Steel Wire Ropes Lay Types - Differentiating the common steel wire rope used

Article last updated on 20 July 2023

Steel Wire Rope is generally characterized by its Classification, Construction and Lay Types.

• Construction: Arrangement of wires within each strand
• Classification: No. of strands & No. of wires per strand
• Lay: Direction & length of the twist of the strands and wires

For this article, we will cover the Lay Types of the Steel Wire Ropes for identification purpose; we will use the 4 common wire rope lay types for illustration...

(Scroll down to end of page for LINK to article to Steel Wire Rope Construction) 

Steel Wire Ropes - Lay Types

There are 4 regularly seen and used in the current market for various industries... 

Regular Lay ropes, Right hand Lay ropes, Lang Lay Ropes, Left hand Lay Ropes... these are the 4 commonly-use terms in the industry for specifying the lay types of the steel wire ropes to be used, however have you ever look into how these common steel wire rope lay types look like?

The spiral of the steel wire ropes, which the wires are being laid into forming a strand, and thereafter the strands are being laid around the core forms the direction and the lay of the steel wire rope. Having said so, the regular lay and lang lay types are more commonly used in the industry for the day to day site-applications.

The picture below illustrate the 4 regular Lay Types:

LEFT LAY (S) TYPE OUTLINE

• Left Regular Lay: Wires wrap to Right, strands wrap to Left (S outline)
• Left Lang Lay: Wires wrap to Left, strands wrap to Left (S outline)

RIGHT LAY (Z) TYPE OUTLINE

• Right Regular Lay : Wires wrap to Left, strands wrap to Right (Z outline)
• Right Lang Lay : Wires wrap to Right, strands wrap to Right (Z outline)

ONE PAGE INFOGRAPHICS ON STEEL WIRE ROPE LAY TYPES

Let us summarize them and using this quick wire ropes lay pictorial below to compare and contrast them...

Interested to know more about steel wire ropes? Check out the link below where we look into decoding strand construction!

Refer to LINK below for article on Steel Wire Rope Construction

STEEL WIRE ROPES - HOW DIFFERENT STRAND CONSTRUCTION LOOKS LIKE?

Looking for any Steel Wire Ropes for your project? Do check out the Steel Wire Ropes that STL carries.

LINK:  STL - STEEL WIRE ROPES

Still need further information or need any help in getting the required wire rope lay types for your application?

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