The requirements of the steel used to make ropes has to meet numerous requirements and a single grade of steel will not meet the requirements of all applications. Feed rod selection will be based on the requirements of the installation, resistance to abrasion, heat, fatigue etc, and the plants ability to process the rod into a steel wire rope.

The selection of standard wire sizes and wire tolerance will have an impact on the rope success.

The quality of the rope is also determined by follow-ups to the customers to ensure that the product is being used correctly and that unnecessary fatigue is not created by incorrect usage.

Much of my experience in the rope design world has been in testing and evaluating ropes in situ and determining if their function is at optimum standard, giving feedback to customers and training if necessary. 

What I have been able to do for customers is design and select rope.   This involved selecting a suitable starting point and then determining the best wire diameters and strand diameters. The equations are usually based on a cross-section of the rope at 90^◦ to the axis. Depending on the design philosophy the wire shape is treated as an ellipse, major and minor axis are perpendicular and straight, or, ellipsoidal, where the major axis is on the pitch circle diameter of the wires layer. More accurate wire diameters can be calculated by using “shortest distances between wire centres” a numerical 3D approach. Recent advances in computer aided design programs have resulted in the availability to apply parametric design principles to rope design. Finite element modelling of strands and simple rope constructions can now be done.