Stripping Drag Chain Cables with just a Single Hand
Installing high-quality drag chain cables can be tricky. Their durable construction often makes them difficult to strip, which slows down installation and increases the risk of damaging the inner conductors. To solve this, HELUKABEL developed a special ripcord for its HELUCHAIN® MULTISPEED® series—allowing users to remove the outer jacket quickly and cleanly with a single-handed pull. The result? Faster installs and fewer cable-related issues in the field.
Drag chain cables are built for motion—and lots of it. They're expected to perform under high mechanical stress for millions of movement cycles. Tight bend radii, long travel lengths, and constant friction—between cables and against drag chain stays—make this a demanding application. To meet these challenges, top cable manufacturers rely on specialized production methods that enhance durability and reliability.
One of the most important of these methods is pressure extrusion. During this process, the liquid plastic jacket is applied to the stranded conductors under pressure. This forces the plastic into every gap, locking the cores in place and adding structural integrity. Pressure extrusion significantly increases a cable’s resistance to mechanical stress, especially in long-travel drag chain systems.
However, there’s a tradeoff: pressure-extruded jackets are much harder to strip. Traditional circular scoring methods often don’t work, and mechanical stripping tools have limited success. This makes installation more time-consuming and raises the risk of cutting into the cores.
HELUKABEL’s ripcord innovation solves that problem. Select HELUCHAIN® MULTISPEED® cables now feature an integrated ripcord that lets installers quickly open the jacket lengthwise—just like opening tear-strip packaging. In unscreened versions, the ripcord sits just beneath the outer jacket. In shielded cables, it’s located under the inner jacket. Either way, users can cleanly expose the cable cores to the exact length they need. A quick circular cut is all that’s needed to remove any remaining jacket—no special tools required.
HELUKABEL offers this ripcord feature in its MULTISPEED® 522, MULTISPEED® 522-C, MULTISPEED®-TRONIC, and MULTISPEED®-TRONIC-C drag chain cables—at no added cost. More cable types are being added regularly. By making installation faster, easier, and safer, these cables save time and labor while helping reduce the risk of costly damage, downtime, or rework. The result is a better, more reliable connection for any high-motion application.
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