Types Of Balustrade Wire Rope

When you are looking to install some new balustrade wire, an important decision to make is the type of wire rope that is suitable for your application.

At Chain Direct, we have 2 construction of marine grade stainless wire rope to choose from, both of which are commonly used for wire balustrading. These are the 7x7 wire rope and the 1x19 wire rope.

3.2mm 7x7 stainless steel wire rope is made up of 7 sets of 7 wires as shown here. This wire construction is quite flexible, allowing it to be looped around thimbles and fittings. It can also be easily crimped with metal copper swage fittings.

The 3.2mm 7x7 wire rope has a tensile strength around 6.2kN, which is around 600kg of break load, making it very strong and is popular choice for DIY balustrade system.

We also have 3.2mm 1x19 stainless steel wire rope. This construction is stronger that the 7x7 version as it is made from 19 individual strands twisted in a helical fashion.

However, this makes it heavier and less flexible than 7x7 and has a break load of over 8kN, or around 800kg, and will stretch less over the same tension compared 7x7.

1x19 wire rope requires stainless swage fittings such as bottle-screws, fork terminals and swage stud terminals to connect the wire to the fixing. These fittings require the use of a hydraulic swaging tool, which we also sell.

A question we are often asked is if the either of these wire ropes can go around corners.

The answer to this question is, usually not.

Changing direction with wire rope by bending it around a corner will decrease the ability to tension the wire. Therefore, the more acute the direction change or bend, the harder it will be to maintain good wire tension along the length.

Also, 1x19 wire rope is not very flexible and won’t bend easily around corners or direction changes. Additionally, wire rope will wear and chafe on the posts when used this way, causing undue stress.

Check out our range of wire rope, and feel free to contact us if you have any questions.