ZONEGRACE Swage Lag Screws Left & Right 64 Pack for 1/8" Deck Cable Railing Systems, 316 Stainless Steel Stair Deck Railing Wood Post Balusters for Cable Deck Railing Hardware (32 Pairs)

My girlfriend insisted on a "minimal" deck railing to avoid obstructing our view. My contractor said it would be very costly in both materials and labor to install stainless steel wire and turnbuckles. I was all set to buy and install cable bullet brand hardware, which was about $10 per end to attach to wood posts. Then I found the Zonegrace product and figured, what the heck, at less than $1.56 per end and more like .64 for each pass thru connector (use 2 of these on center posts where you're passing wire through) why not give it a try? Per recommendations from other manufacturers I tried to keep my runs to 20' or less so that heat expansion wouldn't ever be enough for my cables to sag and need tightening. Some areas of the country the most strict reading of building code says 3" between wires which would be 11 cable runs per 36" (standard railing height) but in our area 4" was acceptable and reduced cost by using only 9 wire runs spaced every 4". I used a template with 9 holes drilled to make sure my hole spacing was exactly the same on each post (as measured from the bottom). My biggest concerns were the tools to cut and crimp so that everything worked well. I ended up buying Crescent H.K. Porter 28" ACSR, Wire Rope and Cable Cutter - 0290FHJ and the SMART RSQ crimper after reading poor reviews of the fancier hydraulic crimpers. Both of these tools worked great with the zonegrace product. I ended up taping the cable before cutting to avoid frays but that wasn't strictly necessary. I couldn't be happier with the look/ price, and ease of installation. I will report back if there are any signs of rust after time.

Just installed 72 sets of these. They worked perfectly. It took trial and error with the first 2 units. (FYI SS cable doesn't have much stretch). This is easy and well worth the money. I would absolutely use them in the future. I assume they have a tool to do the crimping to make it a bit easier. I used a 45 Ton hand hydraulic crimping tool so I have a few battle scars. I know I saved at least 2 grand doing it my self. not bad for about 16 hours work.

Practice makes perfect - after doing a few complete sections (post to post) you will be an expert. But if you've never used this left/right swage screw concept before it will take some time before you are comfortable enough to breeze through subsequent installs. Factor in wasting a few of these pairs early on. But just a few pairs - maybe 1% of your total order you'll want to re-do. Don't try to compress these swage fasteners by hand - these are made from stainless steel and getting a good swage clamp needs a hand-held hydraulic tool that's made for stainless steel. A tool in the 50 ton range will do the job with minimal fuss.Once it's done these swaged left/right screw fasteners do make for a very clean installation, looking much better than other types of wire rail fasteners that have more hardware showing at each post.

These swage bolts the key to a beautiful finished cable railing system! We have never installed one of these before so just went by pictures and reviews on Amazon for the hardware to use. We liked the clean look of these swage bolts as opposed to other bulkier connectors. These were high quality stainless and easy to install. We found that you could screw them into the wooden posts by using a cordless drill, like you would with a drill bit but instead using the swage bolt. It went SUPER fast and easy. We are so happy that as first timers with this kind of install, it went so well and looks AMAZING!

Outstanding! Super quality and looks awesome! Best part is it doesn't block the view on our wrap around country porch.Only ding is the flimsy wrench, it got unusable towards the end (about 70 uses) to be fair, I stopped drilling the pilot holes as deep thinking they'd hold better. Had I drilling them all the same depth, the wrench would probably have been okay.After reading reviews, I spent 120.00 on a good crimper and it worked excellent.

These are low profile screw/crimp atyle connectors that are fare less obvious then a normal turnbuckle style. Crimped twice on every one never had one fail. It is true they will bend when crimped but that’s expected when you smash something under pressure. I hydronic press electrical connections in my job and this is totally normal. If you put enough tension on the lines when tightening, they will straighten out. I’ve purchased three sets of these.

Easy to install! I haven't completed the top rail yet, but you can see from the pics that these minimal, no bulk obstructing the view. Takes a minimal learning curve but you buzz through the install in no time. Great price especially with lumber so expensive right now. We bought more to continue around our house.

I installed the Swage Lag screws with a drill and it was effortless! The set come with the correct size drill bit to make the proper size hole, so once you have a template and you drill all of the holes, swap out the drill bit with the swage lag screws and they go in so easily! Then you can tighten by hand. They look beautiful!