Home Gym Cable Repair

Hello!

In my home gym the cable broke and needs to be replaced. The cable is about 12-13ft holds 200lb. Is there a place in Chicago, IL or website where I can buy generic cable and cut it to fit my home gym.

The cable broke only at the end where it LOOPs. My cable looks like O

The cable ends on cable equipment are usually the same type used for light aircraft. Look up a plane repair shop and see if they can help you out.

Hello!

In my home gym the cable broke and needs to be replaced. The cable is about 12-13ft holds 200lb. Is there a place in Chicago, IL or website where I can buy generic cable and cut it to fit my home gym.

The cable broke only at the end where it LOOPs. My cable looks like

Hello!

In my home gym the cable broke and needs to be replaced. The cable is about 12-13ft holds 200lb. Is there a place in Chicago, IL or website where I can buy generic cable and cut it to fit my home gym.

The cable broke only at the end where it LOOPs. My cable looks like

It doesn't take a hydraulic tool for this size, just a mechanical Nicropress tool. I doubt HD sells them, but West Marine does (sorry about the long URL):
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ ProductDisplay ?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001& productId=72020 &catalogId=10001&classNum=10900&subdeptNum=11208& storeNum=2

Either of the 2 sizes shown on this page will swage 1/8' wire (the size typically used in fitness equipment, with a breaking strength of 1500 to 2000 lbs).

The best deals on 7x19 vinyl-coated galvanized flexible wire rope are at
http://www.mcmaster.com/

Look at Item Number 8912T51.

He only needs something that'll hold 200lbs. Two regular cable clamps and an eyelet should be around 5 bucks and hold quite a bit more than he needs.

McMaster has lots of way cool stuff. Give me an account at McMaster, Grainger and DigiKey, and you can build just about anything. Period.

- Tommy

You're correct, as long as the mechanical crimper fully closes it should be adequate. You can do electrical barrel splices with the mechanical crimpers as well, but I was never crazy about them. The hydraulic crimpers won't release until the required pressure is attained.

I have never seen anything like this. It is small, cheap and perfect for somebody who doesn't do very much swaging. And it swages from a socket wrench. Low tech cool!!

I have the big lever operated swager. It looks sort of like a big bolt cutter. It has several sizes of openings in it's jaw. I put the proper size swaging in it and do a chest crusher move with the tool. It takes three crushes to fully crimp the swaging.

I use both aluminum and stainless steel swages in mine. I also strip the vinyl coating of before swaging. Many people don't.

I also have a very nice pair of cable cutters. They look like a specialized pair of wire cutters. And they work very well on cable. (I have to hide them from my wife. She waants to use them on everything.)

Ever since acquiring the ability to cut cable and makes swages, I have made up hundreds of cables for various purposes. I use them to put a brace and turnbuckle on a sagging gate. I use them to store items attached to the basement and garage.ceiling. I have made all kinds of chain and cable setups for rehab purposes. I have used them to crate heavy machenery. I make up cables and attach them to eyebolts and strap the equipment to the pallet.

The most unusual request I got was from some folks into bondage. When they saw what I could do, they went into a creative frenzy. They had me make up all kinds of cables with rings, chains, eyebolts, etc in the ends. They proceeded to install these special cable units into their dungeon. I never got to see the final installation. It would have been interesting.

I got it to make gym equipment over twenty years ago. And I have been playing with it every since. (This is what happens when you let boys buy toys.)

Lee Michaels

PS: When you swage the cable, there is often a sharp peice of cable sticking out of the wage. What I do is to put two or three big pieces of shrink tubing over the cable. This can be obtained from any electronic store or supply. When the swagging is crimped, I slide the shrink tubing over it and apply a flame from a lighter to it. The shrink tubing then sshrinks around all the sharp cable ends.

I'd say 500 lbs, considering the dynamics and repetitive usage, to be safe.

True, as long as he strips the vinyl coating off first (and assuming his eyes are not offended by unaesthetic cable clamps 8-p).