Front	Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired my Good Makings from Yungfeng Xiao in 2014.

The Good Makings is 104 mm. tall, 78 mm. wide, 65 mm. thick, and weighs 281 g. The shell is formed from 4.9 mm. aluminum alloy, anodized gold. The rope channel is 18 mm. wide. The cam is punched from aluminum alloy plate and then machined. The cam has eleven rounded teeth. The cam radius increases from 16 to 43 mm. over an angle of 107°, giving an average 27° cam angle, but it is clear from the photos that the cam angle increases toward the toe of the cam. The QR pin is 9.4 mm. in diameter. The cam is spring-loaded with a wire spring that sits in a plastic housing. A piece of cable riveted to the spring housing acts as a keeper for the QR pin.

The front is printed with up-pointing arrow labeled "UP." The rear is printed with an up-pointing arrow labeled "UP," the Good Makings logo, "0614," and "Rope:Ø8-12mm."

Comments

This ascender is a Chinese copy of the Gibbs ascender, and closely resembles the Gibbs #2 Version A. It took me quite a while to find someone who would ship one of these to the USA, even though the same sellers routinely ship other Good Makings products here. I wonder if patent infringement concerns sparked this reluctance.

The shape of the cam face puzzles me. The five teeth closest to the toe would not contact the rope for any sensible size main line, so it is not clear why the toe is extended the way it does. The final tooth will not touch a cord larger than 3 mm., and the second tooth will not touch a cord over 4 mm. By my tests, this ascender slips on accessory cords smaller than 5 mm.