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Stainless wheels running on galvanised cable

September 29, 2009

i plan to run a stainless steel trolley on a 10mm galvanised steel cable.
the cable is a 100-foot-long 'zip line' for fun use.
will the small stainless trolley wheels react with the galvanised cable to any significant extent? there is no permanent contact between the two.

Frank Barrs
hobbyist - UK

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One of the often forgotten aspects of corrosion is time. Corrosion isn't normally an instant effect, its requires time, and in your case the time is very small, and so will the corrosive effect.
If you were to leave the pulley on the wire for a long time (months) without movement, in the wet, then perhaps this could be a minor issue.
But if you use it as this would be used in a typical "Go Ape" type park, or similar, then unlikely to be able to discern any corrosive effects.

Geoff Crowley
Crithwood Ltd.
Westfield, Scotland, UK

October 1, 2009