Loading…
21
A call from a building manager in Tacoma made me check every single governor rope.
He said his elevator kept tripping on overspeed, but the speed tape looked fine. I went out there and found the problem. The governor rope had a single, almost invisible kink about three feet from the sheave, and it was catching just enough to trigger the switch. I would have missed it if I hadn't run my hand down the entire length. Has anyone else seen a governor rope fail like that without obvious fraying?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
chen.jade5mo ago
Yeah, that's the kind of thing that makes me check the rope tension too. A kink like that can actually shorten the rope's effective length just enough to change the timing. It's not always about the rope breaking, sometimes it's about the geometry being off by a hair. I've seen a similar catch happen from a tiny bit of built-up grease and dirt in one spot, making the rope just a little bit thicker right where it matters. Always pays to do the full hand-over-hand check.
5
david_martin5mo ago
Man, that's the kind of sneaky failure that keeps you up at night.
5
troy9772mo ago
Used to deal with this on old racing rigs all the time. A quick way to spot it is run your hand along the rope slow, feel for any spot that's stiffer or has a weird bump. Have you ever tried marking the rope with a sharpie where you find those spots? Makes it way easier to track.
6