WORLD CLASS WINCHES
RELIABLE - DEPENDABLE - UNCOMPLICATED
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It is very essential that the rope is spooled on with as small angle as possible to a
line perpendicular from the centre of the rope drum. The fleet angle (a) in the sketch
below should not be much greater than 2° to obtain a perfect spooling. If this angle
is bigger than 3.5° good spooling cannot be obtained. The rope will not spool
properly and will only spool onto one side of the drum.
The distance (D) from the centre of the rope drum to the first rope sheave or roller
fairlead must be 10 times the drum width (W) and absolutely not less than 8 times
the drum width (W). If the distance is less than 8 times, it will be impossible to get
a good rope spooling. If the distance is less than 8 times the drum width (W), rope
spooling problems may occur.
4.3 How to improve rope spooling
When installing a drum winch, mount the winch as far as possible from the first rope
sheave or roller fairlead. Choose a winch with a drum width that allows you to have
the smallest possible fleet angle. Observe that a narrow drum needs more rope
layers for the same length of rope than a wider drum and that the pulling force is re-
duced with the number of rope layers unless a constant pulling force device is used.
It will always compromise between fleet angle and the least number of rope layers.
For winches with an
automatic rope spooling device
the fleet angle (a) can be as
much as 15° corresponding to a relation between D/W of 2.
D
a
W
D = <10 x W
W
D
W
a
Winch basics
