I would like to pass some cables across a downstairs room under the floorboards. The last time I did this I lifted some floorboards in the corners of the room, and shoved some plastic rods through with string attached, pulling cables through with string and leaving the string there when I finished. I'm going from different places this time, so can't use the string. It was a bit of a faff though, so I wondered if anyone has any tips for making the job easier, or what tools to use, etc.
Peter.
Well, I use garden cane and twine. I've heard of people using toy guns firing some sort of projectile attached to some despooled thread. This can be used to pull through the string and then the cable.
If the ground below is smooth, I've even heard of cheap radio controlled cars, a mirror and a torch being used in a similar manner. I doubt either method would handle sleeper walls well.
Christian.
============================== Hi Christian,
I don't know if it's an urban myth, but I remember a tale which involved judicious use of a cat, some string, and a kipper.
Cheers,
Ian
We used tinned cat food rathe than a kipper, and the string was very light thread, partially cut so that it would break if it got snagged ... but we did exactly this to start the process of running a cable under the kitchen floor of a London flat :-)
Julian
But then you wouldn't be able to pull the cat out. Suppose they're cheap enough, though.
"Dave Plowman" wrote | Julian Fowler wrote: | > We used tinned cat food rathe than a kipper, and the string was very | > light thread, partially cut so that it would break if it got snagged | But then you wouldn't be able to pull the cat out. Suppose they're cheap | enough, though.
That Is Not A Nice Comment.
The problem with cats though is that they're inquisitive and may not take the shortest route, so if they decide to have an explore all around under the floorboards before popping out to claim the kipper you might have to re-do cable length calculations.
I can't see a suggested derating factor for "Below Floorboards Pulled By Cat" in the tables for mounting methods in the IEE regs.
Owain
Actually a CAT5 cable was one of those I was planning to go under the floor!
Peter.
"Andy Wade" wrote | "Andy Dingley" | > That's the difference between the IEE and the IETF | IETF? - Institution of electrical tractive felines?
Very good.
| Or try EIA/TIA 568 - lots of reference to CAT's in there :-)
The problem with anything more than CAT1 is getting the cats to pull in the same direction. It must be bloody pandemonium trying to install a 6 CAT cable. Particularly if only four of them like kipper.
Owain
Internet Engineering Task Force
Publishers of RFC 1149 "A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers" ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc1149.txt
and RFC 2549 "IP over Avian Carriers with QoS" ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2549.txt
"Andy Dingley" wrote | Internet Engineering Task Force | Publishers of RFC 1149 | "A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers" | ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc1149.txt | and RFC 2549 | "IP over Avian Carriers with QoS" | ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2549.txt
RFC 875 - Gateways, architectures, and heffalumps
Available from the above sites.
Owain
I've done the job using a pet rat (borrowed from a friend while on holiday) - tied a length of cotton loosely around its middle and it worked a treat (tied a length of string to the cotton, pulled that through, then attached the cable to the string.
It was crucial that Ratty was constrained to operate within two joists, so didn't have the run of the entire house between the floors...
David
Wasn't there a poster on here recently with a trained ferret earning a few hundred nicker a week of the wee beastie?
The first, and only implementation of the standard:
or any of the April RFCs listed at
In article , Ian Smeaton writes
How do you get the kipper to run so that the cat will chase it?
Let me explain.....
The kipper is dead, and has no ability to run. What you do is pull the kipper through using a piece of string from the place where you want your cat to run to. Attach a piece of string to the cat before it sets off, then you can collect the string from the cat when it comes out the other side. Job complete.
Hmm, I'm sure there's a problem with my logic somewhere, but I can't see what it is ;)
PoP
And proved to work :- '
AP
In article , PoP writes
Thanks for the explanation; I would never have guessed. Dead kippers. eh? There's a novelty.
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