Introduction to Swage Sleeves

Huyett Marketing Department
12/02/2021

Swage sleeves are a common fastener used in creating wire eyes and lap splices in wire rope. There are a few different types of swage sleeves available, which makes choosing the right one for your application important for achieving reliable results.

What are Swage Sleeves?

Swage sleeves, also known as ferrule sleeves, cable ferrules, or crimp sleeves, are cylindrical, metal tubes used for terminating ends of wire rope. They are a widely used solution for many rigging and lifting applications as they are stronger, more cost effective, and require less maintenance than wire rope clips.

Selecting the Right Swage Sleeves

There are three common styles of swage sleeves manufactured in three popular materials. Knowing how each style and material works in a given application is critical to ensuring safe rigging or lifting operations.

Types of Swage Sleeves

Hourglass swage sleeves , often called double barrel sleeves or duplex sleeves, are a single piece swage sleeve with two opposing creases that run the entire length of the sleeve giving the sleeve a double barrel look. They offer the smoothest crimp compared to oval swage sleeves and are stronger than stop sleeves. When installed correctly, hourglass swage sleeves are capable of holding the rated breaking strength of the accompanying wire rope, however it is imperative to load test the connection before putting it into service.

Oval swage sleeves are oblong and feature a smooth outer face. Their egg‑shaped profile is designed to bind the end of a wire rope into a loop allowing them to operate in the same manner as hourglass swage sleeves. Oval swage sleeves are stronger than stop sleeves and used in the same applications as hourglass sleeves. When installed correctly, oval swage sleeves are capable of holding the rated breaking strength of the accompanying wire rope, however it is imperative to load test the connection before putting it into service.

Stop sleeves make for simple swaging and are designed to terminate the ends of wire rope to prevent fraying. They are often installed by hand and used in light duty applications to keep the end of the rope from passing through a panel. When installed correctly, stop sleeves are capable of holding up to 1/3 the rated capacity of the accompanying wire rope, however it is imperative to load test the connection before putting it into service.

Swage Sleeve Materials

Aluminum

Aluminum swage sleeves are an economical solution and good for both indoor and outdoor applications. They are commonly used with hot dipped galvanized steel cable and fill the valleys of the cable when installed. Aluminum swage sleeves should not be used with stainless steel wire, as prolonged contact between the two materials will cause galvanic corrosion.

Copper

Copper swage sleeves are an economical solution for loop or lap slices and are commonly found in plain, zinc plated, and tin plated finishes. Zinc plated swage sleeves provide corrosion protection and an attractive finish. Tin plated sleeves also provide added corrosion protection along with a flat, low sheen, non‑reflective finish. Copper swage sleeves can be used for both indoor and outdoor applications and hold up well when subjected to heavy shock loads due to their resistance to slippage.

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel swage sleeves provide the best corrosion resistance to withstand the most challenging conditions and can be used with galvanized or stainless steel wire. Due to the material hardness, stainless steel swage sleeves are installed using hydraulic, pneumatic, or full‑length swagers to achieve proper, maximum swaging dimensions.

Installation Tools

Aluminum and copper swage sleeves are often installed using either a hand held or bench mounted swager. Stronger, stainless steel swage sleeves require higher tonnage swages including pneumatic, hydraulic, or full length swages.

Hand Swagers

Hand swagers come in different handle lengths to accommodate a range of swage sizes. The longer the swager's handles, the larger the swage sleeve that can be installed. Hand held swagers are convenient, mobile, and great for installing swages in the field. They are also capable of crimping hourglass, oval, and stop sleeves.

Bench Mounted Swagers

Bench mounted swagers are secured on a work bench and are ideal for quick, repetitive, swage sleeve installation. Most bench mounted swagers can accommodate swage sleeve sizes ranging from 1/16" up to 3/16" and can crimp hourglass, oval, and stop sleeves.

Heavy Duty Swagers

Due to the increased material strength of stainless steel swage sleeves, heavy‑duty swagers including pneumatic, hydraulic, or handheld full‑length swagers are used for installation. Using standard hand held or bench mounted swagers may not crimp the swage sleeve enough to reach its maximum swaged size, resulting in a sleeve that could slip and prematurely fail during use.

Swage Sleeve Gauges

Swage sleeve gauges are simple tools used to determine if a swage sleeve has reached its maximum swage dimension after installation. They allow the operator to use one tool to quickly measure various swage sleeve sizes by sliding the gauge over a crimped sleeve. If the sleeve is not able to freely slide into the appropriately sized slot on the gauge, additional swaging is required.

Installing Swage Sleeves

Properly installing swage sleeves are critical for safe, reliable operations. Use the following guidelines to ensure safe operation, but remember to always load test every wire rope assembly prior to putting it into service.

When creating a wire rope assembly using swage sleeves, ensure that the cut end of the cable protrudes from the swage sleeve at least two cable diameters. This will allow the sleeve to maintain contact with the cable as it expands during installation.

The number of sleeves used in an assembly is dependent upon the size of the cable being used. Reference the chart below for a detailed look at how cable size impacts the number of sleeves required as well as the correct installation sequence needed for successful assembly.

SWAGE SLEEVES

The number of crimps required is determined by the size of the wire rope sleeve. Larger sleeves require more crimps.

SWAGE SLEEVE SIZE	# OF CRIMPS REQUIRED
1/16" and 3/32"	2
1/8" and 5/32"	3
3/16" and 1/4"	4
5/16" and 3/8"	5
1/2"	6

CRIMPING SEQUENCE

Just as each swage size requires a varying number of crimps, the crimping sequence is equally as important:

The same crimping sequence is used for lap splices.

Download the above infographic here.

There are a handful of things to be mindful of when installing swage sleeves.

Do not install swage sleeves over vinyl coating. When working with vinyl coated cable, cut back the vinyl coating so that the swage sleeves contact the wire rope directly.
Orient the sleeve so that it is vertically aligned to fit within the swage sleeve cavity in the crimper's jaws. Swage sleeves should never be placed horizontal in the tool as this will improperly crimp the sleeve.
For lap slices, leave a small space exceeding no more than 2 rope diameters between swage sleeves where the cables overlap.
Use a swage sleeve gauge to determine if maximum swaging has been achieved.

When properly installed, hourglass and oval swage sleeves are capable of maintaining over 90% of the breaking strength of the cable. However, ALWAYS perform a load test prior to use to ensure the reliability of the assembly.

More Than Just Swage Sleeves

Huyett is a manufacturer and master distributor of lifting and rigging hardware with a comprehensive selection of wire rope sleeves, U‑bolt clips, fist grip clips, wire rope thimbles, and welded rings. To learn more, visit Wire Rope Hardware & Clips or contact our Sales Team.