Awl --

You know the loop at the end of wire rope, with a crimped-type band, often
around an "eye", maintaining the loop?

For the life of me, I cain't grok how that crimp holds, at such high load
ratings. It amazes me. It looks inherently weak, but apparently does the
job.
AND, if I have seen correctly, it seems that some of these crimps are
aluminum!

I would have thought some exotic-type brazing or welding would be required
for reliable strength.

Is this crimp method readily performed in a shop with a simple arbor press?

I may be requiring some of this to be done, but it just gives me the
willies, from a liability pov.

--
DT

DrollTroll wrote:

Awl --

You know the loop at the end of wire rope, with a crimped-type band, often
around an "eye", maintaining the loop?

For the life of me, I cain't grok how that crimp holds, at such high load
ratings. It amazes me. It looks inherently weak, but apparently does the
job.
AND, if I have seen correctly, it seems that some of these crimps are
aluminum!

I would have thought some exotic-type brazing or welding would be required
for reliable strength.

Is this crimp method readily performed in a shop with a simple arbor press?

I may be requiring some of this to be done, but it just gives me the
willies, from a liability pov.

--
DT

Not "crimped", try "swaged". Search on that and see the difference.

"DrollTroll" fired this volley in
:

You know the loop at the end of wire rope, with a crimped-type band,
often around an "eye", maintaining the loop?

The "eye holder thingy" is called a "thimble".

If the crimp is properly done, deforming the ferrule and embedding it
into the fabric of the wire rope, the joint is as strong as the shear
strength of the ferrule times the effective 'tooth' area, or the
tensile strength of the rope; whichever is weaker.

Try looking up the shear strength of common aluminum alloys, then
figure (say) a 1/4" wire rope having about 1/4 square inch of
effective gripping area of the ferrule embedded into the rope.

LLoyd

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com fired this volley
in . 3.70:

And Pete C. is correct. The "crimping" is called "swaging".

LLoyd

Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com fired this volley
in . 3.70:

And Pete C. is correct. The "crimping" is called "swaging".

LLoyd


Nicopress is the trade name.

http://www.nicopress.com/

--

Richard

(remove the X to email)

For the life of me, I cain't grok how that crimp holds, at such high load
ratings. It amazes me. It looks inherently weak, but apparently does the
job.

AND, if I have seen correctly, it seems that some of these crimps are
aluminum!


The aluminum ferrules and stops are not rated for lifting overhead.


Is this crimp method readily performed in a shop with a simple arbor press?


It is done with a hand tool that swages the ferrule and snaps 'over-center' to
assure the correct crimping. A ferrule may require two or more swages to obtain
the rated strength.


--
MacD

When the wire rope loops around the thimble, the friction force
reduces the pulling force of the opposing end by a great deal.

On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:42:32 -0500, cavelamb himself
wrote:

Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com fired this volley
in . 3.70:

And Pete C. is correct. The "crimping" is called "swaging".

LLoyd


Nicopress is the trade name.

http://www.nicopress.com/

When I worked in boatyards we called applying Nicopress sleeves
"crimping," as does Nicopress. "Swaging" was reserved for this
process:
http://www.porttownsendrigging.com/services/swage/

--
Ned Simmons

Ignoramus13707 wrote:

When the wire rope loops around the thimble, the friction force
reduces the pulling force of the opposing end by a great deal.

I don't think so. Many wire rope slings are sold with swaged thimbles,
that do not have the loop forming insert (not sure of the proper name).
It is the swaging which flows the thimble material into intimate contact
with the wire rope that makes the difference. In any case, the doubling
of the wire rope nominally halves the load on either side of the loop.

DrollTroll wrote:
Awl --

You know the loop at the end of wire rope, with a crimped-type band, often
around an "eye", maintaining the loop?

For the life of me, I cain't grok how that crimp holds, at such high load
ratings. It amazes me. It looks inherently weak, but apparently does the
job.
AND, if I have seen correctly, it seems that some of these crimps are
aluminum!

I would have thought some exotic-type brazing or welding would be required
for reliable strength.

Is this crimp method readily performed in a shop with a simple arbor press?

I may be requiring some of this to be done, but it just gives me the
willies, from a liability pov.


DT

Your eye splice, with just an aluminum Nicropress sleeve, is possibly a
Molly Hogan. Take a look at

http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/show....php?p=1572836

After the eye is fully formed, the two ends can be put back in lay, and
the Nicropress sleeve put over that, and it would be hard to tell that
from just a bent eye.

Don

On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:03:54 -0500, "Pete C."
wrote:


Ignoramus13707 wrote:

When the wire rope loops around the thimble, the friction force
reduces the pulling force of the opposing end by a great deal.

I don't think so. Many wire rope slings are sold with swaged thimbles,
that do not have the loop forming insert (not sure of the proper name).
It is the swaging which flows the thimble material into intimate contact
with the wire rope that makes the difference.

The "loop forming insert" is the thimble.

--
Ned Simmons

"cavelamb himself" wrote in message
m...
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com fired this volley in
. 3.70:

And Pete C. is correct. The "crimping" is called "swaging".

LLoyd


Nicopress is the trade name.

http://www.nicopress.com/

Hmmm.... when I worked for the phone company we had a straight connector
for solid open wire called a Nicopress also. It was pretty cool. It came
filled with an abrasive. You would slide it on and off the wire which would
polish off surface oxidation and knock the abrasive out of the tube. Then
we would crimp it in place. Basically a glorified butt connector with
enough strength to support a couple hundred feet of open wire under most
weather conditions.

Ned Simmons wrote:

On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:03:54 -0500, "Pete C."
wrote:


Ignoramus13707 wrote:

When the wire rope loops around the thimble, the friction force
reduces the pulling force of the opposing end by a great deal.

I don't think so. Many wire rope slings are sold with swaged thimbles,
that do not have the loop forming insert (not sure of the proper name).
It is the swaging which flows the thimble material into intimate contact
with the wire rope that makes the difference.

The "loop forming insert" is the thimble.

--
Ned Simmons

I see:

http://www.usrigging.com/thimbles.html
http://www.usrigging.com/sleeves.html
http://www.usrigging.com/swagingtools.html

On Oct 7, 3:10*pm, "DrollTroll" wrote:
Awl --

You know the loop at the end of wire rope, with a crimped-type band, often
around an "eye", maintaining the loop?

For the life of me, I cain't grok how that crimp holds, at such high load
ratings. *It amazes me. *It looks inherently weak, but apparently does the
job.
AND, if I have seen correctly, it seems that some of these crimps are
aluminum!

I would have thought some exotic-type brazing or welding would be required
for reliable strength.

Is this crimp method readily performed in a shop with a simple arbor press?

I may be requiring some of this to be done, but it just gives me the
willies, from a liability pov.

--
DT

I bought the swaging tool in Home Depot for $20. It looks like bolt
cutters with semicircular cutouts in the jaws.

Some say that copper crimp sleeves are best.

"Spelter" sockets which hold the wire with cast-in-place zinc or epoxy
are reputedly the strongest.

On Tue, 7 Oct 2008 15:10:18 -0400, "DrollTroll"
wrote:

Awl --

You know the loop at the end of wire rope, with a crimped-type band, often
around an "eye", maintaining the loop?

For the life of me, I cain't grok how that crimp holds, at such high load
ratings. It amazes me. It looks inherently weak, but apparently does the
job.
AND, if I have seen correctly, it seems that some of these crimps are
aluminum!

I would have thought some exotic-type brazing or welding would be required
for reliable strength.

Is this crimp method readily performed in a shop with a simple arbor press?

I may be requiring some of this to be done, but it just gives me the
willies, from a liability pov.

--
DT


I was in a place in nocal that specialized in rigging and watched it
being done.The press was a very large,probably in the range of 200
tons
http://www.inventionfactory.com/hist.../introwre.html
DaveB

"DrollTroll" (clip) I would have thought some exotic-type brazing or welding
would be required
for reliable strength. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Welding a stranded cable would be virtually impossible. Brazing or silver
soldering, if done very carefully in a temperature controlled oven, might
work. If done by me, with a torch, the filler metal doesn't properly wet
all the strands, and the outer strands get so hot the strength is shot.

Swaging or "crimping," or whatever you want to call it, works because the
length of the collar has made long enough to to match or exceed the strength
of the cable itself.

On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:12:47 -0700, Don Murray wrote:



DrollTroll wrote:
Awl --

You know the loop at the end of wire rope, with a crimped-type band,
often around an "eye", maintaining the loop?

For the life of me, I cain't grok how that crimp holds, at such high
load ratings. It amazes me. It looks inherently weak, but apparently
does the job.
AND, if I have seen correctly, it seems that some of these crimps are
aluminum!

I would have thought some exotic-type brazing or welding would be
required for reliable strength.

Is this crimp method readily performed in a shop with a simple arbor
press?

I may be requiring some of this to be done, but it just gives me the
willies, from a liability pov.


DT

Your eye splice, with just an aluminum Nicropress sleeve, is possibly a
Molly Hogan. Take a look at

http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/show....php?p=1572836

After the eye is fully formed, the two ends can be put back in lay, and
the Nicropress sleeve put over that, and it would be hard to tell that
from just a bent eye.

Don

You have discovered the proper way to inter-lay the end together prior to
crimping anything on the wire rope, congratulations. I have done this many
times. I used a hydraulic hose crimping press and dies to crimp the
sleeve.

I have a number of chokers that I have made this way.

The end is separated in adjacent strands of three and strands of four
strands due to the wire rope having seven bundles of wire. Then tied in an
overhand knot with the ends and pulled until they interlock. Then the ends
are continued to be re-looped through the eye and interlock each time. If
done right the ends blend together at the main length of the wire rope and
the sleeve is pulled over the end and crimped so the sleeve covers as much
of the intertwined loop as possible and still covering the ends. The size
of the loop must be the length of the sleeve and the finished loop
combined to be strong. Then crimped.

Then there is a Liverpool splice.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/squarer...7600183894973/

This was covered not long ago in a article in Woodenboat Magazine on
standing rigging. A true art in my opinion.

DrollTroll wrote:
Brazing/welding would anneal the wire and cause serious loss of tensile
strength.
JR
Dweller in the cellar


I would have thought some exotic-type brazing or welding would be required
for reliable strength.



--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth
If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes
Doubt yourself, and the real world will eat you alive
The world doesn't revolve around you, it revolves around me
No skeletons in the closet; just decomposing corpses
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dependence is Vulnerability:
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Open the Pod Bay Doors please, Hal"
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.."

On Tue, 7 Oct 2008 15:10:18 -0400, "DrollTroll"
wrote:

Awl --

You know the loop at the end of wire rope, with a crimped-type band, often
around an "eye", maintaining the loop?

For the life of me, I cain't grok how that crimp holds, at such high load
ratings. It amazes me. It looks inherently weak, but apparently does the
job.
AND, if I have seen correctly, it seems that some of these crimps are
aluminum!

I would have thought some exotic-type brazing or welding would be required
for reliable strength.

Is this crimp method readily performed in a shop with a simple arbor press?

I may be requiring some of this to be done, but it just gives me the
willies, from a liability pov.

--
DT


Zinced endings: There are three types of zinced endings: A cone is
formed from molten zinc poured into a mold in which a frayed rope end
has been inserted; sometimes a ferrule is used as mold and stays on
after pouring the zinc; or sockets are used instead of the ferrule. An
open socket has ears to hold a pin and cotter. A closed socket has a
loop or "bail." Both are heavy forgings and find widespread use.

All three zinced on endings need a good deal of preparation. The
rope's end must be broomed out, cleaned with acid and straightened.
Special endings: such as thimbles, clips, and clamps are quicker and
easier to apply than a zinc socket, but efficiency is not as high as
with other attachments. These are filed attachments and inspection is
necessary during service to make sure the nuts on the clips remain
tight and provide proper holding power. Clips are U-shaped bolts with
a grooved base and nuts to tighten-these and other grooved devices fit
around a rope to form loops, or to provide endings similar to zinced
sockets. In some cases, special thimbles and bolted clamps are used
instead of clips.

Mechanical endings: A mechanical splice consists of a loop in the end
of a rope and a sleeve pressed on the rope at the base of the loop to
hold the end of the strands in place

Swaged endings: Swaging is the cold-flowing, under pressure, of metal
fittings into the rope body, between strand sand wires. This pressure,
applied by press or by rotary swagers, elongates the fitting but
forces its metal inward so that the bond becomes permanent and
compact, yet as strong as the breaking strength of the rope.



DaveB

On Oct 7, 6:32*pm, RLM wrote:
On Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:12:47 -0700, Don Murray wrote:
DrollTroll wrote:

[Flemish bend...]

You have discovered the proper way to inter-lay the end together prior to
crimping anything on the wire rope, congratulations. I have done this many
times. I used a hydraulic hose crimping press and dies to crimp the
sleeve.

I have a number of chokers that I have made this way....

How do you equalize the tension in all seven wires?

Somewhere I read a suggestion to load the eye enough to move the wires
before completely swaging the sleeve. Without a rigging vise to hold
the eye tight against the thimble I found it difficult to do.

Jim Wilkins

"DrollTroll" wrote in message
...
Awl --

You know the loop at the end of wire rope, with a crimped-type band, often
around an "eye", maintaining the loop?

For the life of me, I cain't grok how that crimp holds, at such high load
ratings. It amazes me. It looks inherently weak, but apparently does the
job.
AND, if I have seen correctly, it seems that some of these crimps are
aluminum!

I would have thought some exotic-type brazing or welding would be required
for reliable strength.

Is this crimp method readily performed in a shop with a simple arbor
press?

I may be requiring some of this to be done, but it just gives me the
willies, from a liability pov.

--
DT

IIRC, they are poured molten zinc, probably with some alloys. It is called
a socket.

Steve

RLM fired this volley in :

http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/show....php?p=1572836

OR, you can use a TEENSY little marlin spike, and back-braid the eye!
G

LLoyd

In article .com,
"Pete C." wrote:

DrollTroll wrote:

Awl --

You know the loop at the end of wire rope, with a crimped-type band, often
around an "eye", maintaining the loop?

For the life of me, I cain't grok how that crimp holds, at such high load
ratings. It amazes me. It looks inherently weak, but apparently does the
job.
AND, if I have seen correctly, it seems that some of these crimps are
aluminum!

I would have thought some exotic-type brazing or welding would be required
for reliable strength.

Is this crimp method readily performed in a shop with a simple arbor press?

I may be requiring some of this to be done, but it just gives me the
willies, from a liability pov.

--
DT

Not "crimped", try "swaged". Search on that and see the difference.

Both processes are used. Crimping deforms the barrel, as in crimping a
terminal onto a copper wire. Swaging causes the barrel metal to both
deform and flow into the nooks and crannies of the steel wire (which
also deforms).

There is a nicopress barrel splice for solid wire where the barrel is
swaged down onto the wire, and then the barrel and wire within is formed
(crimped) into a zigzag.

Joe Gwinn

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote in message
. 3.70...
RLM fired this volley in :

http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/show....php?p=1572836

OR, you can use a TEENSY little marlin spike, and back-braid the eye!
G

LLoyd

Backbraiding wire rope is hard, and takes a long time and a lot of band aids
to learn. And it is not allowed according to a lot of OSHA standards. Poor
boy eye splices the same.

Steve

"Welding a stranded cable would be virtually impossible."

Really??? Tell that to the Navy Aviation Boatswain's Mates working on
aircraft carriers who regularly weld cables together whenever it's time to
replace the purchase cables of the Arrresting Gear engines. The new
purchase cable end is welded to a smaller cable "pig tail" and the old cable
end and then the old cable is pulled until all of the new cable length has
replaced all of the old ones around the various sheaves and pulleys in the
system. The weld job needs to be precise and strong or else the cable
connection would get stuck somewhere in the system or would break causing
hours and hours worth of corrective actions rendering the aircraft carrier
virtually crippled.


"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...
|
| "DrollTroll" (clip) I would have thought some exotic-type brazing or
welding
| would be required
| for reliable strength. (clip)
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| Welding a stranded cable would be virtually impossible. Brazing or silver
| soldering, if done very carefully in a temperature controlled oven, might
| work. If done by me, with a torch, the filler metal doesn't properly wet
| all the strands, and the outer strands get so hot the strength is shot.
|
| Swaging or "crimping," or whatever you want to call it, works because the
| length of the collar has made long enough to to match or exceed the
strength
| of the cable itself.
|
|

"P D Fritz" wrote: Really??? Tell that to the Navy Aviation Boatswain's
Mates working on
aircraft carriers who regularly weld cables together whenever it's time to
replace the purchase cables of the Arrresting Gear engines. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Are you sure they are really *welding* the cables, or are you just using the
term to mean "joining." Welding two cables end-to-end would require fusion
of the individual strands. Why would they do something so difficult when
there are easier ways?

Yes, they were/are welding. They were/are not brazing or soldering. They use
electric arc welders using 7018 stick electrodes!!!
They do it because they find it to be the fastest, the easiest and the
strongest way to accomplish the required job.

I was one of them.



"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...
|
| "P D Fritz" wrote: Really??? Tell that to the Navy Aviation Boatswain's
| Mates working on
| aircraft carriers who regularly weld cables together whenever it's time
to
| replace the purchase cables of the Arrresting Gear engines. (clip)
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| Are you sure they are really *welding* the cables, or are you just using
the
| term to mean "joining." Welding two cables end-to-end would require
fusion
| of the individual strands. Why would they do something so difficult when
| there are easier ways?
|
|

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"P D Fritz" wrote: Really??? Tell that to the Navy Aviation Boatswain's
Mates working on
aircraft carriers who regularly weld cables together whenever it's time
to
replace the purchase cables of the Arrresting Gear engines. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Are you sure they are really *welding* the cables, or are you just using
the term to mean "joining." Welding two cables end-to-end would require
fusion of the individual strands. Why would they do something so
difficult when there are easier ways?

I used to weld the old cable to the new when I was replacing the cables on
masonry block boom trucks. I would first weld a knob on the end of each
cable then weld the two ends together. Using the old cable to pull the new
one through, I then used a cutoff wheel on a 4" grinder and cut the old
cable off. It worked a lot better that brazing them together and I never had
one break during the threading of the new cable.
Steve

"Up North" wrote: I used to weld the old cable to the new when I was
replacing the cables on
masonry block boom trucks. I would first weld a knob on the end of each
cable then weld the two ends together. Using the old cable to pull the new
one through, I then used a cutoff wheel on a 4" grinder and cut the old
cable off. It worked a lot better that brazing them together and I never
had one break during the threading of the new cable.
Steve
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Okay, Steve, I concede. The technique you describe sounds like it would
work. Is that the way you did it, PD Fritz? I apologize for being so
skeptical. My mind was stuck on the idea that the individual strands had to
be joined.

On Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:05:57 GMT, "Leo Lichtman"
wrote:


"Up North" wrote: I used to weld the old cable to the new when I was
replacing the cables on
masonry block boom trucks. I would first weld a knob on the end of each
cable then weld the two ends together. Using the old cable to pull the new
one through, I then used a cutoff wheel on a 4" grinder and cut the old
cable off. It worked a lot better that brazing them together and I never
had one break during the threading of the new cable.
Steve
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Okay, Steve, I concede. The technique you describe sounds like it would
work. Is that the way you did it, PD Fritz? I apologize for being so
skeptical. My mind was stuck on the idea that the individual strands had to
be joined.

It threw me for a minute, too. The trick on this weld job is that
it doesn't have to be strong or flexible, since it isn't in normal
service. It only has to hold the two ends together long enough to
pull the old cable out and the new cable into the sheave system. Then
the weld and the old cable gets cut off, and the new cable gets
properly terminated in place.

When you think about it, that makes perfect sense.

-- Bruce --

"Up North" wrote in message
...

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
...

"P D Fritz" wrote: Really??? Tell that to the Navy Aviation Boatswain's
Mates working on
aircraft carriers who regularly weld cables together whenever it's time
to
replace the purchase cables of the Arrresting Gear engines. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Are you sure they are really *welding* the cables, or are you just using
the term to mean "joining." Welding two cables end-to-end would require
fusion of the individual strands. Why would they do something so
difficult when there are easier ways?

I used to weld the old cable to the new when I was replacing the cables on
masonry block boom trucks. I would first weld a knob on the end of each
cable then weld the two ends together. Using the old cable to pull the new
one through, I then used a cutoff wheel on a 4" grinder and cut the old
cable off. It worked a lot better that brazing them together and I never
had one break during the threading of the new cable.
Steve

Replacing 1 1/8" cable on an oil drilling rig was interesting. The cable
came in very long rolls. The first time it was strung, it was a booger
bear. But when the required amount was on the sheaves, blocks, and drums,
the cable was just dogged off. Since the pulling point at the top of the
derrick and the drill floor level remained the same, only the cable rigged
up would travel.

Usage was computed in ton/miles. When that was reached, the cable was
pulled/threaded through all the sheaves and blocks until new replaced old,
then the old was cut and deadmanned. It was all hard dirty dangerous work,
especially the first time. After that, there was a Chinese handcuff thing
that would join the end of an old section to a new spool, so no need to take
it all off. Still, though, at times, it was necessary to start from
scratch.

Steve

Leo Lichtman wrote:
"P D Fritz" wrote: Really??? Tell that to the Navy Aviation Boatswain's
Mates working on
aircraft carriers who regularly weld cables together whenever it's time to
replace the purchase cables of the Arrresting Gear engines. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Are you sure they are really *welding* the cables, or are you just using the
term to mean "joining." Welding two cables end-to-end would require fusion
of the individual strands. Why would they do something so difficult when
there are easier ways?


They are probably welding the end of a new cable (on a reel) to the end
of the used one--then they will pull out the old & reel in the new.

jerry

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
news |
| "Up North" wrote: I used to weld the old cable to the new when I was
| replacing the cables on
| masonry block boom trucks. I would first weld a knob on the end of each
| cable then weld the two ends together. Using the old cable to pull the
new
| one through, I then used a cutoff wheel on a 4" grinder and cut the old
| cable off. It worked a lot better that brazing them together and I never
| had one break during the threading of the new cable.
| Steve
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| Okay, Steve, I concede. The technique you describe sounds like it would
| work. Is that the way you did it, PD Fritz? I apologize for being so
| skeptical. My mind was stuck on the idea that the individual strands had
to
| be joined.
|

No apology required.
Sure, it does sound basically similar. The cables I'm talking about though
are 1 7/16 inch in diameter with each single strand approximately around
1/10". The "pigtail cable" that is about 3/4" in diameter and 2 feet long is
connected(welded) in between the new cable and the old cable to allow
maximum flexibility and maneuverability during its passage through the
various pulleys and fairlead sheaves in the system. Sometimes, even chain
links are used as a pigtail instead of a cable. I prefer the chain link
method myself.

"P D Fritz" wrote in message
...



"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
news |
| "Up North" wrote: I used to weld the old cable to the new when I was
| replacing the cables on
| masonry block boom trucks. I would first weld a knob on the end of
each
| cable then weld the two ends together. Using the old cable to pull the
new
| one through, I then used a cutoff wheel on a 4" grinder and cut the
old
| cable off. It worked a lot better that brazing them together and I
never
| had one break during the threading of the new cable.
| Steve
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| Okay, Steve, I concede. The technique you describe sounds like it would
| work. Is that the way you did it, PD Fritz? I apologize for being so
| skeptical. My mind was stuck on the idea that the individual strands
had
to
| be joined.
|

No apology required.
Sure, it does sound basically similar. The cables I'm talking about though
are 1 7/16 inch in diameter with each single strand approximately around
1/10". The "pigtail cable" that is about 3/4" in diameter and 2 feet long
is
connected(welded) in between the new cable and the old cable to allow
maximum flexibility and maneuverability during its passage through the
various pulleys and fairlead sheaves in the system. Sometimes, even chain
links are used as a pigtail instead of a cable. I prefer the chain link
method myself.

Dang. 1 7/16" stuff. I thought 1 1/8" derrick cable was big.

Steve