Repeated from a few nights ago.
The cable pullers from Hartlepool install 2.5 tonnes of
4 core SWA and expertly remove the outer sheath and the wire protection with a big hacksaw, a la DIM.isn't there a special tool to do this ?.
Come on, they're from Hartlepool. Monkey-hangers the lot of them!
Sorry about that. I work with a guy from Hartlepool and we all makes jokes about it - usually instigated by him.
SteveW
Andrew explained on 24/02/2019 :
No !
Quackquack shows plenty of SWA wire strippers. A loop with an adjustable blade sticking into it plus handle is used for smaller cables, I expect they're available for SWA too.
NT
Do we know what size it was? I could see that for larger sizes a hacksaw might actually be a good option, except that isn't the normal armouring wire a bit hard for a hacksaw?
Junior hacksaw actually.
A full size Eclipse might be difficult.
I have lopped quite a bit of thumb off with a junior :-(
Methinks there are specialised tools, but installation was never my proper job, and even less so these days.
For serious SWA stripping, try one of those impromptu caravan parks where they specialise in Tarmacing :-)
AB
It was a massive cable. What could be better than a hacksaw? They did it with great skill.
Bill
snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com has brought this to us :
There are, but only for the smaller sizes of cable. I would guess that those mentioned, where much bigger.
No, it is just galv steel and a saw works fine. Either a junior for the small sizes, of a normal hacksaw for the larger ones. Idea is not to cut all the way through the wires, but to nick them enough to make a weakness. The wires can then be snapped by bending them repeatedly at the nick, until they break.
It was a 4 core and I believe they referred to it as 185, so I guess that was mm2 per core. The OD looked to be around 50 mm.
Chris
There is a thing that TLC do called a blade runner - basically like a pipe cutter with a section of hacksaw blade where the cutting wheel would normally be (mounted in a way that limits the max depth of cut)
These work well for the domestic sizes of SWA, but would not do industrial sizes. However there may be similar large scale tools available, but I have not looked.
(A (junior) hacksaw is the "standard" way to knick the wires such that they can e wiggled and snapped off)
Its the way I have done it in the past but stuff junior hacksaws, use a proper one with a 32 TPI blade in it. There is a world of difference.
trivial to make one
NT
I have also done it with just side cutters. If you ring round the PVC of the cable with a sharp blade it leaves enough of a mark on the armour wires to see where to snip.
It happens that Chris J Dixon formulated :
Not that big then! 185 is the crossectional area of each core. The larger sizes of core are formed into a 1/4 of circle, so as a 4x core they sit together to form the round cable. The original drum shown before they began, did not look as if it had that 93 metre length of cable on it to begin with, so the drum was probably filmed after the length was installed and they way they manouvered the full drum it didn't look anything like 2 ton. Besides, the cable end shown on the drum, was a fresh cut end. From the manufacturer, the cable end would be sealed against moisture ingress.
The only way to maneuver a 2 ton cable drum, is using a length of timber. You rock the drum and wedge timber under a drum bolt, which lifts one side, to turn it.
I did a similar contract near Hartlepool and engaged some local lads from Hartlepool to help full them in. Temporary labourers from the Labour Exchange.
Lot of artistic license in the description - if any of the 148 wires are damaged, it is scrap. I assume they meant the armouring steel and the intention is to deliberately nick them, to enable them to be snapped.
But I don't think it is mild steel; evidently not as strong/hard as that used in steel cables. I must ask a tame metallurgist next time I see one.
newshound presented the following explanation :
Just galvanised mild steel, nothing harder - remember the cable needs to be bent and formed. I keep a stock of the wire in my garage, it is handy for all sorts of jobs.
The reel they were installing weighed 2.5 tonnes if my memory is correct. Looked about 3 inches in diameter. The program mentioned that all cable pullers come from Hartlepool because of their size :-)
The heaving and grunting (and chopping out an inconvenient bit of cable tray support) or the final connection ?.
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