Wire rope tension

[BeezFun]

I'm putting up a fabric hoop building, they use wire rope and turnbuckles for diagonal bracing. How tight should the wire rope be? I've looked online and can't find any info, the instructions don't say. I'm thinking it should be like a fan belt, where they tell you how far you should be able to deflect the belt with your finger at the middle of the span. I called the company, they said it should be "snug". I wonder if those are metric snugs or SAE snugs.

 

[Doughknob]

Pic of what a hoop building is? It might help in guestimating forces involved. In general, wire rope doesn't stretch much. So snug should mean "don't overtighten it."

 

[BeezFun]

Pic of what a hoop building is? It might help in guestimating forces involved. In general, wire rope doesn't stretch much. So snug should mean "don't overtighten it."

They look like this:
Clearspan

Wire rope stretches a lot, it's considered an elastic member. That's why it's used in applications that need to move around a lot without permanently deforming.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Just tighten opposing ones the same. Don't overcomplicate things.

 

[Roadworthy]

All the cables should be tightened about the same amount. This would require the purchase of a cable tensiometer. Since the cables will stretch a bit over time you may even want to recheck the tension from time to time. I don't know what they normally go for but I found one on Amazon for $110 used for checking tension on sailboat rigging.

 

[BeezFun]

All the cables should be tightened about the same amount. This would require the purchase of a cable tensiometer. Since the cables will stretch a bit over time you may even want to recheck the tension from time to time. I don't know what they normally go for but I found one on Amazon for $110 used for checking tension on sailboat rigging.

Perfect, I found this one for $105 on Amazon, just the ticket.
tnx