Shown above, locking clips are laced with rope to 1-3/8 inch diameter galvanized pipe shade trellis frame made with locally available 'top rail' fencing pipe. Home stores commonly stock such pipe for making chain link fences. Below, our locking clips have been attached directly to the wire mesh fencing on a gate. Our commercial grade, heavy-duty locking clip anchor fasteners are custom made for securely attaching knit shade material directly to chain link and wire mesh fencing for privacy, animal enclosures, livestock cooling, dust control, visual barrier, wind screen, or sun screen.

Wind can whip a loose lanai cover or shade canopy, causing damage. That's why locking clips are traditionally placed about one foot on center around the perimeter. You can also install locking clips in the middle of a panel, by 'mating' them, with one on each side of the shade fabric. NEVER never attempt to pull a panel from the corners only, especially not with a fixed fastener, like a screw or nail. Best practice is to lace all four sides to the structure, using rope from every clip, to spread the stress out evenly. To anchor a panel with fixed fastener, instead of a rope, presents an undue amount of stress and no 'give'. The more evenly stretched and supported, the stronger the panel and structure it is attached to. Shade panels are typically laced to a frame: tie rope or galvanized cable to corner post and run it through a grommet, around the trellis or pipe frame, back through the next grommet, and back around the structure... all the way to the corner, where you pull it tight and secure (often with a turnbuckle to tighten as need be). When not lacing around the structure itself, a pipe, board or fasteners (horseshoe nails or eyelet screws) can be installed on structure and then the panel laced to it. Instead of horseshoe nails or eyelet screws, it is common to simply install deck screws at an angle into top of wood pergola (leave about an inch exposed) and then lace panel from grommets to exposed, angled screw shanks. We do not sell the pipe, rope, cable, turnbuckles, horseshoe nails or eyelet screws, as these items are commonly available at any building supply center.

Highest strength stainless steel cable is typically advertised 'Aircraft Quality' which allows for using thinner diameter braided. Do not use vinyl coated or galvanized steel cables, as the vinyl coating turns yellow and cracks, needing replaced long before the cable fails. Tip for larger commercial projects with lots of tension on cables is to weld your anchor eyelets so they cannot bend open. The stress placed on anchor points in a long cable installation can easily bend poorly-made eyelet bolts open. We do not sell rope, cable, turnbuckles, or eyelet screws since they are commonly available at your local building supply center. Larger projects can use the assistance of an engineer, but we do not supply any engineering services and cannot offer any local referrals for structural design assistance. Material weighs less than half an ounce per square foot, so weight is not the issue, but rather loft and sail.