As avid fans of the HotWire, you are near experts in wire, cable, and wire rope by now. You've learned about the difference between a 7x19 and a 19x7 cable, and how the process of preforming is completed. You even know what the Minimum Breaking Strength (MBS) of GF12579 is! But, do you know how we actually test this? Let's take a few minutes an explain how we test our wire rope and cable.

Sure, we can say that we manufacture the highest quality cable and wire rope, but it's our strict testing that proves we do. Where many companies will simply do a break test, our Military Specification Cable takes it much further. Below you'll find a sampling of the tests that occur before we can give a lot of cable our stamp of approval!

Minimum Break Strength: We rig up a few feet of cable into this tester that slowly increases the cable load until cable failure. The tension at break is then validated with the specification.

Break After Endurance: This test is a good indicator of how your rope will perform in the real world. We set up a cable and cycle it over pulleys to replicate it's working life. Once the cycling is complete, we test its breaking strength.

Stretch Test: The cable is tension loaded and then measured for elongation. In the case of MIL-DTL-83420, if the cable stretch less than 1.5% of its total length, it has passed the test.

Temperature Test: To replicate the environmental extremes a cable goes through, it is frozen to under -50 degrees Fahrenheit. Once chilled, the cable is cycled for endurance and break tested once again.

As you can see, our Military Specification Wire Rope and Cable goes through a rigorous testing process - much stricter than the average hardware store cable. If you have any questions about our testing or quality procedures, or any other, please feel free to contact the HotWire, or Contact A Product Manager.