Homemade roller polespear/handspear

[CCspearo]

Hi I have just completed a converted roller handspear and thought someone might be interested. The roller mechanism was made from an ol nylon chopping board. I used an old aluminium spear and it bent under the pressure so I added a stainless section. Yet to try it in the water

 

[CCspearo]

This is my resting hook setup so my hand is not always under pressure.

 

[CCspearo]

I took the spear out on friday for a test run. We have had a lot of wind churning the ocean up lateley and the water was very murky about 1 metre vis. I didnt see any fish worth spearing but I had a few practice shots. The spear works great the rest hook allows me to swim around with the spear cocked ready for action.
I had a test fire on land to guage the difference between the roller and a conventional handspear. I used the same front end of the spear so that the point of the spear is the same in both tests. I used 2 phonebooks as a target. The conventional spear penitrated one phonebook and nicked the cover of the second. The roller spear penitrated the first phonebook and 90% of the second book. I would think that the power has more than doubled because of the friction applied to the spear by the first book has to be overcome to pass through the second book.

The spear hit with so much force it destroyed the surround on my compost heap. These are the sacrifices we must make to improve our spearfishing gear.

 

[popgun pete]

Commander Le Prieur would be proud of you! French patent 1939.

 

[CCspearo]

"Commander Le Prieur would be proud of you!"

He was a man well ahead of his time. Thanks for the info pete.
I made one for one of my dive buddies and he has just given me a solid fibreglass 9ft (275 cm) spear that he picked up on hard rubbish day. It has a 6ft and 3ft section. The 6ft section can be used as a stand alone spear and once I add a 45cm shaft to the end I will have 10.5ft spear for open water and 7.5ft spear for around the reef. So its back to tbe workshop to make another roller mechanism.

 

[mariusshobo]

awesome idea!

 

[Leander]

I'm not sure about this. On a roller speargun, the roller mechanism stays with the gun; the spear itself is exactly the same as with a non-roller gun.

With this roller polespear, the roller mechanism is part of the spear. This, together with the longer band and the part upgraded from aluminium to stainless steel add more weight and drag.

Could it be that the phonebook test (in which you missed by 5cm ) gets the added penetration from the added weight? Does the spear still feel as fast and snappy as the non-roller?

 

[CCspearo]

Hi Leander
I'm not sure about this. On a roller speargun, the roller mechanism stays with the gun; the spear itself is exactly the same as with a non-roller gun.

With this roller polespear, the roller mechanism is part of the spear. This, together with the longer band and the part upgraded from aluminium to stainless steel add more weight and drag.

Could it be that the phonebook test (in which you missed by 5cm ) gets the added penetration from the added weight? Does the spear still feel as fast and snappy as the non-roller?

I have never been a fan of aluminium handspears they are too light they do not hit hard enough and they bend easily stainless and fibreglass handspears are superior but more expensive you get what you pay for. The roller handspear is 300g heavier than the standard version which should make it hit a little harder but the roller definately increases the speed and power. The four rollerguns I have built all had about 2.5 times the penitration of the same sized conventional gun. I don't know how you can scientifically measure "snappiness" but it appears to outperform the old spear in every way. Accuracy is good I was aiming between the centre and the edge of the phonebook because that I where the pages are still packed tightly together (to avoid the shock absorber effect of loosely packed pages)after the phone book has taken a few hits. I hope this answers your query.

 

[Leander]

The main reason I doubted this design was the frontal surface, which is increased a lot by going so wide at the roller end and looping the rubber. So I expected the spear to waste all the added power to increased resistance. But then again, you had to make the roller wide because of the chosen material. Steel would allow it to be very slim, but cutting some nylon to shape is far easier for prototyping.

I said you missed by 5cm because you didn't hit that face on the book between the eyes. We all know that's where the fish have their brain.

But I do find this idea quite interesting. Also got me thinking about a pulley handle: twice the speed at half the power. For something light as an aluminium spear this might be interesting. Perhaps it could also enable the use of 14mm speargun rubber, which is far easier to find than <10mm here in south Europe.

Now I have something to start tinkering with during the lockdown here! Thanks!

 

[popgun pete]

Here is a rollerspear from Russia.
Keltvic Rollerspear

 

[CCspearo]

Here is a rollerspear from Russia.
Keltvic Rollerspear

Very similar setup to mine, the only difference is the metal pulley surround and no resting hook which is really needed with a larger rubber stretched to about 8 or nine feet. These type of spears have been around for a long time. I started this diy project thread to show you could make one for very little money. The original aluminium spear and the chopping board that I made the roller mech from I found on hard rubbish day. The rubber is 30year old rubber ring off a large stormwater pipe ( that stuff never perishes but has a bit less stretch than speargun rubber. This spear would be more powerful if it had 14mm speargun rubber. But it is something I wil only use a couple of times a year as I mainly use my roller spearguns so I dont want to replace the rubber every year.) The half a stainless handspear was given to me by a mate in the 1970s I knew I would find a use for it eventually. In all this roller handspear cost me about $5 for .5 of a metre of 8mm stainless rod. This is really spearfishing on a budget.

 

[CCspearo]

Just a little note for any one thinking of making one of these. I noitice the russian spear has a clip on the back of it supposedly for attatching a floatline. I have found this almost stops the spear dead in the water unless you carry a few loops of line in your hand which is quite dangerous as you are liable to get tangled. I find attatching my line to the resting hook which gives almost the full length of the spear before it starts dragging the line. In all my years of using a handspear I have never actually let the rubber leave my hand. Using a handspear/polespear is all about stalking the fish, laying on the bottom throwing up a bit of sand and waitng for the fish to come and investigate and not striking til the are very close. In my younger days when I had 5 mouths to feed I could take 20 fish in an hour sometimes 2 fish in one dive with just a standard handspear, them were the days.

 

[CCspearo]

the new improved version made from stainless steel with a Acetel copolymer roller it is more compact and stronger than the one made from a nylon chopping board. The rubber is a 12mm exercise band it came with the handle fittted!. The spear is 2 parts one 6ft and the other 3ft with a 1ft 6" shaft and flopper giving a total length of 10ft 6" which is good for open water. It can be broken down to a 7ft 6" spear for around the reef and a 4ft 6" crab or lobster spear.

 

[CCspearo]

The spear is solid fibreglass, strong enough to take a 4ft 12mm rubber stretched to14ft.

 

[CCspearo]

below is the new version locked and loaded ready for action also the same spear split into a 7ft cave spear and a 4ft 6" crab spear.

 

[Leander]

I still have to make my full size pole spear, so I can't spear from own experience, but I read that often people rotate the spear while loading, so the band stretches around it to prevent bending the spear like a bow. How does this work with the roller system? You do the same, or do the bands left and right equal each other out enough already?

 

[CCspearo]

I still have to make my full size pole spear, so I can't spear from own experience, but I read that often people rotate the spear while loading, so the band stretches around it to prevent bending the spear like a bow. How does this work with the roller system? You do the same, or do the bands left and right equal each other out enough already?

Hi Leander good to hear from you again
The method works well with standard pole spears but if used on roller pole spears the rubber crosses an puts pressure on the preloaded section of the rubber reducing power. Keeping the rubber parallel in best for roller polespears. I hope this helps.