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Fantastic tool

woodmanrog

Well Known Member
For the longest time I have been agonizing over purchasing a cable tool to help me do safety wiring. For years I have done the normal safety wiring with a twist pliers and I have to say that due to some expert training, I have gotten pretty good at it. The only problem I have is that I have rather large hands and I almost always end up bleeding from reaching into small spaces to put on a safety wire. A good example is the suction screen at the bottom of the engine. Well, a couple of weeks ago I purchased a Bergen Safety wire tool from AS to give it a try. There are other choices from different manufacturers but they are even more expensive. My wife (after seeing what I purchased) thought I had lost my mind spending that amount of money on a miniature caulking gun. I admit that I have agaonized over this purchase for a couple of years. Anyway, I went and did it. I ordered the unit with the 7 inch nose piece so that I could reach into the most inaccessible areas with no trouble. That was a bit of a mistake because AS only handles the 18" cable which will not work with the longer nose piece in some applications. Again, the cables are muy expensive. ($1.00) each. I called Bergen and Don the sales rep was kind enough to send me a 50 pack of 24" cables as an introductory offer at NO CHARGE. After using this tool for my oil filter change I can't say enough about how fantastic it is. I think it would be a great investment where there are several homebuilders to offset the cost and share the tool thereby making it more cost effective. This plan may eliminate the possibility of having to buy more expensive jewelry for the missus to justify your love of tools. And by the way, no blood showing after the oil filter and suction screen maintenance.
 
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What is this thing? A safety wiring tool? It only refers to a "cable."

Are there any videos showing how to use it?

Dave
 
What is this thing? A safety wiring tool? It only refers to a "cable."

Are there any videos showing how to use it?

Dave

The last bit of the Spruce description has it --

This series of ergonomic Terminator Tools will enhance the efficiency and cost savings that can be realized from the use of Bergen Safety Cable? System as an alternative to lock wire.

My highlight.
 
Well, I feel a bit vindicated in not having a clue what the OP was talking about.

It does look a bit like buying a Maserati to get groceries in Manhattan, though...


;-)
 
Well, that was interesting.

I wonder how a mechanic would use that to wrap a loop of cable around something, since this doesn't fasten itself to itself. Their website alludes to such a use but doesn't give the part number or show how to do it.

Other than that, rv7charlie seems to have nailed it. Not sayin' it wouldn't do a good job, though....

Dave
 
Didn't want to seem too harsh...

Actually, I can see some advantages to the technique. And no doubt, there are situations where it solves nearly impossible safetying issues, or production environments where speed saves so much money that it justifies the tool & wire expense, not unlike electrical crimp connectors.

If it used standard safety wire and cost $10 more than a pair of safety wire pliers, I'd be all over it.

Charlie
 
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Super expensive tool but sometimes required in tight spots where no other tool can get to....like the prop bolts on a PC-12. But if you own and maintain a PC-12 then this is chump change....especially for the time it saves.
 
There were some items on the engine that were safetied with these things when delivered from Lycoming. I wanted one, and looked into it, but too pricey for my budget :).
 
Super expensive tool but sometimes required in tight spots where no other tool can get to...
The main wing attach bolts on my Lancair are way back in a hole. It was impossible to get a twister in there to safety wire the bolt head, so I used a "diddle stick". It took all frikkin' day and I was close to a nervous breakdown before the job was done. This might be the tool I needed for that job.

This looks like **** but my wing hasn't fallen off yet:
H0RZUJ.jpg
 
If I have to pull my WW200 RV prop one more time I might be driven to try this. I dread doing the safety wire on that thing. Cut the price in half and I?m there right now

Erich
 
If I have to pull my WW200 RV prop one more time I might be driven to try this. I dread doing the safety wire on that thing. Cut the price in half and I?m there right now

Erich

ditto, this is the go to tool for industry. clean installs and proven.
 
A while back I was testing 1/16" hardware store cable for a project. I crimped a loop at each end with hardware store ferrules and used my wire crimpers... three crimps per ferrule.

The first strand of the cable failed just past 500# of pull..... I think a tool to do the pull and crimp would be easy to make. The cut should be no problem. This would be a good project for Mr. Antisplat.

Hardware store supplies makes this a nice option to safety wire. Oh, BTW... The ferrule that I set with my wire crimpers, never moved.
 
Thinking this over a little more, isn’t this thing really just crimping a couple ferrules on a piece of 0.032 cable and snipping off the excess cable? The materials should be readily available. Couldn’t the ferrule crimping be done simply with a specialized set of needle nose pliers or vice grips at much lower cost? Pretty sure I can snip off the excess cable close enough to the ferrule to be acceptable.

Hey Alan at Antisplat- you listening?

Erich

Edit: Ha! Gasman and I thinking alike and he beat me to the punch
 
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It would be interesting to see how the strength of this system compares to braided stainless steel fishing line with crimp on sleeves.
I believe the 50 to 80 lb test is about .031 diameter.
 
Hmmm, now that's an interesting idea. Strength shouldn't be an issue. And why not just crimp to safety wire itself?
 
Hmmm, now that's an interesting idea. Strength shouldn't be an issue. And why not just crimp to safety wire itself?

1/16" cable is way more flexible to get a snug fit. The ferrule would grip the cable better than a solid wire.
 
I have an 18" safety wire driver. It is a must have for tight places like prop bolts. Thus far, it hasn't let me down and it's less than $20. Maybe I am missing something about this tool?
 
What's the trick to using those? Do you use extra-long tails on the safety wire so you can thread them through the holes in the tool? Somebody make a YouTube video, please!

Yes. Fish the safety wire thru with long needle nose, bring it out, snake both ends thru the driver, grab both ends of wire and push the driver down and twist it up. Biggest challenge is cutting it off in a tight space.
The driver works well in tight spaces where normal safety wire pliers don't have room to spin around like FWF areas.
 
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