When you have a building structure, installing reinforcements to a structure to prevent damage and collapse is crucial. This reinforcement is known as seismic bracing. A few products are commonly used in seismic bracing to ensure your structure is reinforced safely: bracing cable, swaging & crimping tools, and cable cutters. Continue reading to learn more about these three products and their use in bracing installation.
Bracing Cable:
The key part of a seismic bracing setup is using durable bracing cable. Loos & Co., Inc. offers bracing cable in 250 ft. spools in #G03 gold, #OR4 orange, #GR6 green, and #BL8 black. The various sizes are tested to different load ratings, with the gold cable having the lowest rating at 418 lbs, and the highest-rated black cable with a load rating of 3,180 lbs. Bracing cable is recommended to be used with high-quality zinc-plated oval sleeves and SAF clips that make secure brace connections stronger than the cable itself. It is crucial you choose bracing cable that complies with the International Building Code.
Swaging & Crimping Tools:
One of the first steps to attaching cable to a structure is wrapping the cable around the top or bottom of a bar joist or a steel beam. After the crucial step to secure the connection is swaging an ovel sleeve. To make this possible, a hand swager or battery swager needs to be used. A durable hand swager is an economic swaging tool that will ensure proper cable connections that exceed the breaking strength of the cable and will swage a specific size of cable sleeves. A battery swager has replaceable tools that allow for all four cable sizes to be swaged. It is recommended to buy a battery swager that can operate in confined spaces and is fully enclosed with weather-resistant housing.
Cable Cutters:
After determining the length needed for your seismic bracing installation, you will need to use cable cutters to cut the excess cable. While many assume that any cable cutter would suit the task, we recommend using high-quality FELCO Brand cutters. These cable cutters have unique triangular jaws to ensure you never leave a frayed end on your cable and are lightweight enough for overhead cutting.
By using bracing cable that complies with the International Building Code, precise swaging tools, and high-quality cable cutters, your seismic bracing installation will run smoothly. If you are looking for a place to buy these three commonly used seismic bracing products, visit Loos & Co., Inc.’s newly updated Seismic Bracing Cable website!
We manufacture code-compliant bracing cable, durable hand-operated and battery-powered swagers, and a line of FELCO cable cutters. If you want to browse our newly revamped product webpages you can go to our website here. Alternatively, if you have any questions, we are happy to help! Reach out to us by phone at 1-800-321-LOOS (5667) or by email at sales@loosnaples.com.