from whence electrical-conduit locknuts?

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

That's not really a big plus. Smacking on the end of a screwdriver to
tighten these up is optimal for neither the tightness of the nut, the
tip of the screwdriver, or the skin on your face.

That's why God created apprentices.

 

[Hal Murray]

They don't "require" a special tool. You can snug them up with a

That's why God created apprentices.

What do electricians use?

What would they use if the inspector was watching?

 

[Don Young]

That's why God created apprentices.

I wonder why some of my screwdrivers have steel shanks all the way through
and large steel caps on the back end? Actually, I have been an apprentice
and a journeyman electrician, tightened many locknuts, and used either
"ChannelLocks" or a screwdriver with either a hammer or a pair of "Kleins"
to hit it with, depending on access to the locknut and what tool was in my
hands at the time. Either way works good.

Don Young

 

[Howard Beale]

I wonder why some of my screwdrivers have steel shanks all the way through
and large steel caps on the back end? Actually, I have been an apprentice
and a journeyman electrician, tightened many locknuts, and used either
"ChannelLocks" or a screwdriver with either a hammer or a pair of "Kleins"
to hit it with, depending on access to the locknut and what tool was in my
hands at the time. Either way works good.

I second the Kleins-and-screwdriver method.

I've also found that if I had-tighten the locknut it will provide enough
tension that the external fitting can be rotated tight with Kleins without
having to hammer on the lock nut.

I'm not an apprentice or a journeyman, but I know what a pair of Kleins are.

 

[cavedweller]

Underware is programming. Underwear is clothing.

And in the spirit of this thread, "from whence" is incorrect....just
"whence" suffices.

 

[Paul Hovnanian P.E.]

I wonder why some of my screwdrivers have steel shanks all the way through
and large steel caps on the back end?

There are probably dozens (hundreds) of applications in which a good rap
to the end of a screwdriver is called for. This is one of them.

On the other hand, I know some electricians who don't like this kind of
screwdriver due to the danger of accidentally contacting the back end of
the shank while the business end is in a hot circuit.

Actually, I have been an apprentice
and a journeyman electrician, tightened many locknuts, and used either
"ChannelLocks" or a screwdriver with either a hammer or a pair of "Kleins"
to hit it with, depending on access to the locknut and what tool was in my
hands at the time. Either way works good.

I've seen some sort of locknut wrench. It appeared similar to an open
end wrench (so one could get it around existing wiring I suppose) with
two teeth projecting from their face. I imagine these come in several
sizes. Probably handy for big jobs but these sorts of gadgets require a
tradeoff between saving a few seconds per use and the weight of ones
tool belt.

 

[sylvan butler]

On the other hand, I know some electricians who don't like this kind of
screwdriver due to the danger of accidentally contacting the back end of
the shank while the business end is in a hot circuit.

As if one has only one screwdriver...

I've seen some sort of locknut wrench. It appeared similar to an open ...
tradeoff between saving a few seconds per use and the weight of ones
tool belt.

Save weight by having only one screwdriver, only to make up for it with
a half-dozen wrenches? No thanks.

sdb

 

[[email protected]]

On the other hand, I know some electricians who don't like this kind of
screwdriver due to the danger of accidentally contacting the back end of
the shank while the business end is in a hot circuit.

On one of my long-ago jobs while in college, I once used a standard
Craftsman screwdriver to tighten a LIVE but loose 480 3-phase
connection.

I survived. But only later did I stop to realize that the plastic was
probably not rated for any kind of voltage, much less anything in that
range. I get nervous just remembering. Methinks God protects
fools....

 

[Lostgallifreyan]

[email protected] wrote in [email protected]:

On one of my long-ago jobs while in college, I once used a standard
Craftsman screwdriver to tighten a LIVE but loose 480 3-phase
connection.

I survived. But only later did I stop to realize that the plastic was
probably not rated for any kind of voltage, much less anything in that
range. I get nervous just remembering. Methinks God protects
fools....

The plastic might have been enough actually, but I'd have been anxious
about a sudden lowering of resistance in that connection while working it,
if there was much current flowing. It might have melted explosively at you.
I once tried to reconnect a 240V 100A AC line (with no accessible upstream
switch) not realising that immediately downstream there was a full short
circuit caused by an earlier accident. There shouldn't have been, a pair of
100A terminal blocks takes a LOT to melt down and fuse together that badly,
but so it was, and on applying the connection, it swore at me the way only
a high energy short can (people several rooms away heard it shout), and it
sputtered my eyeballs and the skin of my face with a nice copper vapour
deposition that took days to grow out entirely, and itched fiercely most of
the time. For the first tem minutes I was totally flash blinded, and I was
in nervous shock (not electrical, I took care to at least get that right)
for several hours. Had to attend a science project that evening too, that
was no fun, it should have been, but all I wanted was a dark and quiet
place to rest for a while.

And the weirdest thing of all was that I did it TWICE. The nervous shock
set in instantly, I was so confused I pushed the cable in again as if it
would have worked right the second time. You have been warned! The nervous
shock alone will scramble your system so badly you'll do something wrong
again before you react sanely enough to start doing the right thing. I was
lucky enough to remain on my feet, on a chair I was standing on without
falling against the wall or worse, and had no permanent injury, but I think
fate gives us single warnings on stuff like that. We have to heed them.

 

[tony sayer]

[email protected] wrote in [email protected]:


The plastic might have been enough actually, but I'd have been anxious
about a sudden lowering of resistance in that connection while working it,
if there was much current flowing. It might have melted explosively at you.
I once tried to reconnect a 240V 100A AC line (with no accessible upstream
switch) not realising that immediately downstream there was a full short
circuit caused by an earlier accident. There shouldn't have been, a pair of
100A terminal blocks takes a LOT to melt down and fuse together that badly,
but so it was, and on applying the connection, it swore at me the way only
a high energy short can (people several rooms away heard it shout), and it
sputtered my eyeballs and the skin of my face with a nice copper vapour
deposition that took days to grow out entirely, and itched fiercely most of
the time. For the first tem minutes I was totally flash blinded, and I was
in nervous shock (not electrical, I took care to at least get that right)
for several hours. Had to attend a science project that evening too, that
was no fun, it should have been, but all I wanted was a dark and quiet
place to rest for a while.

And the weirdest thing of all was that I did it TWICE. The nervous shock
set in instantly, I was so confused I pushed the cable in again as if it
would have worked right the second time. You have been warned! The nervous
shock alone will scramble your system so badly you'll do something wrong
again before you react sanely enough to start doing the right thing. I was
lucky enough to remain on my feet, on a chair I was standing on without
falling against the wall or worse, and had no permanent injury, but I think
fate gives us single warnings on stuff like that. We have to heed them.

You were very lucky you didn't get a belt from it as well ..I had one
many years ago when I couldn't let go, and it was fortunate that someone
was nearby who did notice and realise what was going on..

I still remember every microsecond of it, the pain was excruciating I
couldn't move anything just this loud humming and my body violently
shaking(

 

[[email protected]]

<[email protected]> scribeth thus






You were very lucky you didn't get a belt from it as well ..I had one
many years ago when I couldn't let go, and it was fortunate that someone
was nearby who did notice and realise what was going on..

I still remember every microsecond of it, the pain was excruciating I
couldn't move anything just this loud humming and my body violently
shaking(

Jeez, you guys! When I said "I survived", I meant "nothing happened",
as in "I got away with it totally dude, no sparks or nothin'"
Your stories make me nervous all over again.
Maybe that's why most of my electrical career involves 5, 12, maybe 24
volts most of the time. I have cheap screwdrivers.....

 

[Lostgallifreyan]

You were very lucky you didn't get a belt from it as well

Nope, I got that right, really. Onehanded grasp of a double-insulated cable
sheath while standing on a dry wooden chair. No chance of electrical
contact there. 10000V could not have jumped to me. I always stand such that
if I became unstable on my feet I'd fall away from the circuit too. Only
thing I got wrong was not realising that the previous accident caused by
the people who called me in had managed to entirely short two large
concealed and normally isolated lumps of brass.

The original current would not have been enough to do what they did, I
thought, but I've had time enough to work out how, since. Their small short
circuit melted a path, probably carbonised the insulator, the plasma formed
the high current path that allowed the rest of the melt to fuse the blocks,
and the cables feeding them were blasted free, breaking the original
circuit. I made the mistake of thinking that they'd been blasted free of a
loose connection, not actually sheared through by a greater event than the
one I thought had happened. The 100A fuse had not blown, which is why I
assumed the maximum surrent could not have fused those terminal blocks. I
never figured out exactly why that was. My guess is the plasma burn was
slow and hot, not fast, but I wasn't there when it happened so I don't
know. No-one there could tell me anything coherent.

 

[Lostgallifreyan]

[email protected] wrote in [email protected]:

Your stories make me nervous all over again.
Maybe that's why most of my electrical career involves 5, 12, maybe 24
volts most of the time. I have cheap screwdrivers.....

Take a big capacitor and the cheapest screwdriver, and a 12V or 24V supply
to charge up that cap. Then put the screwdriver across it. Best put on
welders goggles first though. You could nicely simulate what happened to me
even without the 240V line. >

Look carefully at a circuit to see what energy is stored, if any. For
example, a TV tube PSU will just hurt you a bit, even if does put out a few
tens of thousands of volts, what makes it truly deadly is the storage
capacity of the CRT. If anyone thinks of electrical danger as if it's only
a measure of volts, they need to learn about the storage of electrical
energy, and the effects of accidental sudden release of it. Playing with
small capacitors is a good way to learn without too great a risk. No amount
of book learning will replace the teaching of a few small-scale dangers
tested deliberately.