I am looking to start installing string lights on my patio, and my current plan is to zig-zag the lights between two runs of wire rope. Here's a picture:
The brown squares are going to be posts set in concrete (~100lbs) in planters. The brown line at the bottom is the side of the house, with eyebolts on each end. The green lines are the supporting guide wire lines, and the blue lines are the string lights themselves.
I'm planning on running guide wire along the blue lines with the string lights as well to ensure they are properly supported, but my question is about connecting the zigzagging guide wires to the green support wires (at the red circles).
What's the best way to fix those points in place along the guide wire? Use a turnbuckle for the blue lines and place wire rope clips on either side of that to keep it in place? Or am I looking at this completely wrong?
Best Answer
Visit your local hardware store and find whatever loops or rings they have that are cheap and easy to work with--ideally something that can be installed on the cable after it is installed. Even those cheap keychain carabiners would do well, at least until the hinge pins rust away.
The rings will self-center to some degree, which is what you want. You may have to secure the ends to the posts somehow to keep them from sliding. Small eye hooks might work for that.
More specific answers are probably not helpful since we don't know what your store will have.