Cable Railings, Evolved!
ABOUT US
Your posts will be the COLUMNS they were meant to be.
OUR CABLE LOOMS
The Railing Loom; Cable Railings, Evolved!
– Looks, Performance, Installation
1) INSTALLATION
The Railing Loom is the next generation in the evolution of cable railings. Not just in the appearance and performance of the final product, but also for the installer.
If you’ve installed cable railings before, you know how tedious it can be. Drill holes for every cable, cut each cable separately, then attach hardware to each end of each strand of cable.
Install each strand of cable in between the posts and then, the worst part: “tensioning”. But you can’t really tension them, or else the hardware fails, so it’s a game of taking the slack out of each strand. If you tighten one cable too much, slack appears in the other cables, and they droop… Urgh!
With the Railing Loom, one strand of cable weaves between two Looms, creating an entire cable panel. There are just two cable stops per panel (one on each end of the cable, hidden in a discreet pocket on each Loom), and two screws to tension each Loom, so a total of four screws to tension the entire panel, at once!
Since the cable is continuous, as you tension the Looms, the tension in every section of cable self-adjusts. This means that the tension of each cable strand stays relatively even, automatically! No more adjusting each individual strand!
What do I mean by tension? If you could tune the cables, you could play them like a guitar!
2) Performance
Another drawback of conventional cable railing is performance. The tension of conventional cables is limited, not by the strength of the cable, but by the quality of the hardware. This hardware often fails (the cable slips out) if the cables are over-tightened or subjected to any loads. These loads could come from installation (trying to get the slack out of every individual strand of cable), or from use and abuse, such as someone trying to climb, or hanging things on the cable. Or perhaps, the loads that cause conventional cable railings to fail could come from the reason for having railings in the first place: Something (or someone) falling against them.
(Huh? Why would you install railings that may fail when you need them?)
The Railing Looms are designed to handle abuse, and are quite heavy duty. This allows for higher cable tension (like a guitar string), and holds up against bigger loads.
Interesting tidbit, each tensioning screw has a tensile strength rated at over 170,000 lbs! Now, that doesn’t mean that you can apply that much tension on the cables themselves (the suggested 5/32” cable has breaking strength rated at 2400 lbs, and working load limit of 480 lbs), but it does suggest that you can easily tension each panel up to the working load limit of the cable (as the cable is tensioned, the Looms themselves start to flex.
This allows the Looms to absorb variations in tension, due to temperature or temporary loads). This means that, if anything should fail, it would be the cable, long before the Railing Loom does!
So, after an easier installation, you can actually tension the cables, and, if you should fall, they will be there to catch you!
3) Looks
Now you can see how the Railing Loom system simplifies installation and increases the performance of cable railings, but how does it look when it’s finished?
Clean and Distinctive, individual cable panels “framed” by the posts and handrail.
Cable railings are great, as they protect occupants from potential falls with minimal visual interruption. Meaning, you can see through them! So what makes the Railing Loom look different?
Until now, cable railing systems have relied on hardware on each end of every strand of cable, and each strand of cable “perforated” every post.
While the cables preserved the views in between posts, the posts themselves were left looking “busy”’ with all of the cables and tensioning hardware bisecting and, literally, perforating them. The Railing Loom solves this by “insulating” the posts from the cables, and eliminating individual tensioning hardware.
In fact, The Railing Loom makes it possible to have posts without a single cable touching them! Have you ever noticed how the railing posts on a classic wooden baluster resemble stately columns? If that’s the look you want, now you can have that with cable too! The Railing Loom organizes the cable, allowing one strand of cable to weave back and forth between two Looms, with only two screws per Loom actually touching each post.
This allows space between each post and Railing Loom, creating individual cable “panels”. The Railing Loom enables the posts and handrail to “frame” individual cable panels, like a picture, with space in between, like matting.
Previous steps in the evolution of cable railings involved upgrades in hardware. While there have been large improvements in systems available for cable railings, the Railing Loom provides a huge, evolutionary jump in the look, performance and installation of cable rails!
The Railing Loom is a high performance cable railing system, is easier to install, and provides a very clean and distinctive look.
ABOUT SKYRAILS
GREETINGS. I am Ray Melling, founder of E&A Build, and the creator of the Railing Loom cable railing system. I have a wife and two very beautiful teenage daughters, and they are why I do what I do (in fact, my daughters were the inspiration for my company name).
I have lived in or near Bozeman Montana and supported myself and family by my work in the construction industry for over 30 years. Most of that time has been spent as a residential remodeling contractor. I have always (well, most always) enjoyed remodeling work. Taking something apart, then making it better.
“Creation is my Superpower”.
I am an innovator. I get no joy from taking shortcuts, but I get great satisfaction when I can create something that is beautiful, practical, and long lasting. If there is a way to do it better, you’ll find me doing my best to make it happen.
The Railing Loom is a fine example of that. After installing other cable railing systems, I knew that there had to be a better way. I have worked on it for many years, refining and improving the system, each project a little better than the last. Now it is at a point that I can market the system, for installation by myself and others. Even so, as far as refining and innovating… I don’t imagine that I will ever stop.
The Railing Loom, Patent Pending, will not be my first patent (assuming that we are successful).
But it is my favorite (so far!).
© Copyright 2022 – Bigskyrails.com