With cable railing, there are options available when preparing your design. Swaging is the term used for attaching fittings to the cable. Here’s a video to give you an idea of the swaging process.

Advantages of Swaged Cable Rail Fittings

If fittings are swaged onsite when the cables are installed, the intermediate elements between terminating end posts can be drilled close to the diameter of the cable because there are no fittings to pass through the holes in the posts. There is a tighter fit of cable to frame than there would be with the larger holes required if fittings are swaged on both ends before the cables are strung through the posts.

Swaging requires special equipment that can be purchased or rented from Wagner. Swaged fittings are generally less expensive than swageless fittings. With larger projects, the savings in using swaged fittings may more than offset the cost of the equipment purchase or rental.

Advantages of Swageless Cable Rail Fittings

Swageless fittings are installed at the job site and do not require special equipment. With swageless fittings, at least one cable end does not contain a fitting when delivered. Fittings are larger than the diameter of the cable and, since the cable is fed through intermediate elements between terminating end posts, holes in the intermediate elements can be drilled close to the diameter of the cable providing a tighter fit between the cable and frame than there would be if the cables were supplied with fittings on both ends.

With swageless cable rail fittings, the cables can be installed at the same time the railing frames are installed. No waiting for exact measurements.

Swageless fittings are generally more expensive than swaged cable rail fittings However, with smaller projects, swageless fittings can result in savings when considering the cost of renting or purchasing swaging equipment. Swageless fittings are offered for use with 1/8″ and 3/16″ diameter cables.

Have Your Cable Rail Fittings Pre-Swaged

An alternative to swaging on-site (or using swageless fittings) is to have the fittings swaged on both ends of the cable by  Wagner. However, the disadvantages are that exact measurements must be supplied for Wagner to swage the fittings onto the cable and, with fittings already attached to the cables, intermediate element holes need to be drilled oversize for the fittings to pass through for installation.

View our available cable rail fittings on our e-commerce site.