Heat shrink sleeve size chart for wraparound repairs

GWS wraparound sleeve, supplied and recovered

All dimensions in millimetres. Recovered wall is 2.7 mm on every code; the datasheet gives that wall as plus or minus 20 percent and the web page as plus or minus 10 percent. Maximum available length is 1500 mm. A cell reading not listed means one source publishes that code and the other omits it. Datasheet columns are from the manufacturer's wraparound sleeve sheet, Issue 2, October 2024 and from the combined Cable Repair Sleeves sheet, which is the only source carrying GWS-34/10.

GMRS cable repair sleeve, cable OD and overlap

All dimensions in millimetres. Overlap is a published minimum and not a target. The last three codes appear on the datasheet only, and each repeats the cable band and length options of the code three rows above it; the sheet does not say what separates them, so confirm which one you are being offered before specifying it.

Reading a row without getting it wrong

This sequence is our reading of the two published charts. It is not a manufacturer's instruction, and anything supplied with the part overrides it.

1. Measure over the largest obstruction

   Take the outside diameter over whatever is biggest inside the repair length, not over the clean jacket beside it. That figure must come in under the supplied diameter, or the part will not close around the cable at all.

2. Measure the smallest land it must seal onto

   Take the jacket diameter where the sleeve ends will sit, beyond the damage. That figure must sit above the recovered diameter, or the wall stops before it touches and you have built the void described at the top of this page.

3. Test both halves of the same row

   GWS-105/28 passes over anything under 105 mm and grips anything over 28 mm. Two adjacent rows will often accept your obstruction and only one of them will still grip your land.

4. Check the lap survives at your diameter

   The sheet has to wrap past itself by the row's published minimum, measured around the circumference. On GMRS-115 that is 50 mm of lap and on GMRS-250 it is 75 mm. A part trimmed to suit a smaller cable loses its lap well before it loses its fit.

5. Choose the supplied length last

   GMRS is fixed at 100, 200, 300 or 400 mm depending on the code, and the wraparound runs to 1500 mm. Cover the damage plus a land at both ends, then satisfy yourself the shrink will not drag those ends off it.

The six words the two charts use

Supplied diameter

The internal diameter the part arrives at, before any heat. On GWS it is the first number in the code. GWS-160/55 arrives at 160 mm.

Recovered diameter

The internal diameter the part reaches with nothing inside it, unrestrained. GWS-160/55 recovers to 55 mm. Over a cable you never see that figure, because the substrate arrests the shrink first.

Recovered wall

The wall thickness at full recovery, 2.7 mm across the whole GWS range. It is a fully recovered figure. The chart publishes no wall for a part held open on a cable, which is every part in service.

Shrink ratio

Supplied internal diameter divided by fully recovered internal diameter, achieved unrestrained and with nothing in the way. The repair sleeve is published at 3:1. The wraparound chart publishes no ratio at all, and its own two columns imply a much larger reduction: GWS-55/8 goes from 55 mm to 8 mm. Treat a ratio as a ceiling rather than a promise. The same manufacturer's tubing reference works the arithmetic through at shrink-tube.com.

Overlap length

How far the sheet laps past itself around the circumference once it is closed. It steps 25, 50 and 75 mm as the codes get larger, and every published figure is a minimum. What happens at that seam when the lap is short is set out on why these repairs fail.

Cable range

The band of cable outside diameters a row is published against. This is the column that moves between the two versions of the GWS chart, so quote the code and the source together rather than the band on its own.