electrical practicals: Running T&E to look good

[dave]

Seems to be a skill I don't have - how to run T&E cable so it looks good (especially on brickwork). Is there a site that gives good demos of how to do it properly? My cable runs are never straight - always seemto have slight kinks here and there. And nice neat 90 deg bends - forget it - they aren't flat against the wall. If I make a large radius bend, that is flatter, yes, but looks pathetic. So chaps, any pro- DIY advice appreciate here.

ps Are those flat cable matal clips (or a modern equiv.) still available? The plastic ones are I suppose easier to use - but I always think they stand out far too much on an exposed cable run.

[John Rumm]

First suggestion would be if you need something that looks nice on brickwork, consider MICC rather than T&E. Smaller, neater, and if you go for the bare copper clad, then it "weathers" nicely and vanishes against man bricks.

mark your run with a chalkline first. Take care as you unwind the cable from the reel to get it off without twists and so that it can go straight onto the wall were possible. That eliminates many of the kinks etc.

You can't really bend it sharply around the wide axis and keep it flat - something has to give. It either needs a reasonable radius to keep flat, or you need to flip to vertical orientation to go round a sharp corner.

Not seen them recently...

[Ericp]

This is one of the mysteries of life. You don't have the knack and neither do I.

It is the same when you open a consumer unit installed by a pro. It is a thing of beauty to behold.

The same with a PC built by someone with pride in their work. All wires neat and in order.

[Tony Bryer]

I don't claim to be able to do it perfectly, but the trick I was given by an ex BT engineer was to clip the cable firmly at one end and then draw out the length using a cloth of some sort (handkerchief), straightening and putting a slight reverse curve on the cable at the same time - fingers wrapped round the cable, thumb on what will be the top face.

[NT]

havent been legal for mains use for a long time, as theyre not insulated. I'm not sure why 2 layers of insulation isnt enough.

NT

[John Rumm]

Got a reference for that?

[dave]

Dunno - mabye it can be learnt.

Another mystery for sure is this: build some electronic kit (I've build many), as prototype. i.e. birdsnest. It usually works fine. Rebuild it to look good (we all lknow what that means) - then of course it doesn't work :-). Of course the follow-up is that if try to un-tidy it back to a birdsnest, that still doesn't work either.

I'm not too bad on those. I have some ex-army roller-tapered pliers! that I can get in there and make neat curves on the cable ends. Doing it with finger power is pretty difficult.

Birdsnests work better imho though :-)

[A.Lee]

Really? Why are they still being made?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Perhaps a better word would be tidy? It's never going to look good. If you want surface wiring to look best put it in conduit.

[ARWadsworth]

That's pikey talk ........

[ARWadsworth]

I don't like the look of either conduit or suface mount cable. But conduit is the lesser of the two evils.

[dave]

I think a neatly run cable can look good to those that can appreciate the skill in doing it.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Keep the bare copper away from cement though (such as mortar). That's one reason why it's normally covered.

[S Viemeister]

Is plaster a problem, too, or just cement?

[Andrew Gabriel]

Dry plaster isn't a problem for copper. Not sure about damp plaster, and it may also depend on plaster type.

It's not actually the cement itself which is harmful, but some common impurities, sulphur in particular.

[S Viemeister]

Thank you.