Making wire Rope or Cable

[NOBLNG]

I didn’t know what to use for cable on my winch so I tried some elastic thread that I hoped would look like synthetic rope. I then switched to some picture hanging wire (.034” diameter) that I had. It looks better but it’s a little out of scale. After I had it permanently mounted I figured out how to make a more accurately scaled one by twisting the copper strands out of some CAT 5 cable which came out to .024” diameter. After a bit of paint it looks pretty good. I just discovered on another website that fly tying wire also comes in these super small diameters and comes in a tin plated style which forms easily like the copper, but would not require painting.

Edited December 3, 2020 by NOBLNG

[peteski]

OK, this seems like useful info, but which is that fly tying wire in your photos?
Also it would be good to show a straight piece, instead of it being tightly wrapped on a small diameter piece piece of styrene.

 

And since I'm critiquing things, I might as well mention that you might considering correcting the subject line of this thread before the post edit time expires. It will be easier to find that way.

Edited December 3, 2020 by peteski

[NOBLNG]

10 hours ago, peteski said:

OK, this seems like useful info, but which is that fly tying wire in your photos?
Also it would be good to show a straight piece, instead of it being tightly wrapped on a small diameter piece piece of styrene.

 

And since I'm critiquing things, I might as well mention that you might considering correcting the subject line of this thread before the post edit time expires. It will be easier to find that way.

Thanks for spotting the typo. I don’t have the fly tying wire and I’m not 100% sure it comes in a small enough size. That is just what I read on another website and may be worth searching if someone was in need of larger amounts of cable.  This copper one is made using six strands of the Cat 5 cable, each of which is .007” diameter. The darker one is the picture hanging wire. Finished diameter of the cable is 0.023”.

Edited December 3, 2020 by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

Ok, I cut up a USB cable. It has two small and two large wires. They are tin plated I believe, so shouldn’t need any painting. The larger ones are the same size as my previous copper one. That works out to 0.024” finished diameter, which would be a 5/8” cable in 1:1 (assuming a 1/25 scale model). The smaller one works out to 0.016” finished, which would be a 7/16” cable.

Edited December 5, 2020 by NOBLNG

[peteski]

All good info - thanks Greg!

And some stranded wires are already tinned, so they don't need to be painted silver.

[gotnitro?]

If you want to maintain flexibility another option is braided fishing line . Comes on a roll, works great for winches on wreckers too. One warning its very durable and cutting is difficult except w very sharp blades 

[Dragline]

Or just do what Armor modelers do and buy some at the hobby shop. If they don't have some they can order it. But the work you put into this is certainly worthwhile.

[NOBLNG]

12 hours ago, gotnitro? said:

If you want to maintain flexibility another option is braided fishing line . Comes on a roll, works great for winches on wreckers too. One warning its very durable and cutting is difficult except w very sharp blades 

I had though of that, but didn’t think braided fishing was available in an aluminum or metal color? The leaders are far too rigid to wrap around a drum.

10 hours ago, Dragline said:

Or just do what Armor modelers do and buy some at the hobby shop. If they don't have some they can order it. But the work you put into this is certainly worthwhile.

I imagined it could be sourced out somewhere. 

Here is a link to everything you might want to know about cable and more.     
https://www.hanessupply.com/media/pdfs/tmc-by-section/01-Wire-Rope.pdf

 

[gotnitro?]

Braided line can be painted any color to represent wire and its very flexible and rolls up tight on drums