When it comes to purchasing wire rope, it is important to note that different types of wire rope lay are better in certain applications. The four types of lay are right hand regular lay, left hand regular lay, right hand lang lay, and left hand lang lay. In this Loos and Company blog we will explain the differences between right and left hand lay and the main abilities of regular versus lang lay.
Right and Left Hand Regular Lay:
Right hand regular lay is the most common type of lay. With regular lay, the wire rope denotes the direction of wire twists in the strand. The wires in each strand lie in the opposite direction from the strand. By design, most machines that wire rope is used on are meant for right hand regular lay rope as it is the most common lay type. Right hand regular lay is the most common as it can be helpful for a variety of different applications and complies with most equipment. In general,regular lay cable is more resistant to crushing forces than lang lay cable of identical material and size. Left hand regular lay has the same characteristics as regular right hand lay type, but the strands in left hand lay rotate counterclockwise around the wire rope rather than clockwise. The top left image is an example of right hand regular lay and the image below is left hand regular lay.
Right and Left Hand Lang Lay:
Similar to regular lay, the right hand vs left hand is merely the way the wire rope closes with the strands in left hand lay rotating counterclockwise and right hand lay rotating clockwise. With lang lay rope, the wires in each strand lie in the same direction as the strands. When looking along a length of lang lay cable, the wires will appear to angle across the rope, following the general flow of the strands. Lang lay cables are more susceptible to pinching and kinking than regular lay, which best suits hoisting applications where the cable only moves along one axis. Lang lay is typically more flexible than regular lay. The third image down on the left is an example of right hand lang lay and the image below is left hand lang lay.
Now that you know about the differences and capabilities of each wire rope lay type, you can feel confident in purchasing the right lay for your wire rope applications! If you would like to check out our wire rope options, visit our website here. Alternatively, our team is happy to help if you have any questions! Reach out to us by email at sales@loosco.com or by phone at (860) 928-7981.