Palm Fiber Laying Machine
A laying (rope-making) machine for making palm fiber cordage.
I embarked on a bushcraft-inspired project to make rope from palm fiber. The challenge of hand-twisting fibers led me to design a laying (rope-making) machine. I envisioned a device that could feed bundles of palm fiber through gears, twisting them together in counter-rotating fashion, mimicking the traditional method but without the manual labor. Using Blender, I created and simulated the entire system.
After finalizing the design, I 3D printed the main housing and assembled it with a basic electric motor. The motor’s speed variability allowed me to control how fast the fibers twisted, aiming for efficient rope production. Although the project was never completed, with the gears still untested, it marked a creative exploration of blending natural materials with engineering.
The project in a largely unfinished state. This is before the addition of the speed controller and housing.