Cheaper swageless fittings

[WaldPinkler]

They really price sta-lok and hi mod swageless fittings to the border where you can't decide if it's worth buying or not.

There are people who buy into things like a religion without a real reason other than fear but that's not very objective. Certainly this is controversial and dropping a mast is a catastrophe, but is there any hope of using cheaper fittings?

There was a thread on ybw about these fittings. The reviews are fine.
https://www.gsproducts.co.uk/stainle...eye-terminals/

£17.99 for 6mm fittings.

The don't look much different from what the Taizhou Shengguyi metal company is selling for $7.

I would test them but have no idea on doing that. I have access to a 50T press but that pushes, not pulls. I wouldn't know how to test the metal quality for corrosion either.

[Benz]

The problem with cheap Chinese stuff is that they have ambivalent quality control and no incentive to improve. The government allows companies to lie about materials and processes, so even if they claim to use X metal, they might be using something else and there's no way to find that out in time.
In recent memory a prominent anchor maker had troubles because a Chinese manufacturer used a different (cheaper) metal than specified, and shanks were bending.
It may be that these cheaper units are just fine, but anything coming from a Chinese company is supect until proven awesome.

[MicHughV]

I have to agree with the above, when it comes to Chinese manufactured stuff, you tend to get what you pay for.
I've had numerous occasions to inspect Chinese manufactured stainless steel goods of dubious quality after the item broke, deformed, etc.....etc.

That's their whole gig over there....copy something made in the west, but do it for less, which invariable means less quality control.

Seeing that a stalok fitting failure is the end fitting for 1,000's of $$$ of mast, sails, etc, were it me, I'd tend to err on the cautious side.
Don't let the rig come down 'cuz you wanted to save ten bucks...

[WaldPinkler]

Haha, indeed I don't want a 50ft mast falling on my deck in the middle of the ocean.

[Sailing August]

DO NOT TRUST CHINEESE METALLURGY!
In the west, we fabricate to engineering standards societies (ANSI,DIN,BSi, ect.) from manufacturer's fabrication drawings that have to be stamped by a licensed and insured PE (Professional Engineer) There is a document and material trail for all of these fabricated products especially if the manufacturer is ISO certified; which all the good ones are. You pay for the security of a quality product. It cost money to work to these rules and standards. Your life depends on these parts NOT failing.
China does none of that and when they say they do, they are often lying.
These cheap products sold on Alibaba are largely unregulated and built to no standard. The companies are often building parts that have been reverse engineered from OEM parts with cheap and untested metallurgy. The Chinese companies often do a few production runs then disappear only to reappear under a new name pirating (counterfeiting) a different value added part. Alibaba is the worldwide clearing house for such parts.
You pay your money and you take your chances.

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by WaldPinkler

They really price sta-lok and hi mod swageless fittings to the border where you can't decide if it's worth buying or not.

There are people who buy into things like a religion without a real reason other than fear but that's not very objective. Certainly this is controversial and dropping a mast is a catastrophe, but is there any hope of using cheaper fittings?

There was a thread on ybw about these fittings. The reviews are fine.
https://www.gsproducts.co.uk/stainle...eye-terminals/

£17.99 for 6mm fittings.

The don't look much different from what the Taizhou Shengguyi metal company is selling for $7.

I would test them but have no idea on doing that. I have access to a 50T press but that pushes, not pulls. I wouldn't know how to test the metal quality for corrosion either.

I don't think I would use either of the items you linked for standing rigging. They both look like what is sold for architectural detail. I.E. for non load bearing applications like wire rigging under balcony railings. Hymod, Hayn, Stalok all use a very different cone capture method that forces the cone into the body of the wire and the terminal. What you've referenced above appears to rely on friction of the mechanism on the circumference of the wire.

Stick with the good stuff. Its well tested over decades of use.

P.S. I'm not sure the value of you attempting to test this stuff yourself is. Its a bit like trying to out smart a company that has staked its reputation on the quality of its fittings, Why? If they are out of budget, got swaged at the top and swageless at the bottom for this set of replacements and at the next set, but the tops too.

[MicHughV]

Yep, I'm retired now, but am a licensed Prof. Eng. specializing in structural marine work.

Typically, here in the US, we require quite a document trail, testing and lab results, material source, when, where and how it's made, etc, before we certify, approve or otherwise.
This usually involves several other engineers as well, specializing in metallurgy, for instance.
Quality control is a complicated process and getting an item certified to a certain spec is a time consuming task.
But, as always, in an effort to save money, hit a budget, etc., contractors or suppliers look abroad to find a substitute for a specific item. Before any such item is approved as a replacement, it usually undergoes a battery of tests, etc. and more often than not, fails to meet " spec"

To give an example, I've had a "foreign stainless steel" bolt sawn in half and put under a microscope for a closer look. Under the scope, impurities in the metal are clearly seen.

Not to say everything out of China is bad, but the wide price disparity of this fitting certainly should give one pause.

As I've opined before, saving ten bucks for a structurally important rigging component is not worth second guessing.

[WaldPinkler]

Thanks for all the responses. I think I've bumped up against engineering reality that I know nothing about. Every topic seems to be an endless rabbit hole of knowledge.