A quick guide to Steel Wire Rope
Never bought steel wire rope before? What does 7×7, 7×19, 1×19 mean? Are you confused?? Read our guide to help you along……
What is the wire rope diameter?
The diameter is the overall outside diameter, regardless of the quoted strand. eg. 3mm 7×7 galvanised steel wire rope has an overall diameter of 3mm.
What does the strand mean?
The strand is how the steel wire rope is formed when being made, steel wire rope is made from multiple small strands of wire which is spun into a rope, different strands offer different characteristics, in general the more strands there are the more flexible the wire rope will be. See examples of our most common wire strands below
1×19 Steel wire rope, this is 19 single spun stranded wires, 1×19 strand is very stiff and is quite smooth as it is made up of fewest wires in our product range, this is typically used for wire balustrades and architectural rigging, usually used with swage on terminal ends. This wire is not suitable for wire rope grips or ferrules as it is usually too stiff to be back on itself, especially in larger diameters.
7×7 Steel wire rope, this wire has 7 main strands and each of the 7 strands has 7 wires. The 7×7 is a general use steel wire rope which is very flexible upto 3mm diameter, as the diameter gets above 3mm the 7×7 strand does become less flexible. 7×7 is more flexible than 1×19 strand but less flexible than 7×19
7×19 Steel wire rope, this wire has 7 main strands which are made up of 19 wires, 7×19 is extremely flexible and suitable for load running applications such as hoists and winches or any application where the steel wire rope is required to be flexible. If you are using steel wire rope grips we would recommend using 7×19 strand as the wire does easily bend back on itself.
Which material should I buy – Galvanised or Stainless Steel Wire Rope?
Galvanised steel wire rope is the most economically priced and the most popular wire, commonly used in gardens, most internal applications, catenarys, theatres, security cables, gym cables, retaining wires and any general use application, Galvanised wire offers a reasonable resistance to corrosion. Over time the bright galvanising coating can become dull.
Stainless steel wire rope is very resistant to salt water corrosion which makes it the ideal rigging wire to use at sea, all the stainless steel wire ropes supplied come highly polished which offers a bright and modern finish. Commonly used in yacht rigging, handrails, wire balustrade, wire garden trellis and architectural rigging. Stainless steel wire can be easily cleaned and perfectly restored with WD40 and a micro fibre cloth
How do I buy steel wire rope?
We sell the steel wire rope in 2 ways, either per meter or on pre-cut value reels. As you can see below, the same 7×7 galvanised steel wire rope is offered both ways.
Per Meter – if you have a specific length requirement then use this listing, if you require 130 meters for example then simply add 130 as a quantity, we will reel the wire rope onto a custom reel. The 130 meters will be supplied in one piece as a singular linear length.
Value Reels – most of our wire ropes will be available on 100 meter and 250 meter pre cut reels, buying the pre cut reels does workout slightly cheaper.
Multiple quantities of these value reels will be supplied as individual reels. eg. 2 x 100 meter reels purchased will be supplied as 2 x 100 meter reels (not as a 1 x 200 meter reel).
Coated steel wire rope
We offer both galvanised and stainless steel wire rope with PVC and nylon coatings. The PVC is the most common and cost effective compared to the harder wearing nylon. Nylon coated is usually used for gymnasium machines where a harder coating is required
We offer many colours such as red, clear, black, blue, orange, green, white, grey, yellow etc. in-fact no one offers more colours or variations of galvanised and stainless steel wire rope online the UK.
See below for an example listing of coated wire rope…..
This wire above is 2-3mm 7×7 clear pvc galvanised steel wire rope, this indicates that the wire is 2mm diameter 7×7 strand galvanised steel with a clear pvc coating that takes the overall coating to 3mm.
If you have any questions regarding steel wire rope please email the office sales@gsproducts.co.uk
