Electrical Cable Pulling Rope Low Stretch, High Strength, High Quality
Electrical contractors use pulling rope – from twines and twisted poly on the low end to polyester composite double braids in diameters up to 1 1/2 inches for heavy, multi-cable installations – to pull cable and heavy wire through conduit.
Only synthetic products are used in this application because natural fiber rope is heavy, absorb and retain water, and have coarse, abrasive surfaces.
Nylon rope should never be used to pull cable – it stretches and can snap back like a rubber band and cause serious injury.
We strongly suggest you make it a point to know what kind of rope you’re using, inspect it prior to every use, and if it starts to show signs of wear, replace it.
Pulling rope Applications and Properties
Double braided polyester composite rope is recommended for heavy pulls, especially where multiple cables are being installed. Most equipment manufacturers specify that the rope used should have very low stretch, and that its tensile strength be matched to the cable puller’s maximum pulling force, using a minimum 4:1 safety factor. So a cable tugger with a maximum pulling force of 8000 lbs. should use a pulling rope with a breaking strength of 32,000 lbs or more.
These polyester composite double braid prices are for cable pulling ropes made from low elongation, high tenacity yarns. Polyester has the lowest stretch of all industrial grade fibers.
The double braid construction consists of two ropes, one (the outer cover)
braided over the other (the core) in a balanced, block creel construction.
To produce a balanced braid, half of the yarn is twisted into strands in the “Z”, or right hand direction, half is twisted into strands in the “S”, or left hand direction. The rope is braided in such a way that the filaments on the outer surface of both the cover and core braids are parallel to the axis of the rope.
Braiding is performed on a machine with a given number of bobbins which hold the yarn strands. In many braiding facilities, when a bobbin runs out of yarn, it is replaced with a full one, and the strands from the old and new bobbins are connected in an effort to minimize strength loss. In a block creel construction, the same amount of yarn is measured on to each bobbin – so that every strand runs the full length of the rope.
It is significant that, as is the case with our polyester composite double braided pulling ropes, NFPA, OSHA, and other life safety ropes permit only the block creel construction method.
Our pulling ropes are MADE IN THE USA
Working Load Limit vs Minimum Break Strength
Minimum Breaking Strength (MBS) is the force that a given rope meets or exceeds in a laboratory test when it is new and unused.
Working Load Limit (WLL) is the maximum allowable capacity of a rope product in a particular application and should not be exceeded.
Most wire pulling equipment manufacturers we’re aware of specify a 4:1 Working Load Limit.
So a cable tugger with a maximum pulling force of 8000 lbs. should use a rope with a minimum breaking strength of 32,000 lbs or more.
To look at it another way, the Working Load Limit for a given rope may calculated by dividing it’s Minimum Break Strength by the Working Load Limit of 4. For example, to find the WLL of a 9/16″ diameter rope, divide it’s Minimum Break strength of 16,150 Lbs by 4 for a Working Load Limit of 4,030 Lbs.
All of our products are shipped within 1-2 business days.
To order by phone, call 1-800-875-8719, or order online below.
Pulling rope Alternatives
Twisted polypropylene rope can be used to pull heavier rope, or sometimes to pull cable. Its main virtues are that it’s inexpensive, light in weight, has a slippery surface, and has excellent dielectric properties. The downsides are that (a) it has some stretch – not as much as nylon, but more than polyester, and (b) it has a very low melt point and can start to melt and stick to surfaces it touches when frictional heat builds up.
All of our products are shipped within 1-2 business days.
To order by phone, call 1-800-875-8719, or order online below.
Woven polyester tape are offered for sale just for measuring and pulling. Woven polyester tape is a good step up from poly rope. The stretch is very low and the strength high. Available features include sequential footage markings for distance measurement and a detectable version with woven-in tracer wires.
WHY SPECIFY OUR WOVEN POLYESTER PULLING TAPES?
Our Woven polyester tape prices are, in many cases, lower than those for the twisted poly rope sometimes used for pulling fiber optic cable.
Remember using poly rope? Inconsistent lengths, bumpy splices? Stretchy, scratchy stuff. It was kind of like sanding the duct while pulling.
The construction of our woven polyester pulling tape means lots of distinct advantages over other pulling products:
It has accurate sequential footage markings.
It is made from low elongation polyester fiber, is pre-lubricated, and has a wide, flat profile – which means reduced friction and heat build-up, elimination of ‘sanding’ and duct burn-through, and prevention of snap-back in the event of a break under high tension.
It is easy to blow through conduit or innerduct,
It is supplied in continuous splice free lengths on sturdy wood or plastic reels.
All of our products are shipped within 1-2 business days.
To order by phone, call 1-800-875-8719, or order online below.
Polypropylene twine similar to those available for tie-downs at home improvement stores are used with power fishing systems. Electrical contractors use these poly twine only to pull heavier rope through conduit – not to pull cable. After being blown or vacuumed through the conduit, polypropylene twine is sometimes left in place for future use.
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