Terminating SWA

[John Rumm]

Since the subject has come up a few times recently, I though some pictures would help.

If anyone fancies reviewing or proofreading, then that would be appreciated:

[Andy Hall]

A couple of things.

Generally I make the steel wires a bit shorter. This makes sure that the top sealing nut and sleeve is really sealing on the outer of the cable and not the wires.

The ring on some fittings is cylindrical. On others it's conical and fits one way round

It can be useful to extend the inner insulation into the box for some applications - e.g. conductors going to a double pole switch in another part of the box.

[John Woodison]

The way I was taught, is to cut around the outside of the cable through the PVC and halfway through the armour strands, with a junior hacksaw. The outer PVC is then stripped off and the armour strands can be broken off by bending them backwards ( assuming you have cut into them deep enough) The outer PVC can then be stripped back the required distance (I go for about

30mm on that size gland) with a knife.

This method produces strands which are an equal length, and are not bent slightly at the ends, which is near impossible to do by clipping them.

I was also told to leave the inner insulation proud of the front gland, to stop the conductors from rubbing against the gland.

[mark]

quoted text -

I do it the same as J Woodison.Gives a nice tidy end to the armouring.Nothing to stop you doing it the way it`s shown on Wikipedia but it looks amateurish and slow.

[Colin Wilson]

Ditto all the above (junior hacksaw on armour, inner insulation clear of the gland) - served my time as an electrician with a local REC, although I suspect most of the cables we were playing with were substantially bigger than 4mm ! (240mm can be a b*tch to bend)

[John Rumm]

Yup, I use a hacksaw on the bigger stuff, but I never find it works that well on the small stuff - the armour tends to jiggle about too much. Having said that it may vary with brand of cable (I tend to get mine from the same source each time)

I will add words on hacksaw use though.

[John Rumm]

Indeed, in fact there are times where you may want quite a long length of it - say coming through a wall and off to a CU - you can dump the armour and outer sheath and carry on with just the inner for a bit.

[Frank Erskine]

Perhaps Drivel may have some suggestions for hacksaw uses too.

[Andy Hall]

He'd be advocating a pipe slice.

[John Rumm]

Yup, me too usually (when not grappling with a camera at the same time....) I have tweaked some of the photos a bit to improve this - remember to hit refresh in your browser or it may not notice.

I will add a note to the effect....

[jkn]

Great stuff, John - much appreciated.

uk.d-i-y really is one of the best Usenet resources going ;-)

Many Thanks Jon N

[EricP]

I might be facing this soon and I know know the process and it is not too daunting. Just a bit more complex than a tv coax plug. :))

[Robin]

Nice to know I did something right(ish).

I've also recalled that I was advised to warm the outer insulation to make it easier to cut. This seemed to work (it was winter). Of course I don't know if this is general good practice.

[Rick Hughes]

I have noticed on some SWA gland packs that there is no separte ring, and that the only way to get this 'done up', ends up with armour wires showing below the fitting. (i.e. TLC SWA gland packs ... simple 2 part cone & nut) The plastic boot does cover them. Don't really see it's a problem as not being used underground.

[Rick Hughes]

"Colin Wilson" wrote in message news: [e-mail]...

Biggest I worked on was AWCO 300mm 4 core cable with wave formed SWA .. does that count ? Had real man sized bar benders to form cores into correct position for connectors. Having to do this on branch & service joints on live cables in a trench was fun !

[Andy Hall]

There are some that are internal only and others that are internal/external

[John Rumm]

Probably, but I will leave the wiki demo with 4mm if you don't mind! ;-)

(can't see many people needing more than 16mm^2 at most in a domestic environment anyway)

I would have thought you would need some for of mechanical leverage for bending it at well below that core size?

The things you do for fun! ;-)

[Harry Bloomfield]

John Rumm explained on 18/09/2007 :

with a saw as a first step - cutting through the outer PVC at the same time. Then slit the outer PVC with a knife from the above saw nick, which then permits you to break the armouring off cleanly where it has been nicked. Once the armour is off, you ring it again, this time with a knife, to enable you to remove the final bit of outer PVC.

It saves damaging cutters to cut the SWA and holds it all together until the last moment.

[John Rumm]

Yup, ta for that - I think we added words describing that technique last night... I may move it to a more prominent position.

(The only time I fond the saw technique does not always work so well is on the dinky sizes as used for that example)

[Harry Bloomfield]

You then swap from a normal hacksaw to a junior hacksaw.