OUR STORY

It all started three years ago when I had the opportunity to be a early adopter for a new CNC machine that was being brought to market. I’ve always loved making art projects on industrial machines at work, and this allowed me to have one in my own backyard! I was beyond thrilled! In preparation for the machine’s arrival, we poured new concrete and turned our rat and spider-infested red barn into a laboratory of sorts.

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Once the new machine arrived, I was at a loss for what to create first. So many fun possibilities! Luckily, a professional dominatrix friend gave me a great idea: creating custom rigging plates for Shibari. My partner and I were in the middle of integrating with our local rope community, and we were so happy to connect with these lovely humans.
 

We noticed that most rigging plates on the market were either rescue or climbing-specific. They have a useful aesthetic (ugly), to say the least. There’s nothing wrong with rated gear…in fact, we encourage it! I fully trust my life to it when hanging 1,500 feet off the ground while big wall climbing.

-People want aesthetic rigging plates to showcase their art of suspension.-

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The other rings and rigging plates on the market are often made overseas, where material quality control isn’t of utmost importance. Resellers in the United States have been purchasing these suspect cast rings and plates since they’re able to get them for around $5 a ring and mark them up to $100. None of the imported rings are being tested and they certainly haven’t been engineered specifically for suspension. Unfortunately, most of the rigging plates found in suspension studios are cast aluminum or steel, which is horrifying.

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Cast material without proper temperature and pressure controls during the cooling phase creates defects and voids in the material that you can’t see. As the material ages, these voids become brittle and crack, ultimately reducing the life of the ring and potentially leading to sudden rupture; which means injury or even death for some of the riskier suspensions we do. There were two cases of broken cast rings last year; in one, a person landed on their face and broke their front teeth.
 

In climbing, we mitigate risk by using redundant systems and undeniably strong hardware. Suspension is inherently risky, but it’s within our risk profile. So why should we further endanger people in suspension by using unrated, untested cast gear? We believe it’s the responsibility of both the facilitator and the person being suspended to know the origins of the gear being used; otherwise, full consent cannot truly be given.
 

That’s where we come in. By combining engineering know-how, our craving for artistic expression, and B’s creative eye, we make a dangerous duo ready to take on even the most complicated projects.
 

Here’s a rundown of what we do and why:
 

Material

 

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We use certified, aerospace-grade, extruded aluminum 6061-T6511 from the same distributor that supplies aluminum to the bulk of the aerospace industry in the PNW. As well as various other manufacturers of things that absolutely should not break. All the material we use is scanned for defects before it leaves the foundry. We switched to American aluminum to keep prices as low as possible (because tariffs suck). More importantly, we want to ensure no one ever experiences a failure with our products, so aerospace-grade aluminum is worth every penny. All material comes with a certificate of inspection from the foundry. Unfortunately, many vendors claim their material is “aerospace grade” with no proof that it actually is…watch out for that.

 

Design

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Normally, a client gives us a quick napkin sketch of what they have in mind. This gets us on the same page. We take that design and create a CAD model, which we turn into a rendering. We go back and forth a few times until you’re totally satisfied with the design.
 

Finite Element Analysis​​​​​​​​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the design is locked by the client, we run simulated stress calculations and iterate until it meets our standards. Our rings are rated to at least 16,000 pounds of force prior to failure. Yeah, 16,000 lbs! That’s like a dump truck or two full-grown African elephants! 😆 “Why don’t you do dynamic fatigue analysis?” Great question. Steel is a magical material that doesn’t fatigue when loaded under its yield point (the point where it starts deforming permanently). Aluminum doesn’t behave the same way, so fatigue is important — just not for our use cases.
 

For example, say we’re suspending two full-grown adults doing wild, circus-like dynamic movements that cause extra loading on the rigging plate. If we compare a worst-case dynamic load of 900 pounds of force to a minimum breaking strength of 20,000 pounds of force, that’s about 4.5% of its breaking strength. That means you could load this ring under that worst-case scenario millions of times before reaching a concerning fatigue point. On average, we’re suspending about a quarter of that load, which makes fatigue even more negligible. Additionally, most people aren’t suspending every single day, meaning the ring’s lifespan is well beyond a human lifetime — if taken care of properly.

 

“But why not use steel?”  

– It’s heavy for transport  

– It’s slower to machine  

– It’s simply not required  

 

If we can use a super lightweight material and still achieve strength that surpasses most climbing gear on the market, why wouldn’t we? (We do and we love aluminum very much 🥰)
 

CAM (Programing G-code)

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Since we start from a solid block of aluminum, it helps to imagine it like a chunk of marble with the design hidden inside. We use special tools to make it appear. The machine itself is essentially a three-axis robot that uses spinning tools instead of a chisel, so we have to program the robot to use the tools it has available to create the part. This process can be a bit tedious, especially for custom designs, which is why we charge more for them.

 

Machining

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Equal parts satisfying and stressful, especially for custom designs 😆. Because we’re machining complex geometry, holding that chunk of metal in the machine can be complicated. We usually have to make a fixture to suit the design being made. A fixture is just a clever way to hold onto the part so it doesn’t go flying when the robot starts machining. We use our original machine to make fixturing for the bigger machine so we can work more efficiently. Once the fixture and material are installed, we start the program and watch with a mix of delight and fear as the robot violently carves away aluminum. Most projects are done in two operations: the front side and the back side. It’s crucial to flip the part evenly otherwise a terrible offset shows up in the design.

 

Destructive Testing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My personal favorite step! 🙂 Who doesn’t like breaking things for science? Down the street from our shop is a destructive testing engineer with a tensile test machine (it pulls things until they break) capable of applying up to 25,000 pounds of force! Through our partnership with them, we can test our products to the absolute limit, did I mention how fun it is? We destructively test all of our in-house designs and collect data that we later analyze and roll into future design constraints for custom projects. At this point, we know pretty dang well what geometry works and what doesn’t based on these tests.

 

Finishing

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Once the design is fully machined, we give the part a quick rinse in soapy water to remove any residual coolant from the machine. From there, it’s packaged up and sent off to the anodizer; a company that treats the metal to add color and corrosion protection. If we’re not anodizing a piece, we’ll either hand polish it or give it a brushed finish.​​​​​​​​

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Shipping

 

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I don’t know… this part is boring. Just placing freshly finished rings into boxes and death-gripping them so we don’t accidentally drop one on the ground.

 

It’s a lot of work for the two of us, and having full-time jobs outside of this makes the whole endeavor even more arduous. I hope this gives a good behind-the-scenes look at what makes Subspace Designs what it is. Ultimately, suspension hardware should be undeniably strong, and we’re on a mission to make sure our community has access to that gear. (while making it aesthetic of course) 

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It’s up to all of us to make sure our community is educated on the dangers of cast rings. Our dream is to never see another unrated cast ring in a suspension space ever again!

If you or someone you know has a suspected cast ring we’re offering a buy back program. Send us your sketchy gear and we’ll give you $60 toward a new safe ring from our online store. We’ll recycle them and or break them to make a fun display showing defects and voids of different rings that get sent to us. Send us a message on our contact page to get more info.