Electrical Engineering - from whence electrical-conduit locknuts?

Author

from whence electrical-conduit locknuts?

dances_with_barkadas@yahoo.com

2007-12-23, 1:25 pm

who invented these nuisances (requires a special tool) - and was there
an underlying good reason to NOT use ordinary hardware?

Big_Jake

2007-12-23, 1:25 pm

On Dec 23, 12:30 pm, dances_with_barka...@yahoo.com wrote:
> who invented these nuisances (requires a special tool) - and was there
> an underlying good reason to NOT use ordinary hardware?

They don't "require" a special tool. You can snug them up with a
small channellocks ot tighten them or loosen them with a hammer and
screwdriver.

Some really old ones are hex head. I have had at least a dozen
electricians work on my house and rental properties, and none of them
owned a special tool.

JK

Dave Plowman (News)

2007-12-23, 5:25 pm

In article
<df4c3b8e-d552-4689-9469-001c25b50be4@s8g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
<dances_with_barkadas@yahoo.com> wrote:
> who invented these nuisances (requires a special tool) - and was there
> an underlying good reason to NOT use ordinary hardware?

Space - or lack of it in some applications.

They don't require a special tool, though.

--
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Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Jamie

2007-12-23, 5:25 pm

dances_with_barkadas@yahoo.com wrote:
> who invented these nuisances (requires a special tool) - and was there
> an underlying good reason to NOT use ordinary hardware?
You don't need a special tool how ever, I do have one that is nothing
more than a spanner. It don't get used much because I really don't
do alot of EMT connector body work.

http://www.toolbarn.com/product/makita/782412-6/

--
"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"

"Daily Thought:

SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES. NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT
THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5"

2007-12-26, 5:25 pm

On Dec 23, 2:12=A0pm, Big_Jake <I.do.realest...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 23, 12:30 pm, dances_with_barka...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
>
> They don't "require" a special tool. =A0You can snug them up with a
> small channellocks ot tighten them or loosen them with a hammer and
> screwdriver.

That's not really a big plus. Smacking on the end of a screwdriver to
tighten these up is optimal for neither the tightness of the nut, the
tip of the screwdriver, or the skin on your face.

Paul Hovnanian P.E.

2007-12-26, 8:25 pm

z wrote:
>
> On Dec 23, 2:12 pm, Big_Jake <I.do.realest...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> That's not really a big plus. Smacking on the end of a screwdriver to
> tighten these up is optimal for neither the tightness of the nut, the
> tip of the screwdriver, or the skin on your face.

That's why God created apprentices.

--
Paul Hovnanian mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
Parity on, dudes!

Don Young

2007-12-27, 3:25 am

"Paul Hovnanian P.E." <paul@hovnanian.com> wrote in message
news:47730D09.93B6B566@hovnanian.com...
>z wrote:
>
> That's why God created apprentices.
>
> --
> Paul Hovnanian mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> Parity on, dudes!
I wonder why some of my screwdrivers have steel shanks all the way through
and large steel caps on the back end? Actually, I have been an apprentice
and a journeyman electrician, tightened many locknuts, and used either
"ChannelLocks" or a screwdriver with either a hammer or a pair of "Kleins"
to hit it with, depending on access to the locknut and what tool was in my
hands at the time. Either way works good.

Don Young

Howard Beale

2007-12-27, 9:25 am

Don Young wrote:

> I wonder why some of my screwdrivers have steel shanks all the way through
> and large steel caps on the back end? Actually, I have been an apprentice
> and a journeyman electrician, tightened many locknuts, and used either
> "ChannelLocks" or a screwdriver with either a hammer or a pair of "Kleins"
> to hit it with, depending on access to the locknut and what tool was in my
> hands at the time. Either way works good.

I second the Kleins-and-screwdriver method.

I've also found that if I had-tighten the locknut it will provide enough
tension that the external fitting can be rotated tight with Kleins without
having to hammer on the lock nut.

I'm not an apprentice or a journeyman, but I know what a pair of Kleins are.

Paul Hovnanian P.E.

2007-12-30, 5:25 pm

Don Young wrote:
>
> "Paul Hovnanian P.E." <paul@hovnanian.com> wrote in message
> news:47730D09.93B6B566@hovnanian.com...
[color=darkred]
> I wonder why some of my screwdrivers have steel shanks all the way through
> and large steel caps on the back end?

There are probably dozens (hundreds) of applications in which a good rap
to the end of a screwdriver is called for. This is one of them.

On the other hand, I know some electricians who don't like this kind of
screwdriver due to the danger of accidentally contacting the back end of
the shank while the business end is in a hot circuit.

> Actually, I have been an apprentice
> and a journeyman electrician, tightened many locknuts, and used either
> "ChannelLocks" or a screwdriver with either a hammer or a pair of "Kleins"
> to hit it with, depending on access to the locknut and what tool was in my
> hands at the time. Either way works good.

I've seen some sort of locknut wrench. It appeared similar to an open
end wrench (so one could get it around existing wiring I suppose) with
two teeth projecting from their face. I imagine these come in several
sizes. Probably handy for big jobs but these sorts of gadgets require a
tradeoff between saving a few seconds per use and the weight of ones
tool belt.

> Don Young

--
Paul Hovnanian paul@hovnanian.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Procrastinators: The leaders for tomorrow.

sylvan butler

2008-01-06, 5:25 pm

On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 11:29:53 -0800, Paul Hovnanian P.E. <paulh@seanet.com> wrote:
> Don Young wrote:
[color=darkred]
> On the other hand, I know some electricians who don't like this kind of
> screwdriver due to the danger of accidentally contacting the back end of
> the shank while the business end is in a hot circuit.

As if one has only one screwdriver...

> I've seen some sort of locknut wrench. It appeared similar to an open
...
> tradeoff between saving a few seconds per use and the weight of ones
> tool belt.

Save weight by having only one screwdriver, only to make up for it with
a half-dozen wrenches? No thanks.

sdb

--
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sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com

websurf1@cox.net

2008-01-06, 9:25 pm

On Dec 30 2007, 12:29 pm, "Paul Hovnanian P.E." <pa...@seanet.com>
wrote:

> On the other hand, I know some electricians who don't like this kind of
> screwdriver due to the danger of accidentally contacting the back end of
> the shank while the business end is in a hot circuit.

On one of my long-ago jobs while in college, I once used a standard
Craftsman screwdriver to tighten a LIVE but loose 480 3-phase
connection.

I survived. But only later did I stop to realize that the plastic was
probably not rated for any kind of voltage, much less anything in that
range. I get nervous just remembering. Methinks God protects
fools....

Lostgallifreyan

2008-01-07, 9:25 am

websurf1@cox.net wrote in news:72dfedce-8258-4174-a000-
30c68847d772@d21g2000prg.googlegroups.com:

> On one of my long-ago jobs while in college, I once used a standard
> Craftsman screwdriver to tighten a LIVE but loose 480 3-phase
> connection.
>
> I survived. But only later did I stop to realize that the plastic was
> probably not rated for any kind of voltage, much less anything in that
> range. I get nervous just remembering. Methinks God protects
> fools....
>

The plastic might have been enough actually, but I'd have been anxious
about a sudden lowering of resistance in that connection while working it,
if there was much current flowing. It might have melted explosively at you.
I once tried to reconnect a 240V 100A AC line (with no accessible upstream
switch) not realising that immediately downstream there was a full short
circuit caused by an earlier accident. There shouldn't have been, a pair of
100A terminal blocks takes a LOT to melt down and fuse together that badly,
but so it was, and on applying the connection, it swore at me the way only
a high energy short can (people several rooms away heard it shout), and it
sputtered my eyeballs and the skin of my face with a nice copper vapour
deposition that took days to grow out entirely, and itched fiercely most of
the time. For the first tem minutes I was totally flash blinded, and I was
in nervous shock (not electrical, I took care to at least get that right)
for several hours. Had to attend a science project that evening too, that
was no fun, it should have been, but all I wanted was a dark and quiet
place to rest for a while.

And the weirdest thing of all was that I did it TWICE. The nervous shock
set in instantly, I was so confused I pushed the cable in again as if it
would have worked right the second time. You have been warned! The nervous
shock alone will scramble your system so badly you'll do something wrong
again before you react sanely enough to start doing the right thing. I was
lucky enough to remain on my feet, on a chair I was standing on without
falling against the wall or worse, and had no permanent injury, but I think
fate gives us single warnings on stuff like that. We have to heed them.

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