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I'm hoping someone on here with an engineering background can give me some advice re winch ropes. I've decided put a winch in a scratch built skidder I'm building instead of fitting it with a grapple. I'm thinking of using stainless steel cable for the winch rope, and wondering what sort or bend radius I can expect for 1mm or 2mm diameter stainless steel cable. I'm going to want to be able to drag somewhere in the region of 15-20KG of wood on the winch so wondering if 1mm cable will be strong enough. I'm hoping to use a winch drum of around 25-30mm diameter if I can get away something that small. I'm thinking I should be able to get around 7m of cable on a drum 30mm wide (PI*D*width for 1mm cable, is this right ??) in about 3 complete wraps on the drum). any advice would be great, also, what to people normally have fitted to the crawler after market winches ?

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Martin i think your best bet is to use fishing line steel tracer . Its far more flexible than traditional stainless steel cable so will bend easier around the drum .

Something like this will do the trick i think .

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/171674261879?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&chn=ps&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108&ff19=0

anything heavier will struggle to bend around such a small drum .

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Personally I would be looking at either builders string, which is similar to the pull start cords found on Nitro motors....

OR, Braided Fishing line...

Something like this perhaps in 100 lB (50kg) in grey or black.. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/100-SUPER-100M-PE-DYNEEMA-BRAID-FISHING-LINE-4-STRANDS-109-YARD-SPECTRA-BRAIDED-/251697792501?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item3a9a5b85f5

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I think the smallest steel cable size is 1.8mm dia. compose of 1x7 strand with breaking strength of 2.75 to 3.27kN or 280 to 311 kilogram force, which 1 strand alone should meet your requirement.

If you can source these small cables, say at a picture framing shop, and see if they can wing around the 25-30mm dia. drum or or source cables that uses 1mm dia strand, cut the strand out and see if it will fit onto the drum.

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+1 on the steel fishing trace. My wife uses it on the servo winch fitted to her TL01 Range Rover. Available in a range of strengths, it looks the part and is easily availabe from tackle shops. Maybe find one nearby and go have a look?

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+1 on the steel fishing trace. My wife uses it on the servo winch fitted to her TL01 Range Rover. Available in a range of strengths, it looks the part and is easily availabe from tackle shops. Maybe find one nearby and go have a look?

i just think it will bend a lot better around a tight drum - far better than multi strand steel cable .

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I'm going on an investigative trip to a fishing tackle shop tomorrow. Thanks for the replies, will let you know what I choose.

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