Rigging swage tool and swages

Ok so I searched around on here for a bit and saw a lot of people talking bad things about the bolt cutter style swage tools you can get at home depot. Well I just picked one up for 20 bones and some of the aluminum swages they had there for 3/32" cable. Long story short, I took a trashed trap line and put 2 ends on it with this tool and swages and picked up a Ford 300 straight six and AOD transmission, then stood on it. Over 500 lbs.

cool good to know. I am wondering what the difference in strengt is between the hand swagers and the professional ones.

I've been using the economy model for over a year with no problems.

Dave

I don't know if they're any different, but Im still going to get my swages from murrays for stainless steel. Also I had a question, Im going to make up some new trap lines using the pvc coated line from murrays....are you supposed to trim back the coating where you swage it??

Yes, get a go-no-go gauge as well. You can probably get good swage sleeves as fastenal or a local rigging shop cheaper.

The aluminum to steel combination is bad to corrode (Aluminum would be the anode and would corrode rather quickly if exposed to salt water). Try to match the swage to the cable material. A good source for these is www.mcmaster.com

I use a similar manual crimper that I bought on ebay for trap lines (but I'm not sure I would trust it for standing rigging).

yeah, what he said. having done this for years as "professional" and I use that term loosely. I've seen some god awful home swage jobs, that I can't believe haven't fallen down and injured somebody.

In fact when I see it on a boat, it's either let me replace everything, or find someone else.

Home Depot swagers and fittings are primarily designed for architectural jobs, not structural rigging.

so architectural isn't structural?

So tin plated copper sleeves or 304 stainless steel sleeves?

Nope. Architectural is no load cables to keep your butt on a deck or stairway. Nothing structural to it.

Jesus. Just had a thought, I like the looks cable railings, but can you imagine taking a header of the stairs into one.

Couldn't hurt much worse than turned balusters and an oak newel post would.

Tin plated copper is the usual swage for a manual swaging tool - commonly called Nicropress fittings.

Stainless fittings are typically end terminals - fork eyes, etc. They are installed using a roller type swaging tool.

And Tawd is correct - Architectural fittings are not supposed to be load bearing.

One common mistake I see, is people using lifeline fittings for standing rigging. Hey Bob, this fork eye is $5 cheaper than that one, let's use these...