Here at The Hotwire, we like to clarify questions asked by customers about our wire & cable products. Over the years, one of our most popular questions has been:

"I see that you manufacture custom cable assemblies and proof load them. What exactly is proof loading?"    

With more than fifty years of experience, we have been manufacturing wire & cable, cable hardware, and custom cable assemblies. In that time, we've seen everything you could imagine in the manufacturing process of cable assemblies. If cable hardware is swaged onto a cable correctly, it will hold the cable's minimum breaking strength, but if the cable hardware is not swaged onto the cable correctly, the fitting will slip or break.

Safety and quality are our first and foremost concerns, so we vigorously test our cable assemblies. But what does this entail? Our Cable Technology Division uses a flatbed tester that applies tension to the assembly (Often to 60% of Min. Breaking Strength). Once we reach the appropriate tension, we release the tension and inspect the assembly for signs of failure (Slipped hardware, wire breaks, etc). But We don't stop there.

Not only do we proof load our assemblies, we will also take them to their breaking point. When we manufacture your cable assemblies, we always ensure that we make one extra. This extra assembly gets used as the breaker of the lot. This assembly gets tested on another machine that places it under increasing tension until it eventually fails. These two tests and our others ensure that your product is fit for use. Loos & Co is also AS9100 certified, ensuring quality standards when you buy industrial cable and cable assemblies from us.

Pictured: Break Tester

Well folks, that was a relatively easy explanation this time! Keep your questions coming, and we'll do our best to answer them in future editions of the HotWire FAQ!