Anybody try cabe bullet deck railings?

[Kilgore Trout]

I found this while searching the net for various railing options.

https://www.cablebullet.com/

Looks like a pretty interesting and straightforward way to do cable railing. Anybody every try it?

Thanks!

 

[matt_i]

Kind of reminds me of a machine bolt threaded into a piece of wood...my gut says the threads need to be sharper/deeper/coarser like a wood screw....other than that I like the idea.

 

[acer66]

What matt_i said, I would be worried that they will not hold up when installed in wood.

To be code compliant you also have to have a bit of tension on the wires which does not help.

But who knows, maybe the guy who build the website used the wrong image and the screws do not look like that.

 

[finn]

I agree that the threads into the wooden post seem to be the weak point of the system design.

I’ll stick with the Chinese finger design.

 

[GMCGarage]

Ask them to provide engineering data and capacity. If they cant provide that, its because it does not work longterm.

 

[Hollywood D]

Cable railings look cool but loosen up pretty quickly. My neighbor has it and a year later is sagging slightly. Just requires periodic retensioning. It’s not maintenance free.

 

[finn]

The top couple of cables are a little loose on mine. I think the top handrail shrunk a little. Allowing the posts to tilt a little. Bottom few rows are still tight after five or more years, though.

Cable railings are an attractive nuisance with kids around, though. First thing my grandson did was climb the rails when he was a little tyke. Sam with other kids over for a visit.

 

[firebirdparts]

I think the problem with cable railing is not the complexity, but the cost. Installing the complicated version would be fine with me.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

It certainly isn't cheap. It has tensioning screws to put the wire under tension, but I also wondered if the threads would rip out.

 

[ard]

My cable rail looks fine after 16 years. Re-tensioned once. Metal superstructure, so no wood posts to rot, move or pull out of....

 

[readhead]

I sell and install a lot of cable rail. I'm in the steel business so I looked at the install for steel. They lost my interest very quickly. Every end hole has to be tapped. Each cable has to be measured and a termination crimped on with a special tool. Can't have lengths over 20' I'm guessing because there isn't enough take up in the adjustment. Plus you probably have to tighten both ends to take up the sag.

Looks very nice but I'll stay with Feeney. Last week we did an install on a pedestrian bridge. One guy installed twenty 60' cables in forty five minutes. It's clever but not for me.

 

[My Old Tools]

I did my own. The hardware wasn't that expensive if you go with the crimp style. Harbor Freight hydraulic crimper works just fine and costs $60. Holes are 1/4" drilled, no tapping. I never measured a cable, just put on one end, pulled it tight, and cut to length at the other end. Feeney would have tripled my costs. Local welding shop built my posts. This is a picture of the old railing. New one is below.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NCI3FMA/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[My Old Tools]

More pictures....If you cut your cable to the right length, you don't need the turnbuckles. My longest run was 20 feet and I didn't use any.

 

[readhead]

I see some good looking rail projects here but let me clarify some comments about cost. There is a big difference when comparing DIY to contracted installation. For DIY time is not an issue when you are doing the installation. If you want to take a month of weekends to install your rail that is fine.

When someone is paying for us to fab and install their project, cost vs value comes into play. There is no doubt in my mind that there are less expensive ways to install cables. Early on I tried some of them. Even though the Feeney cable seems more expensive for just the components the labor to install is a fraction of other systems. When someone is paying $80 an hour for field work they expect results.

There are several systems out there that produce quality installations but my experience has narrowed my product choice down to Feeney primary because of ease of installation. I actually like the installed look of the cable bullet system but when I looked into the cost and process it was going to increase my price to the customer by at least 50%.

Cable sag is another conversation. I have to deal with huge temperature swings and part of the installation is assuring the customer that a little sag in the summer will go away in the winter. By the way I really dislike cable rail but it is very popular and I do a lot of it.

 

[My Old Tools]

I understand. I couldn't afford to pay anyone $25k to do my 1500 sf of deck and two staircases. I also didn't like Feeney's price. I used their trellis system on a brick wall and it was expensive too. I did my whole project for $7500. That was 50 stainless steel posts, 1500 feet of cable, 500 stainless cable ends.

 

[ard]

I used Feeney back when they sold it directly to contractors out of their CA warehouse. Expensive then, more expensive now. Easy? Sure

I just do crimp/swage fittings now. Easy? Yup.

YMMV