Tonight I finished what I started the night before ... an adjustable cable tensioner with more positive cable grips for a round hay bailer. Hopefully it will preclude my friend Noel from having to stop to cut the wrap at the end of every bail ... fingers crossed :-)
I started by annealing a 16mm high tensile bolt and nuts so I could turn and drill through them, then drilled a 316 stainless guide tube and TIG welded the appropriate parts together. Three case-hardened 6mm set screws should grab the cable well enough, which has already been silver-soldered solid at the right spot.