Repetto Spider

Closed for use

Open for rigging

Technical details

I acquired this Repetto Spider from Inner Mountain Outfitters in 2003.

The two side plates are made of 3.1 mm. aluminum. The lower ends of the side plates are bent to converge at the attachment point.The attachment point on the fixed side plate is enlarged to a 23 mm. high by 13 mm. wide hole located 3 mm. off center.A similar hole on the pivoting side plate has been cut open on the narrow side, so the side plate resembles a hook. The opening of the hook is covered by a spring loaded, stamped steel, sheet metal guard which is roll riveted to the side plate. A second hole (14.3 mm) in the fixed side plate allows attaching a second carabiner to assist in locking off.

The bollards are turned aluminum with four rectangular projections keep them from rotating on the fixed side plate. The bollards are drilled and tapped then bolted to the fixed side plate with 7 mm. bolts. Shoulder nuts lock the bollards in place and also retain the pivoting side plate. The pivoting side plate pivots on the lower shoulder nut and has a slot to allow clearing the upper nut. Unlike the Petzl Bobbins, both bollards are identical with U-grooves.

The pivoting side plate is screened with two icons illustrating how the descender is threaded, an open book icon, "REPETTO," "Spider" in an ellipse, and an utterly indecipherable icon that might be a map.

Comments

The Repetto Spider is fairly well made. The projections on the bollards provide a much stronger mounting than if the bollards had been just bolted on through a cylindrical hole with bolt and nut. Since only about one half of each bollard is exposed to the rope, the bollards wear unevenly. Most bobbins are designed to allow reversing the bollards, effectively doubling the life of the descender. The spider also allows interchanging the two bollards, a nice feature since the lower bollard will wear faster.

The Spider also comes in a left-hand version.