Coated Cable
Carl Stahl Sava Industries has been manufacturing coated steel cable for 50 years now using nylon (PA), vinyl (PVC), Teflon® (FEP), polyurethane (PU) and polyethylene (PE). The benefits to coating cable are many, but largely deal in sealing-in lubricants, in prolonging cable life, achieving a desired aesthetic appearance, as well as keeping dirt and debris from contact with the bare cable strand itself and mitigating safety concerns.
But beyond these more obvious advantages to coated cable, extrusion also cushions the cable from shock and pressure, protects from pulleys from abrasion and is easy to clean.
Nylon Cable
Nylon cable, also known as polyimide (PA) coated cable, is among the most popular cable coatings in the industry and with good reason. For one, nylon jacketed cables have been shown to extend the life of mechanical cable by a factor three, which taken without any other nylon benefits, makes this extrusion material ideal. Nylon is also hard and durable, secondly. Its toughness and resilience make it the go-to coating for cables in cyclical applications, where cables are being directed over pulleys.
Sava lubricates our cables beneath the nylon extrusion, which further extends the life of the cable in cyclic applications. This lubricant dampens the bending stresses in the wire rope, promising longer cable life and cost-effectiveness of the overall mechanical system.
In push-pull applications, nylon coated cable, also impregnated with lubricant, reduces the friction present in the push-pull assembly. This allows for lower forces required to actuate devices.
Vinyl Coated Cable
Like nylon, vinyl coated cable material is wildly common. However, unlike nylon, Vinyl (PVC) is not as durable or resilient in applications where cables are being repeated cycled over pulleys. When using vinyl over pulleys, the coating doesn’t adhere to its substrate (cable), due to the manner in which is processed onto the cable. Unmoving or static cable applications, where protecting the cable from the elements is important, would make vinyl an ideal choice.
Despite its vulnerabilities to movement, vinyl coated cable has wide-ranging utilitarian applications, nonetheless. No matter how dry or wet, exposed or not the vinyl cable is, PVC extrusion performs exceptionally well in most environments. Accompanied by UV inhibitors, vinyl coated cable will remain stable under excessive sunlight, making it well-suited for outdoor applications.