Swaging sleeves for steel cable assemblies is one of the most commonly
performed rigging functions for lighter duty applications. Today, I'll teach you
everything you should know so you can safely and correctly swage sleeves for
your application. We're often asked whether it is better to form an eye with
hour glass sleeves or with wire rope clips. The advantages of using hour glass
sleeves is that they are stronger, they're more cost-effective, and they
also don't require any future maintenance or re-torquing or tightening nuts.
As you can see here, they are also a lot more streamlined than wire rope
clips. Where rigging products are concerned, swaging refers to the process
of using a tool or machine to apply force to a sleeve or ferrule so that it
will be compressed onto and around a portion of cable.
When forming swaged cable assemblies, there are primarily two types of wire rope that are used 7 by 7 and 7 by 19 strand cable.
The shape of the cable isn't perfectly round and is made of several strands of wires.
Shown here is quarter-inch, 7 by 19 hot-dip galvanized cable.
7 by 19 refers to the cable having six outer strands surrounding a center core strand that counts as the seventh.
Each strand is composed of 19 smaller wires.
If you look closely you can see the v-shaped area between the strands. This is referred to as a valley.
Most commonly, aluminum hour glass sleeves are used with hot dipped galvanized cable to form cable assemblies.
The aluminum is soft and when compressed by the swaging tool will be
forced into the valleys of the cable. Thereby, locking the sleeve into place.
To begin forming your swage cable assembly, first, make an eye by passing the cable
through the sleeve and, then, doubling it back.
Before swaging, position the cut end of the cable so that it protrudes from the sleeve for a link that is at least two cable diameters.
This will allow for full contact with
the cable when the sleeve expands during swaging. Place the sleeve into the tool
jaws. Note the proper orientation of the swage tool cavity with the aluminum
sleeve. The sleeve should always be vertically aligned and never horizontal.
With the sleeve in the proper position, make your first swage by squeezing the
swage tool handles together until the jaws are completely closed. For each
sleeve size there is a prescribed number of swage crimps that must be made.
In the case of this quarter inch sleeve it requires four swage crimps. Be sure to
leave a small space in between each of the crimps.
While the quarter-inch sleeve in our demonstration required four swages, different sized sleeves will require a different number of swages.
Two swages will be required for sizes 1/16 and 3/32.
For sizes 1/8 and 5/32 , three swages will be required.
3/16 and 1/4 sleeves will require four swages and 5/16 and 3/8 sleeves will require five swages.
When making multiple swages it is important to follow the correct sequence
for each size sleeve. The diagram here can be referenced for the swaging
sequences of different size sleeves. To make sure the swage crimps are done
properly, use the after swage gauge provided with the swage tool. Using the
corresponding gauged cavity slide the gauge over the sleeve. If the gauge turns
around the swage crimp area freely you then know it was done properly. If the
gauge does not slip over the swage crimp area then use the tool to swage the
sleeve again so that it is compressed fully.
When swaged properly the strength of this termination is 90% of the breaking
strength of the cable. For vinyl coated cable it is never recommended to swage
over the outside of the vinyl coating. Doing so will make a much weaker
termination. What is recommended is to cut the vinyl back far enough to make
sure the sleeve contacts the cable directly.
Using the same swaging method a lap splice can be performed to join two pieces of cable together.
Be sure to leave a small area in between each of the sleeves and extend the cable ends on
each side beyond the outer edge of the sleeve by at least two times the cable diameter.
The same number of swage crimps are required per sleeve as are required when making an eye loop.
Apart from aluminum, E-Rigging also carries zinc copper hour glass sleeves.
Zinc copper sleeves are what is recommended for stainless steel cable.
It is important to note that aluminum sleeves are not
recommended for stainless steel cable because of the possibility of the
aluminum corroding when in contact with stainless steel, and over time the
contact between the sleeve and the cable may weaken.
At E-Rigging, we carry the Tyler tool brand of hand swagers. There are five different sizes and each come
with a drop forged head and are powder coated, with durable rubber handles.
The fourteen inch size swages one 1/16", 3/32", and 1/8" sleeves.
The 24 inch tool swages 1/16", 3/32", 1/8", 5/32", and 3/16" sleeves.
The 30 inch tool swages 5/32",1/4", and 5/16" sleeves
and our 36-inch tool only swages 3/8" sleeves.
Like the 24 inch tool, our bench swager swages 1/16", 3/32", 1/8", 5/32", and 3/16" sleeves.
For more information on our swage tools, please visit our website.
We hope this video has cleared up any questions or concerns you might have
regarding the proper procedure for swaging sleeves for steel cable assemblies.
If you do have any further questions, please feel free to contact us on our website,
and please subscribe to our youtube channel for more information on various rigging topics.
I'm Tyler with E-Rigging.
Thanks for watching.