LATCH & BATCHELOR LTD

Rope Care

Installation

Never allow a reel or coil of rope to be dropped off a vehicle, either lower it down a ramp or hoist it off the vehicle.
To prevent turn developing in the rope, with the consequent danger of kinks, it should be paid out from the reel or coil in a straight line, by pulling the rope and allowing the reel or coil to rotate against the action of a brake. Never throw turns of rope off the reel or coil. It is advisable to wind ropes directly from the reel to the winding drum, ensuring the rope is taken from the top of the reel to the top of the drum, or from the bottom of the reel to the bottom of the drum. Never wind top to bottom or vice versa.



Ropes should be completely wound onto the drum before cutting to length, so as to permit the release of any turn in the rope. After fitting a new rope it is advisable to run through its normal operating cycle for a number of trips under load at a reduced speed.

Multi-Strand ropes must be handled with great care. Due to the special construction this type of rope is easily damaged, if the lay is disturbed through turn in the rope or if the wire serving or fuse and taper at the end of the rope is removed. For this reason Multi-Strand ropes must be completely installed direct from the supply reel to the drum. Leave as much distance as possible between the reel and drum.

Where the rope is to be coiled in several layers on the drum it must be neatly layered against brake tension of the reel. Do not attempt to reeve the rope through the purchase and leading blocks before coiling onto the drum, as this is liable to induce turn into the rope resulting in disturbance of the lay when it is under load.

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Working Conditions

Careful attention to the design and maintenance of drums and pulleys is necessary if the ropes are to give satisfactory service. Reverse bends in the reeving of the rope should be avoided whenever possible.The maximum angle of fleet of the rope between drum and pulley should not exceed 22° for grooved drums or 1 2" for plain drums.



The direction of coiling of a rope on a plain drum, depending upon the lay of the rope, should be in the direction shown below.


The recommended minimum drum and pulley diameters (available on request) as ratios between the root diameter of the drum or pulley groove and the rope diameter will provide reasonable rope fatigue lives.
Any increase in these ratios will result in considerable improvements in rope performances. The dimensions of pulley grooves should conform with the following...
Radius R must provide clearance for the rope. For steel or cast iron sheaves this clearance should be between 5% and 15% with the optimum being 10%. This clearance should be regularly checked. Sheaves falling below 5% should be remachined or replaced.

For sheaves with plastic inserts, a greater clearance is required as the plastic deforms under rope load. For Locked Coil rope, these clearances are of particular importance.

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Rope life

Rope Inspection

Inspections should be carried out at the beginning of each work period and after any incident. During any inspection or examination particular attention should be paid to :

1. The point of termination of both moving and stationary ropes, including end fittings.
2. That part of any rope which passes over drums or pulleys.

Rope Discard

In order to decide when a rope should be discarded it is necessary to take into account the state of the rope and the conditions under which it works. As a general rule no rope should remain in service :

1. When the loss in rope strength due to wear, corrosion or both is approaching 1/6 (16%) of the original strength within a length of two rope lays.
2. When the loss in rope strength or surface embrittlement, or due to cracked or broken wires of any kind, is approaching 1/10 (10%) of the original strength within a length of two rope lays.
3. When the outer wires have lost about 1/3 (33%) of their depth as a result of any form of deterioration.
4. When the outer wires are becoming loose and displaced for any reason.
5. When the rope has become kinked or otherwise deformed, distorted or damaged, and the affected part cannot be cut out.

The ends of broken wires protruding from the rope's surface must be removed immediately by bending them back and forth so that breakage occurs as far inside the rope as possible. These wire ends will otherwise cross over adjacent wires causing consequent damage by crushing as the rope runs through sheaves or on drums, resulting in further breakages.

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Treatment of broken wire

Broken locked coil outer wires will not normally come out of lock in Latch & Batchelor ropes. However, the ends should be treated and in certain circumstances, new lengths of wire can be brazed into the rope.

These procedures are detailed in our Locked Coil Winding Rope Broken Wire Repair Manual, which is particularly useful to our overseas customers and available from our Technical Department.

When broken wires are discovered our Technical Department should always be consulted. We are able to offer the services of an engineer and laboratory facilities.

Broken wire ends should never be spot brazed or welded to retain them.

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