Wire Rope Direct News

Identifying your wire rope.

When using or choosing wire rope you need to be aware of its construction type so as to be sure you are using it in the correct way and for its recommended purpose, using a rope with a construction which is not suitable for the operation you are going to use it for could have a detrimental effect on its safety.

There are many types of rope constructions available today suitable for various purposes, the most commonly used top 5 are as follows.

The round strand wire rope;   this is a standard constructed rope used for general engineering purposes, often available in various constructions, for example; 6x36 or 6x19, this indicates that there are 6 main strands forming the rope, with each strand comprising 36 or 16 wires. This has no core or centre.

The fibre core wire rope will be the same as the round strand but will incorporate a core or centre made from either natural or man-made fibre rope/strands; this type of construction greatly helps the flexibility of the rope.

The wire core rope, again will have the outer make-up similar to the round strand rope but will incorporate a core made from wire rope/strands; this type of construction provides greater crush resistance and is also more suitable to use in higher temperature applications.

The compacted strand rope is where a rope has all its strands compacted in a machine which flattens and smooths the outer strands of the rope and also fills in the voids within the strands. This type of rope construction provides a rope with much greater wear and crush resistance.

The multi strand rope is non-rotating and come in constructions like 17x7, 18x7 and 19x7. These ropes may also be compacted  to provide a higher tensile strength.

It is also important to note the "lay" of the rope, this determines which way the outer strands of the rope are twisted during construction. i.e. a right hand lay will twist to the right or clockwise and a left hand lay to the left or anti clockwise. There are other types of lay for wire ropes, including; ordinary lay, where the outer strands are twisted in the opposite direction to the wires within each strand. Langs lay rope is where all strands both internal and outer are twisted in the same direction. Alternate/reverse lay means that the lay of the wire within the strand alternate round the rope between langs and ordinary lay. Other slightly less used lays are seales lay, warrington lay and equal lay.

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