Broken THHN Spools...

mdshunk

Every once in a while I get a roll of THHN from an oddball wire company that still puts their wire on steel reels. It's a bit of a nostalgic feeling for me... I almost want to just sit that spool on a shelf and look at it. Sort of like when you get a roll of romex every once in a while that's in a cardboard box and not shrink wrapped.

I think that the days of THHN on steel reels are over, and the piece of crap plastic one's are here to stay. As you all know, break the flange and the whole roll is as good as garbage. Carry a few rolls around on a service truck for any length of time, and they'll have broken or missing flanges in short order. What a friggin pain. I used to throw these rolls out, or use as much as my temper permitted before throwing them out. Copper's getting so expensive, I've vowed to change my wasteful ways.

As long as THHN continues to come on plastic reels, they will keep getting broken. I have resolved that trying to prevent them from getting broken is also a waste of time. I have seen "repair kits" or "repair flanges" of sorts for fixing broken THHN rolls. Any of you guys use them? Are they any good? I like to look into a few, but I also don't want to buy any that one of you guys already knows is crap or doesn't work well. Any other helpful tidbits related to broken THHN rolls appreciated also.

Speedy Petey

Marc, I assume you have by now heard of Rack-A-Tiers?

Very cool stuff!

http://www.rack-a-tiers.com/pro_rack.htm

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mdshunk

Yeah, I use the original "rack-a-teer" for unloading wire, and I've used their laser plumb bob for a long time too. In fact, it might be their "reel end" that spawned this query. Ever used one?

Speedy Petey

No, but I check them out at the supply house all the time. I really should grab a few of them. Spools of #12 & #10 lasts me a long time and yes, they often get broken.
I do have a GB hand cart and carry rack though.

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CE1

MBA's sales Equation: plastic spools WILL Break=electrician WILL scrap half used spools of wire with broken spool out of frustration=sales of wire WILL increase= WILL make more money.

Moral of the story "If you use junk parts in a product you will sell more products and make more money"

It does happen to all of us and maybe there is SOMETHING out there that will deliver us from this evil scheme. I have not seen anything yet!!

That was fun.

I have tried with limited success using 1/4" plywood circles between broken spools on a wire rack. Just have to make do I guess.

Leo G

Take some 1/4" plywood cut it into the appropriate sized circle (with a hole) and polyurethane glue it to the NEW plastic spool, should last until the wire runs out.

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Speedy Petey

By the time you do that you could get some of those reel ends and use them over and over.

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macmikeman

I have two sets of the Rack a Tiers fixers. They are pretty good. The drawback is that you cannot share a 1/2" emt with other spools, because one end of the assembly is fixed with a short emt riveted onto it.

mdshunk

So you're saying you need to use something smaller in diameter than 1/2" EMT to pay off the "fixed" spools? Like maybe 5/8" ground rod scraps?

I did order two of these fixers at the supply house Friday afternoon. They didn't have any handy for me to look at, but they're supposed to come in Monday morning. We'll see how they work out. I just finished a big job, and I'm mostly done with another bigger job, and I've got a few dozen broken THHN spools that I'd like to figure out a way to use up. I mostly ordered the 2500' wooden spools for these jobs, but some of the colors came in on 500' plastic spools anyhow.

Interesting, that ESSEX is beginning to supply some of the smaller THHN without spools at all. http://www.essexep.com/common/news/a...00/3-15-00.htm

RobertWilber

so, aside from finding an even CHEAPER and less helpful method of delivering product ....

this is supposed to HELP us?

brian11973

Someone said " service truck". A long time ago, a coworker & I had THHN on the van for service work, A / C whips etc. Short stuff. We put an EMT connector in one of the holes in the cargo safety cage. Fit right in. We then put a piece of EMT from there to the top of the shelves to the left of the side doors, with a strap, piece of wire, something to hold the end( I can't remember).This pipe would hold about 5 rolls(?)partial rolls of wire. All full rolls were a bit heavy.To hold it in place, just snug up the screw on the connecter. Once in a while it would fall down. To make up a whip, you could just pull off the wire. To use it for more wire, it came out real easy. The EMT could be carried in, with spools on it, for a spinner.

Out of the way, still handy.

mdshunk

I make a distinction between electrician's trucks. To me, a "service truck" has one or two of everything on it, as well as gobs of tools. A "new work truck" or "construction truck" is mostly empty, little to no material on the shelves, with a hook to hang your pouch tools on, a generator, extension cords, and a couple of drills. You see both types of trucks at the supply house. You can almost tell what type of work a guy mostly does by how full or empty his truck is. There's no shame in either; they're just set up for different purposes.

Service trucks are usually shiny, washed, dent and rust free, and in good repair. Construction trucks are usually worn out hand-me-downs from the service department, that only provide basic transportation to jobsites.

sundogusa

I cut 2 pieces of scrap 1/4" masonite 6" square and through bolted them to the spools using some scrap 1/2" threaded rod and a couple of nuts.

Total cost $0
Total Labor $0

Total savings What's a roll of wire cost??

mdshunk

I applaud your homebrew suggestion. I was the tinkering sort in years gone by, but lately I'm too busy to fuss with things. I'm pleased that it's works out for you. I did get the reel ends, but havn't tried them yet. In fact, they're laying on the floor next to me, but I've never ripped the pack open to check them out yet. The true tell will be to pull with them. The thing that appealed to me about them was the fact that the repair shaft is hollow, so you can put it on the same axel as normal rolls.

macmikeman

Not on the axel that is part of a Greenlee wire cart That is too large diameter to fit inside. I think 5/8" rod might work out ok. 1/2" would probably bend under the weight of the spools.

hiflyer

I could not believe my eyes when I saw the rack-a-tiers spool repair kit.
I am currently in the patent search for the Spool Tool. It slightly increases the diameter of the original wire spool, it will take 1 or 2 minutes to repair a spool. It will take 1/2" conduit, end plates are flat and smooth, non marking nylon. Need only repair broken side. Encapsulates broken end so you don't have those wire snags. I would like to get some feedback if this may be a better solution to everyones problem.
Until I am in patent pending I cannot discuss in to much detail design, or how it works. I have used it on my own jobs and it works well.

mahlere

old thread...but some of you are old men....a few years ago there was a company trying to market THHN in plastic wrap (similar to how NM-B is sent)...the premise was that you could stack these in a 5-gal bucket and pull up through the middle....no more spools...

i had a chance to see them in action at ElecticWest about 5-6 yrs ago, but apparently they didn't catch on....

220/221

Yeah...pulling wire from the center. GREAT idea Add a bunch of squirrlyO's to the pull.

Back in the 70's, thhn came in flat boxes. Not so good.

If you store your spools properly they won't break. I guess you know that though

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Just because it's against code doesn't make it unsafe.

mahlere

that was just it...no squirrlyO's...it was actually a nice setup...

220/221

If it pulled from the center, how did the wire come off straight ???

My complaint is with the new spools, they make the ends barely big enough to contain the wire so you have to fight with brand new spools.

An extra inch wouldn't kill them.

__________________
Just because it's within code doesn't make it safe.

Just because it's against code doesn't make it unsafe.