haha so this method only works south of the 40th parallel?
How to coil up electrical cords?
- Thread starter Toolhorder
- Start date
haha so this method only works south of the 40th parallel?
JASTECH
Well-known member
ert01, I agree. I too did electrical and Never allowed my cords to be daisy chained like I see most contractors do. They do it because it is fast, easy and the cord is either not theirs or they make fast money and just don't care! I have cords that are 40 yrs. old and are not twisted or knotted. I have 14-2 up to 8-3. I see them contractors toss their circ. saws into the back of truck on cords in a hurry to go get beer before the store closes. Most seem to be in the same click.
jeffmoss26
Well-known member
BHH, I ended up just telling them to leave the cords and I would cool them myself lol
Freeborn John
Well-known member
What if somebody pulls the other end REALLY hard before you're done?
Damn, that explains those dizzy spells when I found myself standing in a shallow hole...
I simply coil mine in the same direction (no reversing every other coil). It has served me well for my entire working career and even works now that I am retired. I usually make the coils reach from my shoulder to the ground as it takes fewer loops that way and makes a smaller, if longer, bundle overall. But a coiled cord, hose, or rope is more more likely to foul when thrown in the back of a truck with other items than one which is daisy chained. I think that one good argument for daisy chaining an extension cord is to eliminate all the time spent untangling a knotted mess that was once a coiled cord.
It amazes me that people would rather use velcro straps than a simple short bit of rope or cord to secure a bundle. The rope can be more secure, quieter, cleaner, neater, cost less, and last longer than velcro. And a man ony needs to learn to tie a clove hitch to use it.
It amazes me that people would rather use velcro straps than a simple short bit of rope or cord to secure a bundle. The rope can be more secure, quieter, cleaner, neater, cost less, and last longer than velcro. And a man ony needs to learn to tie a clove hitch to use it.
It amazes me that people would rather use velcro straps than a simple short bit of rope or cord to secure a bundle. The rope can be more secure, quieter, cleaner, neater, cost less, and last longer than velcro. And a man ony needs to learn to tie a clove hitch to use it.
The velcro was just an example, anything you can tie can be used.
diesel research
Well-known member
He should have just asked about pvc air lines, that topic seems less heated and controversial...
osborn.ozzy
Banned
I guess the sun is cold in other parts of the country? You Californians crack me up
archirelic
Well-known member
Wow...seems like some feelings were hurt in this thread, all over bundling up some damn extension cords at that.
yup this is the easiest way - there is one other way considered acceptable but this is easy I can do this in the dark.
I own a stage lighting rental company and I own over two miles of cable and it is all folded that way. My cables are 12/3 SOOW, 6/4 SOOW, 12 gauge socapex and DMX (like a microphone cable) and must be coiled correctly to protect my investment. Only difference is we have a 18 inch tie line at the outlet end to allow you to tie the coil together. If you ever rent equipment from a stage lighting rental company and the cable does not get returned coiled this way you can expect to get invoiced for every cable to be re-coiled. I charge $5 per cable.
If you think this is a lot of fuss try spending $1200 for one cable at dealer price - not retail - and then having someone damage it through lziness and/or carlessness. Or to think of it another way how would you react if someone closed the draws on your snap on roll cab using the forks on the front of the fork lift.
When a cble is made and coiled on the drum it takes on a memory of how it is wound under tension. You have to work with this for the rest of the cables lif. If you don't the inner conductors twist inside the outer jacket nd become stressed which is why it always twists afterwards.
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I've coiled my share of wires in a studio setting, and I don't coil it like I would an extension AC cord. I got my lecture on how a cord is coiled about 40 years ago, and that is how anything that isn't good to twist get coiled.
People outside the industry have no idea how expensive some cables can be, and any damage wrecks the whole cable, so extraordinary care is the only practical way to handle them.
In construction I want the cables laid out fast in the morning, put away and accounted for fast at the end of the day, and hose or cable breaks a new one isn't that expensive.
People outside the industry have no idea how expensive some cables can be, and any damage wrecks the whole cable, so extraordinary care is the only practical way to handle them.
In construction I want the cables laid out fast in the morning, put away and accounted for fast at the end of the day, and hose or cable breaks a new one isn't that expensive.
jeffmoss26
Well-known member
ndoran, I much prefer tie line on mic and power cables! Unfortunately when I was working at college, my boss bought a huge spool of velcro cable ties for us to use. It seems I was replacing them 2-3 times a year!
canuckian
Well-known member
Have to admit, I've never actually understood the over under method but after seeing that video, I'm giving it a go tomorrow. I've always just coiled cords on my hand in the same direction. With heavy ropes or hose, I simply start the coil on the ground and pull overhand and lay flat in the coil. Feeds out the smae way it was layed in. Learned how to do this years ago coiling big bow lines in sea cadets.
blue dog
Banned
At any time did the OP ask regarding rolling up cable used in the movie industry ? Nope. Do we have a choice on how we roll are own chords up ? YEP.
Are people that work in the movie industry always so full of themselves and think there way is best ? Yep. When will they de-unionize Hollywood so this guys will actually have to work for a living ? Not soon enough.
Bottom line, roll up your chords, cables, hoses how you want, So if i do not work for you using your chords, i will continue to daisy chain my 100' chords.
Are people that work in the movie industry always so full of themselves and think there way is best ? Yep. When will they de-unionize Hollywood so this guys will actually have to work for a living ? Not soon enough.
Bottom line, roll up your chords, cables, hoses how you want, So if i do not work for you using your chords, i will continue to daisy chain my 100' chords.
kxxr
Well-known member
The OP has probably already skinned his cat by now.
You realize the movie industry uses massive electric cables too right? and they all get coiled the same way as every other cord and cable does. Continue doing things your way, its your **** not mine.
rick carpenter
Well-known member
I coil up my cord in a five gallon bucket. I have a hole cut in the side at the bottom for about 5-6 foot of the male end to stick out and a coffee can screwed into the center of the bottom, I just coil the rest of the cord around it. Makes carrying it easy and you can put a lid on for stacking it. Not what you asked about, but it works better for me instead of having floppy cord loops out in the open.
Boys always get sensitive about long cylindrical things...
mrobins297aaa
Well-known member
+1 on that, in 40 years in the building trades we never stored our chords with that daisy chain stuff.........its a mess to store especially when its going in a job box and the rolled up chord is ten feet long.
diesel research
Well-known member
I've never heard of this "construction way", but didn't bash it. Nor had I heard of the audio/video way.
Couldn't have noticed how bent out of shape the AV guys have gotten.
I see this same thing in auto repair. Someone is forced to do something a certain way so many times, in the end they forget why exactly they are doing it a certain way and get bent out of shape when they see someone else doing it a different way (with their own equipment)
Mario
Well-known member
It's just sad that any tread worth reading turn out into a ******* contest each time...
jeffmoss26
Well-known member
I think we've all been taught a certain way to do it, and that becomes the way we show others. I know most of the people I worked with could not really get the hang of over-under, and it's fine. I am just glad when the cords did not walk out of the building!
slip knot
Well-known member
Now I remember why I hate using an extension cord.
I never considered how the cord felt while getting rolled up and mangled by all the **** I throw on it at the end of the day. But now I see why it was such a notted mess at the next useage. I hurt it feelings!
I never considered how the cord felt while getting rolled up and mangled by all the **** I throw on it at the end of the day. But now I see why it was such a notted mess at the next useage. I hurt it feelings!