Our old ladle crane cable snapped on a big pour Tuesday

Pat Mason · 2026-03-19T15:40:06.465088+00:00

It was a 6-ton heat of ductile iron, and the cable gave way right as we were moving over the mold line. We had to shut down for four hours to get a new cable rigged and do a full safety check on the whole system. Has anyone else had a cable failure on a similar setup, and what's your inspection routine?

casey8184mo ago

Changed my mind after that, weekly checks are worth it now.

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the_alice5mo ago

What's your standard inspection interval for those cables?

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harris.andrew5mo ago

We check ours every six months, @the_alice. Had a cable on a balcony railing snap last year because the outer coating wore through. Now we look for fraying, rust at the connection points, and any loose fittings. Caught two more with early wear just last month. That regular look saves a lot of headache.

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evan_harris65mo ago

Man, that's rough! We had a 5-ton ladle cable go on a Friday afternoon last fall. Our big fix was adding a weekly visual check for any broken wires or kinks, right at the hoist drum and the hook block. We also mark the cable with paint at the drum to spot any slippage. It sounds simple, but catching a single broken strand early stopped a total failure for us last month.

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