Free Swivels!!!

[Mikey100]

Hi all,
I'm looking for half a dozen guys to test out some swivels that I have designed - hoping to get them tried out on as wide a range of birds as possible

I'm looking for an honest appraisal from some experienced guys- which I'm sure I'll get on here!!

If anyone is interested please let me know
thanks

Mike

[Kanati]

what test have you already done? its a big ask to attach a bird to a swivel tat might be pants.

i have tested a swivel looking like that before and they are not a good shape for the jesses, and I found they break suddenly and without warning. Because of the shape I used them on the lure instead and one day the bird hit the lure and kept it! :D glad hes was well trained and came back to me anyway...

[DeathFromAbove]

kinda looks like the sampo swivels mostly used in the states.???

[Mikey100]

hi- they were modelled on the sampo- and have been tested to 500lb+ without breaking- i have already sold 600+ of the original-without incident- this is a revised version and I am looking for constructive criticism ready for version 3
regards
Mike

[Kanati]

i will test a couple for you.... will pm you my address

[DeathFromAbove]

aye i might test one out for u mate - altho you'll understand that i'll have to take other precautions incase it does fail, don't wanna loose my bird.

how have you tested them so far?

[Falcons7]

I'll give one a try Mike!



IHi all,
I'm looking for half a dozen guys to test out some swivels that I have designed - hoping to get them tried out on as wide a range of birds as possible

I'm looking for an honest appraisal from some experienced guys- which I'm sure I'll get on here!!

If anyone is interested please let me know
thanks

Mike

[Stephen]

ill try one on the harris for you mike.
what sizes do they come in ?

[Mikey100]

Thanks for all of your responses- both here and by pm- by my reckoning that is Kanati, Hannah, stephen,Andyuk, deathfromabove and falcons7-i think that'll about do it!!.- the nominations are now closed!!!

Guys-could you please let me know what birds you fly and more importantly what width jesses u use so I can send the right sizes and pm your addy if you haven't already and I'll get them in the post tommorrow.

As you'll appreciate I have put quite a lot of time and money into this-and the feedback will be very commercially sensitive so I wil need you to agree to send any feedback direct to me- rather than post it on the forum?

thanks again for volunteering

regards

Mike

[Pitbull]

hi- they were modelled on the sampo- and have been tested to 500lb+ without breaking- i have already sold 600+ of the original-without incident- this is a revised version and I am looking for constructive criticism ready for version 3
regards
Mike


is it tested at a smooth 500lb as the sampo ones tend to break as a bating bird puts different pressure on the swivel than a dangling fish, I have seen the brass ones stretched so traditional stainless steel for me
Good luck on them though

[OutFlying]

I use a sampo stainless steel swivel on the gos whilst tethered to the screen perch, also know of a few others that do the same. Never had a problem with a Sampo s/s swivel. If your's are of the same or better quality they will be fine.

Jim.

[Mikey100]

Hi Pitbull,

thanks for the comments-As you can appreciate I have researched this fairly well -the technology is from swivels that are designed to hold a 1000lb+ marlin which does anything but dangle- cabable of bursts of speed of 100mph+-twisting and turning all the way- sometimes taking an hour to land. No BOP is going to generate that kind of torque.-( my 500lb rating is well within its capabilities- it did not break at this force- it was just the largest I could measure at the time)

-there are only two ways that it is possible for the swivel to fail- constant wear over time- which is really only a problem with brass and base metal- these are neither- (and the internal spindle would have to wear away by at least 50% for this to happen)- or the casing breaking- which is virtually impossible to do hitting it repeatedly with a hammer- so also unlikely in normal use.

I have no concerns whatsoever about the strength/durability of the kit- I am looking for feedback- on useability/ suitability of size, amount of tangling experienced etc

- if you would like to try one let me know!

[Miguel]

If you need to go international I have 25 birds that could test it... From kestrels to bald eagles...

[Hawkmaster]

So let us know more on the costs and what makes them different from the Sampo I use now? I will happily test too.

[Flying High]

never used ones think that before and i would be very interested in knowing how the test works. if you need to test on small birds i fly birds from American kestrels to red tails to eagle owls.

[OutFlying]

They are less likely to tangle than an English style swivel and impossible to bend unlike a traditional swivel (due to the fact both rings rotate).

Jim.

[Barbary Boy]

i think i bought some of these off you from ebay didnt i ? a couple of them had unwelded rings. are these really different from those ones?

[Mikey100]

Hi guys - thanks for the comments and offers to test- I think I have enough volunteers for now!

Hawkmaster- I believe these are a better spec than a sampo- certainly seem to spin more easily and tangle less- haven't tested one to destruction yet- but hopefully jester is going to arrange that for me on a test rig-and I reckon they may do better than a sampo on overall strength also.

the main difference though is the price- I've seen sampos at £8-£15 each- I got some from the States and they cost about £4 there.Don't know what you are paying?

These I can now do for £2 each(+P&P) for a min of 5- I sell them on ebay and they sometimes go for even less than that(unfortunately!). The main prob with the sampo is they cost too much so people tend to use them for years- then they fail(wear out) or gunge up. I have tried to bring them in at a price that means you can renew them every year if you want to play safe- tho as I've said I have no concerns about their durability at all

Barbary boy- if you have bought swivels from me and the rings were not welded-I apologise- you should have contacted me straight away- - pm me with your address and I'll replace them no problem

[Jester]

it looks like they might be too small to get an accurate destruct test done in the 600 tonne test bed at work but i can still rig it up to a load cell and pull until it breaks while filming the readout on the cell which will give an ultimate breaking load.

as someone already mentioned a staight forward pull until it breaks is going to be slightly different to the streeses encountered in use so i am thinking about setting one up like it would be in use with a pair of jesses and a leash as well and dropping a weight the length of the leash several times followed by a dye penetrant inspection to get the shock load effect before doing the destruct.

thinking about starting with a 2lb weight dropping a full leash length and gradually working up to higher weights until either something breaks or i run out of suitable weights. Does everyone agree this will be adequate to put your minds at rest regarding the strength of these

im asking the question on here to see if that will be suitable for the tests as you guys are the ones who will be using the equipment and there is little point in testing like this if people are going to come back and say " no point in that test as X, Y or Z is how it should be done"

of course the pictures/video and dye penetrant results will go to Mikey100 first but i thought your input to make the tests more valid would be a good thing

[Stewigan]

sounds like a good test to me, let us know the results tho it would be interesting to hear what the outcome is

[Afshimo]

The swivels are pretty good, at the moment, they are on Shiroand jabbu, but I'll the 2 small ones on the kes and little owl on sat.

Very neat swivels, light weight (small is 6g, large is 12g)

Mike, e-mail comin ure way!

[StormRider]

They look good! If u've got owt left I wouldnt mind giving them a try on my FHH or Scottish Tiercel.
PLEEEEEEEZEEE

[Kentish Falconry]

Thanks for all of your responses- both here and by pm- by my reckoning that is Kanati, Hannah, stephen,Andyuk, deathfromabove and falcons7-i think that'll about do it!!.- the nominations are now closed!!!

Guys-could you please let me know what birds you fly and more importantly what width jesses u use so I can send the right sizes and pm your addy if you haven't already and I'll get them in the post tommorrow.

As you'll appreciate I have put quite a lot of time and money into this-and the feedback will be very commercially sensitive so I wil need you to agree to send any feedback direct to me- rather than post it on the forum?

thanks again for volunteering

regards

Mike

Hi Mikey
Remember me? we have had long conversation about your swivells and I bought some from you on Ebay.
Guy's these swivells are good in fact I would say they are as good as or even better than Sampos the only problem I have had is with the size of the rings,
even with Arab shabuk there is little space left. I could make smaller Jesses or should I say thinner but I was worried about leather stength.
However Mikey told me he had designed some new ones with bigger rings but had to sell off the stock he was holding first.
There is no way I could hold my Gyrs on these swivells but if the ring size has now been altered then send me some for testing
Regards
Terry

[Mikey100]

Hi Terry

thanks for the comments- both here and previously on the phone

The new swivels are now in production with a 17mm ring- but i have given away all i can at the moment- so unfortunately you have missed the boat!!

Getting some good and constructive feedback from the guy on the forum though for the mark 3!!!

the swivels are available on ebay auctions and from me direct for £10+£1 p&p for 5- less than the price of one sampo- but special offer for you guys who didn't get them free- £12 for 10 if you order before Christmas!!!!
regards

Mike

[Kentish Falconry]

Hi Terry

thanks for the comments- both here and previously on the phone

The new swivels are now in production with a 17mm ring- but i have given away all i can at the moment- so unfortunately you have missed the boat!!

Getting some good and constructive feedback from the guy on the forum though for the mark 3!!!

the swivels are available on ebay auctions and from me direct for £10+£1 p&p for 5- less than the price of one sampo- but special offer for you guys who didn't get them free- £12 for 10 if you order before Christmas!!!!
regards

Mike

Send me 10 then Mikey will pay by PayPal or cheque whatever suites you best
Have you still got my address?
Terry

[Out Hunting]

Go on then ill test a couple for you, though initially i will take other precautions.

[Fletch]

I've been using mikey's swivels for a few weeks now on my MHH, bought from ebay, I've had no problems, infact I would'nt go back to the old style, they're very well made and excellent value for money.

[HawkEagle]

I also use swivels similar to these. They are very good. Mine are ball bearing and I've never had jam jesses any more. I got mine from deep sea angling shop. If it's good enough for big fish it must be good enough for my bird.

[Mikey100]

Hi fletch thanks for the kind comments- pleased they're working out for you

Thought it might be worthwhile feeding some of the info back into the forum from the tests
First of all thanks to all of the guys who helped me out- Pleased to say that the feedback was all very positive. And I have been able to take away a couple of ideas to test-
It was suggested that a static top ring may improve handling and also a squaring off of the top ring to prevent jess slippage- I will be looking into this over the next few months
As for the min concern on the forum of the strength of the swivel- Jester was kind enough to carry out a series of tests for me and with his permission I’ve added his findings here

“first one i set up with piece of leather (leather was a strip with a slot in each end like jesses and connected to a shackle) and leash to pull as it would be fitted on a bird.
results: dropping weights ranging from 1/2lb to 5lb a full leash length had no effect on any of the parts. grabbing the leash and physically trying to shock load it by hand saw figures of 60 kg with no ill effects.
connected to a chain block and destruct tested
results: pulled 80kg before leather snapped. tried a bit of leather as big as i could fit through the ring pulled twice and both times 90kg was seen on readout before the leather snapped again. (snapped at one of the slots every time)
connected the swivel with leash at bottom and carabiner clip at top to see how much the swivel itself coud take (leash tied off to 250kg test weight )
results: top ring started to deform at 220kg then the weight picked up without breaking swivel. The only visible damage apart from the deformation was the plating came off the weld area on top ring. still want to break one just for my own curiosity LOL
my opinion in the order of breaking would be

1: the jesses
2: the birds legs (birds have very strong legs but in compression not tension)
3 and 4 would be a toss up between the swivel or the leash ( be nice to find out)"

Hopefully this will reassure anyone considering trying out the swivels!

thanks for all the work you put in Alan

[Merger]

Are you at the fair, I may try a couple for you, if you like.