Front View	Rear View	Side View

Technical Details

I acquired this descender from Fallright International in 2006.

The descender consists of a back plate that supports a rope guide (two bollards and a cover plate) on the right, a central rotating bollard with attached handle extending to the left, and a stop bollard at the lower left. The back plate is a 129 mm. tall, 96 mm. wide, irregular shaped piece of 6 mm. aluminum plate. I cannot resist describing the shape as "the profile of a slightly melted Hershey Kiss rotated 90°." There is a 17 mm. clip-in hole drilled in the lower right side with a 13.9 mm. i.d. stainless steel sleeve pressed in. There are two 16 mm. tall, 19 mm. diameter cylindrical bollards attached along the left side with 7(?) mm. round-head stainless steel hex cap screws coming in from the rear. The bollards have a 40.5 mm. separation, inside to inside. Two more 7(?) mm. round-head stainless steel hex cap screws secure an 83.2 mm. tall, 25 mm. wide, 6 mm. thick front plate to the top of the bollards, forming a rectangular rope channel.

The rotating bollard pivots on a round-head stainless steel hex cap bolt (presumably an axle bolt - it does not rotate) secured to the back plate with an 8 mm. lock nut. I assume that the axle is an axle bolt since it does not rotate with the handle. Stainless steel washers protect the handle and back plate. The pivot is about 7 mm. above and 44 mm. to the left of the lower rope channel bollard (center to center). The pivoting bollard is a 51 mm. diameter, 16 mm. thick chamfered stainless steel circular cylinder with a 23.5 mm. (chord length) flat milled at the bottom (6-o’clock position). The pivot hole lies about 5 mm. below the cylinder’s center. There is a 216 mm. long control handle attached to the front of the rotating bollard with four 5(?) mm. round-head stainless steel hex cap screws. The handle is 6 mm. aluminum plate with a 123 mm. long, 35 mm. diameter rubberized plastic handle molded on the distal end.

The stop bollard is a 16 mm. tall, 19.7 mm. diameter cylinder bolted to the lower left corner of the back plate with another 7(?) mm. round-head stainless steel hex cap screw. The manufacturer rounded the outer corner of the cylinder.

All aluminum components are soft-anodized green. The front of the back plate has a printed gold curve showing the normal rope path and "UP" partially hidden by the upper bollard. The front plate had three gold-printed figures showing three steps in how to rig the descender. The front of the handle has an up-pointing triangle with "STOP," a down-pointing triangle with "GO," ant the following message, all printed in gold:

WARNING!
NOT TO BE USED WITHOUT
CERTIFIED TRAINING IN
ACCORDANCE WITH AS1891.4

The back side of the back plate has the following gold-printed messages:

1. Auto-Stop
   By Fallright
2. SWT. 2 MAN
   MBL. 15 kN
   Part No. 071-40
   S/N[ F861]
3. CONFORMS TO.
   AS4488 (Part 1)
4. tel: (1800)325 335
   www.fallright.com

The serial number in #2 is engraved.

Comments

The Fallright Auto Stop DAS is a sturdy descender and the workmanship on the is excellent.

Rigging the descender is simple, and I like how the the three figures on the front plate illustrate the blatantly obvious in a manner that no competent user is ever likely to need. Simply push a bight in from the right and loop it over the handle. This may be difficult with some stiff caving ropes, since the maximum clearance is only about 40 mm.

As one descends, friction on the rotating bollard will tend to rotate the handle upward, and the off-centered mounting will cause the rotating bollard to squeeze the rope against the lower rope channel bollard. Pulling the handle down relieves this pressure, allowing one to descend. "GO" and "STOP" on the handle also explain the obvious, but they do not show that pulling the handle down too far will also slow the descent. This provides some security for people who prefer to panic under stress.

On rappel, the Fallright Auto Stop DAS works reasonably well. The handle is somewhat sensitive, but not overly so, and I found that I was able to control my descents reasonably well. Still, the handle does not come close to any convenient reference surface, so it takes some getting used to. The stop position held my weight (90 kg.), something that many "stop" devices fail to do.

Although the Fallright Auto Stop DAS is a solid, well-made descender, it is too heavy for me to use it caving or climbing. The "bigger is better" crowd may like it, and of course industrial users may not be bothered by its weight in the same way we cavers and climbers are.