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Can you solder wire rope?
- Thread starter wayneh
- Start date
Lestraveled
- Joined May 19, 2014
- 1,946
UV resistant wire ties just means they will last a little longer. They make SS wire ties but they are not as pretty as the nylon.
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I played with cable ties today and was surprised that even a single cable tie, finger tightened, does a pretty darn good job. You can definitely adjust the placement of the joint by hand, but it's held firmly and I don't think it would move in the wind or under the weight of most plants. The edges of the nylon tie are driven against and bite the uneven surface of the rope.
I have to decide whether to attach two in a cross at each node or just the one, but I think I'll build version 1.0 with cable ties and see how they stand up.
I have to decide whether to attach two in a cross at each node or just the one, but I think I'll build version 1.0 with cable ties and see how they stand up.
OK, wrap-up time.
First, to answer the original question, I was utterly unable to solder the wire rope. I used the same torch, flux and solder I would use to sweat a copper pipe and I got nowhere. The flux lit on fire and turned black, but I never saw any movement of solder into the rope. It would melt and drip onto my garage floor, leaving a blackened cable behind. I didn't try for long and didn't use the proper flux mentioned earlier so I'm not saying it can't be done, just that it won't work with household supplies.
One reason I didn't spend much time on soldering was called by WBahn back in #17. Soldering might work for 1/16" cable, but 1/8" cable just wouldn't have enough contact area to withstand any flexing. Not without globbing on an awful lot of solder.
The good news is that I'm pretty happy with the crossed cable tie method. Here's an example joint. I bought one of these to spare my fingers while installing the 140 ties. I also used the ties to help keep loose cable ends from fraying.
One thing I realized about my design is that there is no way to pull the horizontal cables taut, and keep them taut with changing temperatures. The cable expands in the sun. Not much I can do about that. The fancy cross clips might help maintain a more precise looking grid, but I'm pretty happy with the cheapo result.
My installation:
With a jasmine plant:
First, to answer the original question, I was utterly unable to solder the wire rope. I used the same torch, flux and solder I would use to sweat a copper pipe and I got nowhere. The flux lit on fire and turned black, but I never saw any movement of solder into the rope. It would melt and drip onto my garage floor, leaving a blackened cable behind. I didn't try for long and didn't use the proper flux mentioned earlier so I'm not saying it can't be done, just that it won't work with household supplies.
One reason I didn't spend much time on soldering was called by WBahn back in #17. Soldering might work for 1/16" cable, but 1/8" cable just wouldn't have enough contact area to withstand any flexing. Not without globbing on an awful lot of solder.
The good news is that I'm pretty happy with the crossed cable tie method. Here's an example joint. I bought one of these to spare my fingers while installing the 140 ties. I also used the ties to help keep loose cable ends from fraying.
One thing I realized about my design is that there is no way to pull the horizontal cables taut, and keep them taut with changing temperatures. The cable expands in the sun. Not much I can do about that. The fancy cross clips might help maintain a more precise looking grid, but I'm pretty happy with the cheapo result.
My installation:
With a jasmine plant:
