Next Return Previous

Macke Expedition Rack
(#2567)

 

Front View Rear View Side View
Front View Rear View Side View

 

Technical Details

Ken Macke sent me this rack in 2020.

My Macke Expedition Rack rack is 390 mm. tall, 73 mm. wide, 39 mm. thick, and weighs 1007 g. The frame is made from two 9.5 mm. 304 stainless steel rods TIG welded to the top brake bar. The two sides of the frame extend through the top bar to create two 13 mm. tall posts. The frame has an internal width of 34 mm. The 26 mm. by 26 mm. machined eye is threaded to the frame.

There are six brake bars. The bars are 21 mm. in diameter and 73 mm. long. Allowing 45 mm. for the rope leaves 56 mm. for spreading the bars. The top three bars were made from 1/2" schedule 80 304 stainless steel pipe, ant the lower three were made from scheddule 40. The second bar has two 316 stainless steel washers welded to create a central rope guide. A threaded 6061 aluminum cap keeps the lower bars on the rack.

The eye was machined from 316L bar stock.

There are no markings on this rack.

Comments

Ken made three of these racks for the 1989 Bridge Day in Fayetteville, WV. They tested the rack at the Red River Gorrge, and then used it to descend from the New River Gorge bridge. Ken wrote, "It gave the smoothest, most relaxing rappel that I've ever experienced!

This rack is very well made and it handles quite well. The stainless steel bars provide excellent abrasion resistance. The rack is quite heavy, but as it would only be used on special occassions, that is not a serious problem.

For far more content, use a larger monitor and a full-width window.

Hundreds of cell phone users complained and asked me to for a simpler, mobile friendly site. In particular, they wanted me to limit each page to a small number of pictures and minimize my use of text. This new site provides what they asked for.