Base Jacks, Acros, Trench Struts and Other Ironmongery

The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
That is very kind S. I have been cave digging for 55 years now. I honestly cannot say what the attraction is. Perhaps some defect in character. Digging slowed during my deep wreck diving days. I suppose the elements involved are much the same. Perhaps somebody clever than I should start a thread on what makes a cave digger.I cannot say that for me it is the lure of great discoveries though I have had my fair share. Sometimes the discovery is an anti climax as that means the end of the cave dig. I am 70 now and have just bought a load of new kit so while  I can I will continue. I love the problem solving that digging requires. We have been dealing with a series of horrible chokes for over a year with several major collapses. Quiet persistence seems to have paid off as we have negotiated a route through these now. We are a large group and naturally there is occasional friction. I am not a team or club person and I resent authority. I pretty much worked on my own before retirement. I am not much into the social side of caving either. A non drinker I do not frequent pubs. Our group, although diverse in opinion, does work. I can see that everyone brings a different facet or skill. Some in the group are shy of publicity so I try to get around that by putting my photos under a general heading. You will see that I rarely name the site that we are digging. I don't want to be tagged by Google or cause more friction in the group than I usually do. Combining hobbies is much more fun. I do love photography but I want to work in the immediate situation. I don't like anything posed though for complex shots that becomes necessary. My trusty TG 2 is always with me. I have over 3,000 images of the current dig. Probably one every foot ! I think it important to keep a record of changes that are made. So yes, I actually enjoy digging more than caving itself. One day I might work out why.
 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
My current project. This rather fragile looking lintel holds up a large choke. It just touches rock either end. We have to crawl under it. The near upright pole sits on a base jack pinned to the floor. There is a small stream here so the next job is to build a small mud diverting dam. I want to completely cement in the foot of the base jack. B and Q do extra quick setting cement in tubs for about ?8. Supposed to set in 30 mins. That will be the next job.

 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
An excellent day yesterday with copious amounts of ironmongery and cement going down the dig. My bag with the old TG2 and a drum of cement got chucked down the 10m entrance shaft by mistake. Forgot to tie it on the rope. :-[ Drum punctured but the TG2 lives to fight another day.

Added a coupling spacer under the lintel.




Built a little mud dam to divert the stream and used fast setting cement to firmly fix the base jack.



Took in and erected a 3m ladder in the pot bypassing the awkward stemples. A Stannah Stairlift would have been better but there wasn't the room.



A quick selfie on the way out at the bottom of the pipes.



All riotously good fun.
 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
I think Willie had 30 years or so to dig Reservoir Hole. He used a form of liquid cement taken down in car inner tubes that was poured down over the boulders. You can see it today in the entrance series and it looks most naturalistic. Reservoir Hole was right next to the road. We have a very long walk. One of the furthest from a road on Mendip to a dig site. We can drive to site in a four wheel drive but refrain from doing so in case it upsets the landowner. Consequently everything gets carried in. Two of us are over 70 now so the prospect of a 30 year dig is not appealing. True scaffolding is not popular on Mendip nor are fixed aids. If ever the dig went anywhere we might have to rethink the latter. For the moment its about maintaining some sort of safety and making the access easy for lugging the cement in.
 
M

mudman

Member
Ooh, you have got me thinking with the readymix in tubes idea as it could work in one of our digs. I suppose it depends on the ingredients but would you have any idea how long you would have before it became unusable? 
 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
I know sod all about cement. We mix sand and cement on the surface and take it down dry in one of those American flat carry bags whose name escapes me. Whilst the cave is wet we mix it on site. You can get quick set cement in many DIY shops etc. The B and Q cement is said to set in 3O mins but I saw some in our local Chaplin's store that is supposed to set in 10 minutes. Willie also used a mix called " mudcrete " which I guess is self explanatory. Horses for courses I guess and depends on circumstances. Ultimately you have to get it to the place that you want it.
You can get ready mix in tubes but really it is supplied for jointing. You wont get much out of a single tube so its an expensive way of doing things.
 
M

mudman

Member
Thanks OR.
I was more ruminating on the possibilities I suppose. We have a small chamber that needs something to hold things together and was wondering about concrete to help reduce the amount of scaffolding needed. I was thinking that we'd need to take water along and mix it there as there is no readily available water supply. The tube idea would be an option so long as the concrete doesn't go off too soon.
Still exploring options really.
 
mrodoc

mrodoc

Well-known member
I would think that, in an innertube well packed and folded at both ends it would last a while.  The original Reservoir diggers lugged in over a hundred tubes with premix in them. The US bag OR mentioned is a Swaygo back and they are like gold dust at present as they aren't currently being manufactured.  They have the advantage of being ergonomically designed and have an Ortlieb type seal making them pretty waterproof (mine acted as a flotation device on a trip in Spain last year).  I have mixed the mix then with gravel in the cave to make concrete. The depressing thing is how much you need to make progress. I have just completed my third trip to wall up a boulder that peeled off and there are another two trips worth to complete the job. Then we can start on a 6metre shaft that requires cementing ........... :(
 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Mr O'Doc is quite correct. You need huge quantities of cement for the simplest of jobs. Six trips to fix one boulder when there are many others to deal with. Apart from dry stone walling, which Willie's team were good at, it just leaves the scaffolding. Sure unnatural and a tad unsightly but you get nowhere if you have to much of a purist approach.
 
mrodoc

mrodoc

Well-known member
A safer link is this:http://www.swaygogear.com/the-last-swaygo-packs/. However as I mentioned the packs are not in production. I thank my lucky stars I bought one in the states; I dithered for ages because it wasn't cheap but second hand ones are now selling on the US ebay for hundreds of dollars. If the material gets resourced then I am sure they will come back into production.
 
The Old Ruminator

The Old Ruminator

Well-known member
Bast@rd Postimage destroyed the ruddy thread by changing the image code.

Refer here for a bit on the subject-

https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=24999.msg309247;topicseen#new
 
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