[TowerTalk] Opening Steel Hardwre AFter 15 Years

[Steve Maki]

On 04/15/20 15:16 PM, jimlux wrote:

>>> For a few dollars, safety wires seem to me to be a good value 
>>> insurance, but YMMV for risk taking.

>> Absolutely. I was only gently correcting the common notion that 
>> turnbuckle safety wires are to keep a tower from falling if the 
>> turnbuckle *breaks*.
>>
>> Which it (the safety wire) certainly will NOT do unless it's installed 
>> way differently than is common practice.

> For that, I've seen a short cable with crimped loops on the end, or a 
> big loop, that's connected "in parallel" with the turnbuckle (not 
> through the turnbuckle eyes, but through the loops that mate with the 
> turnbuckle eyes.  I can't say that it would save anything, but maybe it 
> would.  You've got all the "small radius bend" problems.
> 
> It might be purely a psychological crutch.

Yes, it would take a safety loop using the same termination methods as 
the guy wire itself. Eyes (with 3 cable clamps each) at each end of the 
the loop, hooked together with a shackle, or something like that. At 
least then the "safety wire"  would have a chance at surviving the shock 
load of a turnbuckle failure.

The normal way of having the wire wound thru the TB with the 2 ends 
connected together in parallel with a single clamp, which is how it's 
generally done in the commercial world, is obviously meant for other 
purposes.

-Steve K8LX