The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Techniques and skills => Topic started by: arobwk on November 22, 2016, 05:09:52 pm
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I have my own take on the Clipex system (after messing around with a trial order of various post types etc) and have just ordered 2 fields'/5 acres' worth to which I shall be applying bespoke mod's for end-strainers and corners. My mod's to the Clipex "system" worked well in trials (albeit with quite a few re-modifications!!). Whether they will work in the longer term, to produce a very durable fence, remains to be seen, but it's an experiment in minimalist fencing and I have braced myself for further/future mod's: however, I am actually very optimistic.
Just wondering whether anyone might have Clipex experiences to share !?
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I have used it. I wish they would do a strainer that you can hang a gate off :). And the limited holes to put the strainer braces in is a pain in the butt unless you have square fields.
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We've used it. Its great. We made chestnut box strainers for the ends and its important to strain the netting before putting the intermediate posts in or else you risk putting the post in line with the netting's uprights which is a pain. We did it right first time (cause we were following the youtube video) and wrong the second time (cause we thought we knew better) and then realised why we did it in the other order the first time. OH strained his back banging 200m of posts in in one day. but overall will never go back to wooden posts and staples. We're planning to do the next set with the clippex ends because the ground is so hard and its not much different in price. I know what you mean about hanging a gate off the strainer post but its never best practice to do that so I don't mind that they don't offer it.
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Putting the intermediates in after the netting is an annoyance, if like me you were putting the fence against a wall! ... one trick is to use the gripple wire tightener to move the uprights on the netting so that they align better.
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Quite a few thoughts in return so apologies for lengthy post:
(To note my set-up is for a combo' Roe deer/rabbit fence. I should also clarify that my earlier remark about durability referred only to my modifications to the “system”!)
Firstly: Foobar, have you considered drilling the “stay-fast” strainer post to take hinge pins? I'm wondering whether might be OK with a light-weight gate !? Also, a ground anchor might counter the sideways shift of weight on the strainer post as the gate swings open. (That said, I note DartmoorLiz's thoughts on the matter.) Also, I'm sure I've seen pics of “stay-fast” corners and/or 2-way intermediate bracing struts at various horizontal angles, but I have no experience of the “stay-fast” set-up so I imagine you have found limits wrt your needs.
Yeah, I'm also thinking Clipex is great! For ends, I'm using beefy posts with the added bracket to take a bracing strut. For corners; 2 beefy posts can, of course, be used instead of a “stay-fast” corner set-up. (Not cheap, but I calculate it is cheaper than a full “stay-fast” corner. However, I imagine rather more fiddly/time consuming if using stock-fence mesh.)
I am going to trial use of a single beefy corner-post with a brace bisecting the angle when my new Clipex order arrives. (Umm! – not really that keen on the idea, BUT will be very cost effective IF it works – am looking forward to seeing how it goes).
While the beefy bracket is designed to take a stay-fast strut, I've concocted my own bracing struts using scaffold tube and fixtures to form a floating brace. (Pic attached)
Having very rocky ground in places, I use a 40mm auger first so that I know the posts (beefy posts in particular) can be fully driven “manually” without hindrance. Proved particularly useful today on a critical corner – had to auger half a dozen holes before finding the sweet spot in between the rocks. (Have used auger also for a few non-beefy posts, but they were then almost too easy to drive! We shall see how they fare over time!)
As I'm not using stock netting, I won't comment on strain first or after.
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Rock is my main problem....i have one stretch I'm half way through doing which has a foot of soil and then rock underneath. No sweet spots! So I've bought a generator and a big sds drill with 1m long bits to break it up. I will use clipex rock posts but i have a bend that i need to do with beefies first. *groan* been putting off this job for weeks!!!
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Foobar: I have a couple of beefy-bends planned also. Would be pleased to hear how yours goes, if you get to it before me. Good luck with the SDS!
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An additional thought: before I discovered Clipex, I checked out the Staplelok system from Hampton Steel (ref' a Forestry Commission paper/guide on various types of fencing systems). Got no joy what so ever from Hampton or one of their suppliers regarding ends/corners. HOWEVER, I have just noted that Hampton Steel have seen sense and are now offering a 'system' for ends/corners (similar to a Clipex stay-fast arrangement). They have an interesting take on the matter. I haven't checked pricing.
(I'm thinking no angle problems with this one - ref' a remark made by Foobar.)
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"use the gripple wire tightener to move the uprights on the netting so that they align better."
Foobar - great trick. Wish we'd thought of it. Will do that next time because I agree that putting the netting up first puts it in the way for everything else.
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An update ref' my minimalist Clipex experiments: longest span between intermediates so far is some 15-16m. At that span, the 900mm height HT line wire for my rabbit mesh was feeling/looking a tad droopy with the mesh hung off it. (To note, I'm only straining to circa 125kg using gripple tool. Not about to test my concoction of components to, say, 150kg at the moment.) So have installed a 75mm half-round timber post (just £1.40 a pop) at mid-span and fixed the 900mm height line-wire to it (to level the wire mid-span). Feels much better - pretty tight actually. If the Roe give the lower section a test nudge, I reckon (fingers crossed) they will be put off trying to barge through.
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Cor , just had a look at the fencingsystem .. I wish it had been available 30 years ago.
my mate & I whacked in several hundred 3-4 ich posts usssing a back breaking heavy rammer tube with four handles ( Ex MOD emergency anti riot fence post inserter ) , nine years later they all needed replacing .
So we dug out the first post , then did a half way insertion & from there back to the normal spacings .
This last few eeks my pal near Landeilo has been using his 1 tonne tracked excavator with a hydraulic ram & 90 kg drop weigh to put in a few thousand posts round his fields .
He's still got a few more thousands to do , I think I'll tell him about the 30 year guarantee as his daughter will be inheriting the farm / riding stable business once he & his wife pop their clogs
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clodhopper - Not sure Clipex posts are actually "guaranteed" for 30 years. But, that said, my very limited order (10s of, not thousands of) do, indeed, seem very well galvanized. I'm a fencing novice, but I suspect they would need to be driven-in carefully with a hydraulic rammer so as not to over-drive. I'm driving man-draulically, but I've still been caught out a couple of times (while merrily !? hefting the rammer) before I realized the post was over-done.
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Actually, clodhopper:
I've just read through McVeigh Parker's guarantee doc' and you were right about the 30-year Clipex guarantee, BUT quite a bit of small-print. That said, the terms do not seem particularly unreasonable to me (given the nature of the product), but I wouldn't want to test the guarantee with my own set-up!
Hoping to complete a full 4-line strain to support a 2.5ac roe/rabbit mesh fence over next few days: unfortunately delayed, but I have, in mean-time, trialed one straight-line installation with a 7-line strain with a Clipex Beefy end-post set-up with floating braces as per previously posted pic. While the passage of time, with changing ground conditions etc, is the only real test, the trial 7-line strain has held up without any discernible end-post movement after many weeks. I was half expecting tester single-wrap brace wires or brace-wire gripples to 'pop", but they haven't. I suspect they are near limit though and, despite reverting to a 4-line strain, I am applying additional measures for what I hope will be the permanent installation! :-\
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How did the price compare to wooden posts, overall?
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YorkshireLass:
As I never considered a wooden post fencing system, I am not best placed to give a comparison, but, post for post, they will likely be more expensive. However, that is only part of the equation. Leaving aside installation effort/costs, Clipex comes in different post spec's (eco/standard/beefy) and different lengths from the shorty pasture post to the deer-fence posts. Much will depend on what you need to keep in (or out) and degree of stock pressure I reckon.
The UK Clipex distributor/main supplier is, of course, McVeigh Parker with an on-line shop (which gives all the various post prices), but there is at least one other supplier who advertises prices on-line also (can't remember who).
Luckily for me, I have a very local agri' supplies company who does regular business with McVeigh Parker and so my Clipex was delivered for free, i.e. without delivery charge by either McV P or my local supplier :) :)
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I have yet to mention that I now have several shallow angle kinks in my fence lines (less than 15 degrees off-line) which the Clipex 'beefy' post is quite able to bear without bracing (as advertised) and I have installed 3x larger angle (beefy) kinks/corners and a 90 degree corner all with a single timber 4" (or was it 5") floating-brace dissecting the 'corner' angle. (Actually, the 90 deg' was something like 87 deg' because I messed up my measures! I decided not to ferniggle, but did bury a gert big boulder - some 130kg or so - with wire cradle which I then wired up to the top of the brace to help counteract any additional lifting force on the beefy corner post.) I chose to trial a timber brace on the 'corners' instead of my initial scaffold tube/fittings concoction (as shown in a previous post) as a further cost saving measure.
Now, I do have to say, this is a trial which has not yet had any real test of time! However, am reasonably confident and I shall be rolling-out the 2nd field more or less as per. Single floating-brace corners, in particular, won't suit everyone, but I am not worrying about live-stock nudging the braces: the dissecting brace set-up also needs a bit of thought/measuring to make sure the corner beefy post is set to take the brace square-on (ish). Corner bracing intruding into the field is not great for me either, but I will plant willow-crop in the corners to compensate.
Was about to attach 'corner' pics, but they are rubbish. I'll post some better ones shortly.