attaching wire rope to small cable

[Al_C]

OK, out of the Roadster world and into the modeling world. If you are interested, the general area is garden railroading. I'm building a suspension bridge for my railroad and I need to attach 1/16 inch wire rope to 5/32 inch cable. The cable goes from one upright to the other; the wire rope form the vertical wires that go to the roadbed from the cable.

So far, my options seem to be welding, soldering, or gorilla glue. Since I don't weld, that's out. Soldering would have been my first choice, but getting the steel hot enough may prove problematic. Exterior gorilla glue could work, but will it hold up year-round outdoors?

Got any good ideas on how to connect the two cables?

[Bob Cowan]

How much weight does it need to hold? If it's not too much, a crimp sleeve works well.

[Al_C]

Weight - basically nothing. The vertical wires are for appearance more than anything. The bridge can carry the entire projected load based on the roadbed frame alone. The only question I have is... what's a crimp sleeve? That's not a term I'm familiar with ;)

[Jeff Kleiner]

Weight - basically nothing. The vertical wires are for appearance more than anything. The bridge can carry the entire projected load based on the roadbed frame alone. The only question I have is... what's a crimp sleeve? That's not a term I'm familiar with ;)

A crimp sleeve would be kind of like a wire butt connector only without any insulation. Sounds like an interesting and fun project Al... maybe you can share some photos with us!

Jeff

[Al_C]

Here's the bridge frame. Color is "International Orange", same as the Golden Gate:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=128398&d=1589505458

With "main" cable more or less in place:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=128399&d=1589505471

Here's the concept of how the wire rope (1/16") needs to attach to the main cable:

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=128400&d=1589505484

The bridge will span the waterfall of my pond. Previously, the train ran through a tunnel under the waterfall, but I could never solve the issues of water going over the side of the waterfall. This approach has the track going over the water, so the waterfall is much easier to manage. All of the water is going where it is supposed to, in spite of my landscape architectural ability (or lack thereof...). Once I get this connection issue solved, I'll post installed photos, since I know at least two people are interested!

[Just puttering]

https://www.amazon.com/Connectors-Electrical-Extension-Branching-Connection/dp/B01N0QCE4C

Look up eletrical t taps or connectors ?


Possibly hard wire for the verticals and you could wrap them around the main cable?

[JohnK]

If you wanted it to be somewhat authentic to the GG Bridge style, you could get a much thinner cable for the verticals loop it over with a small crimp right under the main cable, like this:

128409

[Fixit]

Spread the "weave" of the main suspension cable, and insert the hanging cable into it, and nip it flush. Then model a turnbuckle/clamp/attachment from thick epoxy or something. As you said it's cosmetic.

[Al_C]

If you wanted it to be somewhat authentic to the GG Bridge style, you could get a much thinner cable for the verticals loop it over with a small crimp right under the main cable, like this:

128409

John, I think this is the best approach. The wire I have (.06" diameter) is too stiff, but you got me thinking. #2 picture hanging wire is flexible enough to loop over the main cable and "tie" together (maybe with copper wire). That wire is .04" in diameter.

And yes, I am trying to more or less model the Golden Gate - I retired from a company based in Novato and loved crossing the bridge to get there from SFO.

OK, this problem is solved, I can get back to the final few items on 8650 before graduation...

[Al_C]

Since there are a few of you who expressed interest, here are some "finished" bridge photos.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=128762&d=1590071536
The above photo shows how I attached the vertical wires to the main cable. I wrapped #2 picture hanging wire around the cable and secured it with a hacked crimp connection. I took some spade connectors, cut off the connection end, stripped the shrink wrap plastic and used just the crimp portion. This one isn't pushed up yet to the top, but you get the idea.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=128763&d=1590071547
Here's the bridge in place over the waterfall. This is the third or fourth iteration of the waterfall - up until this spring it went over the track, but the continual leaking over the side of the waterfall was problematic. I think I pretty much solved that problem by taking this approach.

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=128764&d=1590071557
A wider view. Clearly, there is still a lot of work to do here. Next up are the approaches to the bridge and more landscaping around the pond. This water feature is 20 years old and was desperately in need of a re-do!

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=128765&d=1590071568
Here's a closeup of how the "suspension" connections were made. The verticals are stapled under and inside the roadway rails. The G-scale track will sit on top of the cross beams (made out of ripped 1x2s) Based on dealing with 20 years of this railroad, I've come to believe that letting everything float is better than trying to anchor roadbed and bridges. The frost heave does a number on everything annually, so we'll let the bridge and approaches float with the ground. We'll see next spring if that was a good idea or not...

[JohnK]

Very nice! Please post a video when the whole thing is up and running.