Discover the importance of choosing the right cutting method not just based on precision, but on the stainless steel cable's ultimate function. Learn about the unique advantages and considerations of hand-cutting, fuse-cutting, and mechanical cutting, as well as the role heat plays in achieving a high-quality cut. This article is a must-read for anyone dealing with stainless steel cable in manufacturing, surgical systems, and heavy load support applications.
Steel cable is cable made from stranded steel wires. While the terminology changes, depending upon the diameter of the cable, steel wires helically stranded together can be known as wire rope, mechanical cable, miniature cable, and even ultrafine cable.
There are many operations that go into manufacturing mechanical cable assemblies, beginning with stranding steel or tungsten wires in large machines known as stranders or cablers. These machines twist the cable’s wires into helical configurations, and the cables they produce involve different wire counts, flexibilities, and break strengths, depending upon a host of factors determined by the assembly’s designers. Once the wire rope or mechanical cable has been stranded into its desired wire count and configuration, it is spooled and transported to a cutting production area where it undergoes a sophisticated cutting operation.
Mechanical cable ferrules, which can be referred to as swaged sleeves, or more often, cable crimp sleeves, can be applied to wire ropes or miniature cables using a hand tool or a machine press. But the success one has using hand tools to achieve the full rated strength that the cable assembly requires depends upon a variety of factors. In this read, Sava walks you through a step-by-step guide to using a hand tool to press a cable ferrule (or cable crimp sleeve) to a length of mechanical cable.
The cost to purchase wire ropre fluctuates considerably, depending upon an extensive range of variables. Familiarizing oneself with what exactly informs mechanical cable price equips cable buyers with the right cable material, diameter, and construction the first time, every time.
