead. I've tested it with a 100 ft. rappel in the stairwell of my old apartment building, which proved the action to be very smooth and controllable, so much so you could control the rappel without actually gripping on the brake hand.

No plans for full-scale production, although if you know a bunch of "bigger-is-better" buyers I could be convinced to make a version for 1" rope.

I sent the following reply:

Oh, WOW!!!, Peter, this is really cool!! I love it!! I don't suppose that I could talk you into making one for me, but perhaps you could send me either drawings, or a good set of pictures from various viewpoints with a machinist’s scale in them so that I could make my own?

Much to my surprise, Peter sent the following reply:

Well, actually, I’d be very happy to trade what blueprints I have, and the authentic Todd Handled Belay Device by internationally famous artist Peter Todd (I wish!) for an authentic Storrick Handled Belay Device, by internationally famous collector and vertical device expert Gary Storrick (at least that one’s true) when you get the chance to build one. Your mill looks bigger than the tiny Sherline I did the bulk of the work on it with. Just be nice in your review, my main design goal was to make something that worked as quickly as possible with some big chunks of metal I had lying around. :)

I would like to emphasize that Peter’s original was an art project, and not a serious attempt to design a better version of the Grigri. Peter’s device is quite heavy, but it works reasonably well. My greatest concern with it is that if the cam spins on the axle, the belayer will lose the ability to lower the climber.

It is very important that the belayer rig the device correctly so that the handle is on the same side of the device as the rope enters; otherwise, the device will not lock if the belayed climber falls. The resulting post-impact gooey mess could ruin a climbing partnership.

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Todd-Storrick
(#1617)

Front	Rear

Left Side	Right Side	Front: Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I made my Todd-Storrick Handled Belay Device in late 2008.

This version is based on Peter’s design, with few changes, so I'll use the same description in gray and indicate changes in black:

The Todd -Storrick Handled Belay Device is 210 mm. tall, 47 mm. wide, 67 mm. thick, and weighs 756 g.It consists of a body, cover plate, and cam assembly. The body is milled from a 47 mm. x by 140 mm. x 25.4 mm. block of 6061-T6 aluminum. It has a 12.7 mm. hole 15.9 mm. from the top and right side for that allows mounting the cover plate on a commercial 1/2-13 UNC stainless steel bolt. The bolt is secured with a stainless steel lock nut. The rope channel is a 63.5 mm. high, 15.9 mm. deep slot whose top edge is 31.8 mm. below the top of the block. A 12.7 mm. hole for the cam axle is drilled 25.7 mm below the top of the slot and 22.2 mm. from the left side of the block. The bottom of the block is milled to a semicircle, and a 21 mm. hole is drilled for the attachment carabiner. The cover is made from a 9.5 mm. piece of 6061-T6 cut to the same outline as the body, except that a curved slot extends from the axle hole to the right side of the cover plate.

The cam is a 34.9 mm. diameter, 15.9 mm thick piece of 6061-T6 [deleted text] with a 12.7 mm. square hole broached 6.4 mm. off center. The axle is stainless steel with five sections. Starting at the front, there is a 19.1 mm. diameter, 5 mm. thick head. Next is a 12.7 mm. diameter, 9.5 mm. long cylindrical section for the cover plate slot, followed by a 12.7 mm. square section that press fits into the cam. Next is another 12.7 mm. diameter, 9.5 mm. long cylindrical section where the axle passes through the body. Finally, there is a 9.5 mm. square section that extends 25.4 mm. beyond the back side of the body. A machined handle block made from a 44.7 mm. long piece of 25.4 mm. 6061-T6 square bar stock clamps over the axle. A 10.1 mm. stainless steel rod is threaded into the [deleted text] block and extends 128 mm. from the block to form a handle. A hidden stainless steel pin in the threaded end of the handle fits into a matching hole in the axle, thereby keeping the handle from coming off if the clamping screws loosen.

There are no markings on the device.

Comments

As the emails quoted above show, I made this version to trade to Peter, and in the process, I made one for myself. The major change that I made was to use a more complex axle to reduce the chances of the cam or handle turning. If either were to spin, the results would be unpleasant. Mine is also slightly smaller than Peter’s, mostly because of the material that I had handy.

Squaring the Body	Roughing the Body Slot	Finishing the Body Slot
Slotting the Cover	Turning the Handle Block	Milling the Axle Squares

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