Personalized Extension Cords

[Richard D]

Extension cords are expensive, especially heavy duty models. I was looking at an aftermarket wiring harness(Ron Francis, Painless Wiring, etc.) and they have each wire labeled every 6" or so. I wonder how hard it would be to make custom extension cords(maybe just wire and you put your own ends on?). I know it would be costly, but it would be a long-run type benefit, preventing lost/stolen/accidentally picked up by someone else cords.

 

[readhead]

A shop I worked for in San Diego bought a lot of cords direct from the manufacturer. Molded right into the cord every three feet was "stolen from University Mechanical". I don't know if it helped but a few employees got fired for stealing company tools and pawning them. The cords id'd them.

 

[ishiboo]

There are lots of places that do custom lettering on wire/cable. It is expensive, but due to the process it's not necessarily impossibly expensive to do small runs. It will still fairly easily double the cost of the cord. Some are better than others - with many the ink used will wear off fairly quickly in use.

Heat shrink labels is probably a more economical bet.

 

[Strouty]

Ish, I think you will find that it is not really that bad to get the printing done.

Here is one example that does it at no extra charge.


http://www.jhlindustries.com/cords.php

 

[bjcouche]

There are panel shops that can do it for you. More specifically, if you order a 500 foot spool of SO cord and make up your own extension cords, this might be an option. The printing is done on the cable as the cable is fed off the spool. The sources you mentioned are automotive, think industrial panel shop. Maybe someone else will chime in and have a source.
Me, I just buy bright pink cords, no guys steal them. I knew an electrician that did that, bought pink screwdrivers, and he always knew which one was his...

Brian

 

[krandrew]

You can use dual wall shrink tubes with the hot glue inside it. Just put a sticker or label behind it. Works nicely on larger cables

 

[tab2]

You can use dual wall shrink tubes with the hot glue inside it. Just put a sticker or label behind it. Works nicely on larger cables

I think that this is the most efficient idea. It comes in all sorts of sizes.

http://www.delcity.net/store/Clear-Heat-Shrink-Tubing/p_326

 

[gtcs]

At work we order all our cords HD 100' hot pink with property of xxxxx electric printed every foot
We order them about 20 at a time, and the printing is free

 

[Rt jam]

A cheap and easy solution but not as permanent is a label maker. There are special labels for small gauge wire that wraps around and the final lap around is a clear section to protect the print.

 

[nadogail]

I stamped my name onto flat washers, and slipped the washers on the cord before adding the connector.

 

[James-W]

A buddy of mine used to make his own extension cords. Before he would put one of the ends on the cord, he would type his name on a sticky label and stick it on the cord. Then he would take a piece of clear heat shrink tubing and put it over the label and then shrink it with a heat gun. The heat shrink tubing would shrink and tighten around the label and his name would be clearly showing. I suppose if someone really wanted to steal the cord, they would do it and remove the heat shrink tubing and the label. But it kept the honest people from stealing his extension cords.

 

[555]

I use to make all my own extension cords. I'd get SJ cord from the electrical supply house and add the male/female ends. I didn't mark them as I was the only guy with that type of extension cord.

 

[RVDan]

Acetone will take the ink off.

Of course the scrap places here don't care if it's stolen, they're required to take a copy of the sellers ID, but don't have any requirement to try to track down the previous owner.

 

[Richard D]

Clear heat shrink, I didn't know such a thing existed. I have a label maker, I will get some of that stuff. Thanks.

 

[nadogail]

I like the clear heat shrink over the printed label idea, thanks for posting it.

 

[ranger302]

The Lowes near me will do custom cords with anything you want printed on them. I think the min order is like five or so.

 

[slowzuki]

Place I worked just spray painted stripes on them while they were coiled up. Paint wore off about when the cord was done.

 

[Richard D]

Clear shrink wrap worked perfectly, thanks for the great idea!

 

[nine4gmc]

That came out great Richard!


Sent from my iThingy using Tapatalk

 

[Richard D]

I'm looking for some that shrinks 75% instead of 50 so I can slip it over the ends of pre-molded cords.

 

[LXCam]

There are a couple companies that will heat stamp whatever into the sheath so even if the ink goes to hell you still have the indentation.

At work we order all our cords HD 100' hot pink with property of xxxxx electric printed every foot
We order them about 20 at a time, and the printing is free

I did the same thing with my contracting business. The guys hated the pink cords, but I never had another one ripped off again. Job site twist lock adapters became an issue as well, so I cut V shape notches into the ends.

I'm looking for some that shrinks 75% instead of 50 so I can slip it over the ends of pre-molded cords.

No one makes shrink wrap that will reduce far enough to go over a cord end and fit snugly to the cord. Least nothing I've ever found.

I can't remember who I used to buy ours from but here is a place that prints custom labeling.

http://www.jhlindustries.com/customcords.php

 

[Richard D]

We have dozens of heavy cords we have made up here. We have big rolls of cable that was donated we make them from, so the clear shrink wrap is ideal.

 

[bwringer]

I'm looking for some that shrinks 75% instead of 50 so I can slip it over the ends of pre-molded cords.

You can get clear shrink tubing in 3:1 and 4:1 shrink ratios. Most shrink tubing you find on the shelf is 2:1, so you have to order it from McMaster-Carr or wherever.

This might take some experimentation -- the higher ratio shrink tubing ends up thicker and more opaque, so anything under the shrink might not be as legible as you'd like.


You can also get custom printed heat shrink tubing in 3:1:
http://www.heatshrink.com/content/custom-printing.asp

 

[Tyberius]

I usually melt my initials into the ends with a soldering iron.

ETA: Usually do this with any plastic tools and cases

 

[shocksandstrutz]

I know this is a different industry, but in the substation and transmission world, all new installed copper or cables are laser etched (at the factory produced) with a serial number and those numbers are regestered to a buyer........many of scappers have been locked up for stealing and trying to scrap. There is a coting or something around it that the scra yards use to verify.....its been a big deal. Now this doesn't work if they melt it all down.

I like the idea above about making your own and stamping a washer and putting it on before the ends. I'm stealing that.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

My HVAC tech has these on his contracting trucks:

http://www.milspec-direct.com/sub-zero-extension-cords-with-ground-monitoring

They have an interesting ground monitoring system with green neon lights to show power and indicate proper ground.

Tommy

 

[Firebird 1]

We used to buy our cords from milspec. with company name imprinted, Didn't cost that much but we bought case lots. The name did wear off but it was printed about every foot so there always was some of it still there. These cords did seem to go bad at the ends prematurely though.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Thanks for the info.

Tommy