Hi Deeperblues,
Now the thesis is finally finished (HORRAY:friday)and I finally have a holiday in which to post the new neckweight design I constructed last summer.
I was tired of my bike-tube neckweight shedding pellets and having to keep on duct-taping it (OK I admit,- I stuffed it too hard :naughty)
Deeperblue fellow user and club-mate Kasper Moth has been experimenting a bit on the design since I made it, and has even produced a few for other members in the club. Our colaboration has resulted in it informally being dubbed the "Naughty-Moth Neckweight" roflrofl
I basically cut several (roughly 3"x9") plates out of sheet lead, hammered the stack over a MDF mockup of my neck and trimmed away lots of bits to make it a kind of saddle shape. This is a bit tricky, as the outer layers bend differently to the inner layers, and a lot of adjustment is needed. Kasper doesn't feel this bit is strictly neccesary, but I am a stickler for detailing...
Once the sheet lead is cut out, the layers (with a strip of nylon webbing in the middle) are shrinkwrapped together. (construction: se pics 1 & 2)
In my finished version (Pic 3) the webbing is closed by velcro to reduce the profile, but click-buckles also work. As the bulk of the lead straddles the neck like a saddle there is very little weight on the velcro and it works fine. The orange bit is for the safetyswimmer to grab and pull, in the event of having to get the weight off fast in an emergency.
Overall the 3,7 kg neckweight has a very slim dragprofile, and it is surprisingly comfortable (Pic 4). You can't raise you head that much while swimming, but that helps stop you from peeking ahead too often ;-) Also unlike my old neckweight, I like that the new one doesn't fetch me a nice smack on the jaw everytime I set off in the turns :blackeye. It doesn't wallop me in the back of the head either, by the way. I also like thefact that apart from the (fairly loose) velcro you don't have anything pressing on the front of the throat.
Kasper favours making them to hang underneath like tradtional neckweights, and has shaped it so he tucks his jaw snugly inside the ring for streamlining.
Enjoy, and feel free to ask questions if you want.
Happy New Year:friday
Martin AKA. Naughty
Now the thesis is finally finished (HORRAY:friday)and I finally have a holiday in which to post the new neckweight design I constructed last summer.
I was tired of my bike-tube neckweight shedding pellets and having to keep on duct-taping it (OK I admit,- I stuffed it too hard :naughty)
Deeperblue fellow user and club-mate Kasper Moth has been experimenting a bit on the design since I made it, and has even produced a few for other members in the club. Our colaboration has resulted in it informally being dubbed the "Naughty-Moth Neckweight" roflrofl
I basically cut several (roughly 3"x9") plates out of sheet lead, hammered the stack over a MDF mockup of my neck and trimmed away lots of bits to make it a kind of saddle shape. This is a bit tricky, as the outer layers bend differently to the inner layers, and a lot of adjustment is needed. Kasper doesn't feel this bit is strictly neccesary, but I am a stickler for detailing...
Once the sheet lead is cut out, the layers (with a strip of nylon webbing in the middle) are shrinkwrapped together. (construction: se pics 1 & 2)
In my finished version (Pic 3) the webbing is closed by velcro to reduce the profile, but click-buckles also work. As the bulk of the lead straddles the neck like a saddle there is very little weight on the velcro and it works fine. The orange bit is for the safetyswimmer to grab and pull, in the event of having to get the weight off fast in an emergency.
Overall the 3,7 kg neckweight has a very slim dragprofile, and it is surprisingly comfortable (Pic 4). You can't raise you head that much while swimming, but that helps stop you from peeking ahead too often ;-) Also unlike my old neckweight, I like that the new one doesn't fetch me a nice smack on the jaw everytime I set off in the turns :blackeye. It doesn't wallop me in the back of the head either, by the way. I also like thefact that apart from the (fairly loose) velcro you don't have anything pressing on the front of the throat.
Kasper favours making them to hang underneath like tradtional neckweights, and has shaped it so he tucks his jaw snugly inside the ring for streamlining.
Enjoy, and feel free to ask questions if you want.
Happy New Year:friday
Martin AKA. Naughty
inspirational