General > General Technical Chat

Tricks of the Trade - knowledge for every day life

<< < (30/31) > >>

Berni:

--- Quote from: eti on December 18, 2022, 02:17:41 am ---Only buy tools you NEED, not because "oooh shiny shiny". Sounds obvious, but I have contacts with compulsive shopping addictions - the tools they buy, they will NEVER use (and they ain't any kind of engineer!)

--- End quote ---

Tell that to the old test equipment hoarders.

Do i need yet another multimeter? Not really, but that one is going really cheep on ebay!

tooki:

--- Quote from: Zoli on December 17, 2022, 04:26:23 pm ---
--- Quote from: tooki on December 17, 2022, 01:35:58 pm ---...
You mean stripping the cable jacket? That’s what jacket strippers are for! :)

Pro life hack: strip cable jacket using cable jacket strippers. :P

--- End quote ---
I see your discreet advertisement  >:D :-DD :-DD :-DD
https://www.schleuniger.com/en/products/

--- End quote ---
Well, this is more like that I had in mind! :P
https://jonard.com/cst-tools-round-cable-strippers


We have a Schleuniger micro-coax stripper at work, and it’s a godsend. But since it probably cost as much as a small car, Im not sure it can be called a life hack.  ;D

tooki:

--- Quote from: Psi on December 17, 2022, 09:14:47 pm ---
--- Quote from: tooki on December 17, 2022, 01:35:58 pm ---
--- Quote from: Psi on December 11, 2022, 11:27:43 am ---When cutting the insulation off multi-core cable using many cuts with side-cutters you will sometimes accidently cut or nick one of the inner wires.
To avoid this, use the side cutters to pinch some of the insulation, then rotate the cutters outwards before actually cutting it.
By doing this rotation you will ensure the inner wires are not between your sider cutter blades.

--- End quote ---
You mean stripping the cable jacket? That’s what jacket strippers are for! :)

Pro life hack: strip cable jacket using cable jacket strippers. :P

--- End quote ---

Yes, but you wont always have access to one.
It's good to know how to do things without them.

--- End quote ---
Fair point. I’m definitely someone who likes doing things with the proper tool, since using the wrong tool often damages both workpiece and tool. But I do recognize that having a specialized tool for everything isn’t always possible.

That reminds me of a great line from a great comedy: “I’m gonna make the full-flavored risotto using my own set of appliances, called skills and a kitchen.”

Slartibartfast:

--- Quote from: eti on December 11, 2022, 07:43:28 am ---Always *twist* a stranded wire and then solder saturate it into a solid end (and then clean off any flux) and then cut it flush and clean at the tip, before screwing into a terminal block. If possible use captive terminal types, the ones with the ridged moving flat clamp which rides up and down with the screw and applies even pressure across the wire end, otherwise excess tightening causes screw-shaped pits in the wire end, and if it’s not been soldered as above, you get little copper strand ends falling out everywhere, which not only means short circuit risk but means the cross-sectional amperage rating of the end has decreased.

--- End quote ---

This is a very bad idea if that wire is supposed to sit in that terminal block for a long time. Tin slowly flows under stress, which means that the initally tight connection slowly loosens over time until it falls out. This is the same reason why soldered connections are not acceptable in house wiring. There, as well as with the terminal block, wire ferrules are the way to go.

SmallCog:

--- Quote from: Slartibartfast on December 19, 2022, 09:13:55 pm ---
--- Quote from: eti on December 11, 2022, 07:43:28 am ---Always *twist* a stranded wire and then solder saturate it into a solid end (and then clean off any flux) and then cut it flush and clean at the tip, before screwing into a terminal block. If possible use captive terminal types, the ones with the ridged moving flat clamp which rides up and down with the screw and applies even pressure across the wire end, otherwise excess tightening causes screw-shaped pits in the wire end, and if it’s not been soldered as above, you get little copper strand ends falling out everywhere, which not only means short circuit risk but means the cross-sectional amperage rating of the end has decreased.

--- End quote ---

This is a very bad idea if that wire is supposed to sit in that terminal block for a long time. Tin slowly flows under stress, which means that the initally tight connection slowly loosens over time until it falls out. This is the same reason why soldered connections are not acceptable in house wiring. There, as well as with the terminal block, wire ferrules are the way to go.

--- End quote ---

This has caused us no end of issues at work.

A former employee was fond of doing this and years later we're still discovering faults traced back to soldered wires that are now loose in terminal blocks.

Use a bootlace or similar ferrule.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page

There was an error while thanking
Thanking...
Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod