Elevating Lights

Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum

Help Support Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum:

Hate to be the bad guy here, but your cable set up isnt safe. I'm talking specifically about the 2nd picture, the rest of it appears to be fine.

I say this becasue it appears you have the cable held together with U bolts clamped down as tight as possible, and they will eventually allow the cable to slide down, potentially causing one end or both to release.

Not saying I have the best answer to this, but this is how I dealt with it. This is a quote from my thread....not trying to beat my own drum, but why write the same thing twice?

maxx said:
The lightbox is suspended with 3/32" diameter vinyl wrapped cable which actually increases the outer diamter of the cable to 1/8". I bought it at Home Depot along with the aluminum cable ferrules and stops. Basically you run the cable through one side of the ferrule, make a loop, and run the other end through the other side of the ferrule. Then you use a swaging tool to crimp the ferrule down and secure the cable. After this is done, the cable will not move. Its important to beg, borrow, or buy a swaging tool to do this. I almost gave myself the world's first simultaneous hernia and brain aneurysm trying to crimp the ferrules and stops with a pair of pliers. As soon as my camera battery is charged up again, I will take pics of the swaging tool so people can see what it looks like.
The stops are exactly what they sound like. They stop the cable from pulling though whatever they are run through. I need to take a close up pic of the stops.....

Here is a general view of the cables connected to the lightbox and the dowel.

Dowel_cables_and_clips.JPG


Here is a close up of the cables and the quick disconnect clips I'm using.

close_up_cable_and_quick_disconnect_clips.JPG


Starting at the top of the above pic....
You can see the cable looped through the ferrule, (after being swaged...much smaller beforehand) and connecting to the quick disconnect clamp. The top cable is running through the dowel. The quick disconnect clip is basically a D rig type clip...that uh, isnt shaped like a D....so I guess its really a snap clip. But its purpose is to allow me to be able to separate the lightbox from the dowel for any sort of reason.
The snap clip is connected to the second cable. This cable is connected to two larger eye screws connected directly to the lightbox frame. There are two locking links that connect the cable to the eye screws. Locking links is not the correct term for them, but I cant remember the right one...sorry.

Nick

Total out of pocket cost should be less than $40.00, and thats only if you have to spend $25.00 on a swaging tool. You could check with some of the maintenance guys at school and see if they have one you could borrow, or you could buy the tool from HD or Lowes, use it once and return it. Not really the right thing to do, but as long as you dont damage it, they'll be able to sell it again.

HTH,

Nick
 
Glad you got it up man...Looks great! I see what Nick is saying about those clamps...Never tried any of them so couldn't say for sure, but does look quite possible. Nevertheless...Glad you got them lights up!:)
 
I actually feel pretty safe about the cables. The only thing I don't trust are the eye screws in the board. I am worried about them pulling out since it particle board.
 
I actually feel pretty safe about the cables. The only thing I don't trust are the eye screws in the board. I am worried about them pulling out since it particle board.

Well if you used washers, it shouldn't go through. :)
 
I would consider changing out the eye screws for eye bolts in that case and adding washers or plates like Krish said to distribute the weight over a larger space.

Nick
 
Thats not a bad idea at all. Didn't even think about that. Will probably do that tonight. Maybe I will see if I can come up with a better idea on the cable. Though it seems pretty sturdy and secure to me.
 
rudeanduncouth said:
So here is the almost finished product. I still need to put in another brace.

Yes I totaly agree, with eye Bolt rather then screw. Just dril; the hole all the ay through and place washer on top. But it looks good man, Nice Job and cured all your ills. You can keep the industrial look or paint them to match the wall. Nice Job!!!:lol:
 
Just going to keep the grey since I will only be here till May or August at the latest. My stand is just a framework anyways. Just adds to the work in progress look.
 
Back
Top