Anybody know where I can get my hands on a wire straightener?

[steveswitkin]

I'm not sure they even make then any more. Looks kind of like a pair of pliers with rollers on the end. You pull the narley wire through and it comes out perfectly straight.

I've got about 40 panels to do on an MC job and getting the spiral out of the wire after you unbraid them is a real annoyance.

[mdshunk]

I just hold the conductor at the end, and run the shaft of my phillips screwdriver (iwth heavy pressure) down it a couple of times to take out all the twist in the wire. If they make a special tool for this purpose, I'd be interested in owning it too.

[Dave85]

http://www.witels-albert-usa.com/
http://www.sjogren.com/products/straighteners/troll/
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.beadshop.com/shoponline/images/tools/essentials/824.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.beadshop.com/Tools-Essentials-824.aspx&h=300&w=300&sz=12&hl=en&start=17&tbnid=LxbSR1MYHWuwIM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwire%2Bstraightener%26svnum%3D10%26hl %3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN

I can see the first two being used in the welding field allot more...heck, I might just get one for my welding shop now that i know they exist :D

looks like a fairly simple design
http://cgi.ebay.com/Witels-Albert-wire-straightener-double-plane-Brand-New_W0QQitemZ190036117914QQihZ009QQcategoryZ4667QQ rdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

Im sure i could make something just like it with some time in the shop

[Shockedby277v]

Wow, that's expensive ... I'll do it the old fashion way.

[e57]

I just hold the conductor at the end, and run the shaft of my phillips screwdriver (iwth heavy pressure) down it a couple of times to take out all the twist in the wire. If they make a special tool for this purpose, I'd be interested in owning it too.

Although I have done it too, I used to work for a guy who claimed that it reduced the diameter of the wire that way. However he taught me a simular method: Put on your gloves, pull with one hand and slide the other down the wire twice. One once down and once to the side.

[hillbilly]

This procedure is not a good idea with electrical wire because it will decrease the gage diameter....but....I used to run small diameter copper tubing for low pressure "control air" circuits on the exterior of industrial machinery.
I would tie one end of a 50' length of tubing to the building steel and use a chain puller attached to the other end to stretch the copper tubing.
It will make the tubing perfectly straight.
Straight runs and turns bent with a tubing bender makes a really neat installation.
You don't have to stretch it that much. Too much and you will pull it in two.
Just some odd info that someone may use.
steve

[DaveTap]

When I saw this post I was reminded of asking apprentices for a smoke bender or a left-handed monkey wrench... Snipe Hunt anyone? :D

[JohnJ0906]

This procedure is not a good idea with electrical wire because it will decrease the gage diameter....but....I used to run small diameter copper tubing for low pressure "control air" circuits on the exterior of industrial machinery.
I would tie one end of a 50' length of tubing to the building steel and use a chain puller attached to the other end to stretch the copper tubing.
It will make the tubing perfectly straight.
Straight runs and turns bent with a tubing bender makes a really neat installation.
You don't have to stretch it that much. Too much and you will pull it in two.
Just some odd info that someone may use.
steve

1st thing I thought of was sending the helper for the wire strecher!:D

[hillbilly]

When I saw this post I was reminded of asking apprentices for a smoke bender or a left-handed monkey wrench... Snipe Hunt anyone? :D

I've sent helpers to the boiler room in industrial plants to get a bucket full of steam; in order to expand steel beams so that the bolt holes would line up.
steve

[DaveTap]

Oh thats a good one... although I'd be worried about the safety issues if they were stupid enough to open a live steam valve.

[DaveTap]

With the price of wire lately I could really use one of those...

[steveswitkin]

No, it's not a snipe hunt for a sky hook. Just an old defunct tool that aparently they don't make any more. Similar in principal to the links posted just WAY cheaper.

Too bad. It was a great tool.

*sigh* It's tough being a dinosaur.

[qcroanoke]

I once sent a helper after the nail bit while roughing in a house!

[JohnJ0906]

"Hmm, my level seems to be a bit off. Go to the truck and get me the bubble water."


:D

[paul32]

I know someone who sent his wife to the hardware store for a metric screwdriver. She was not amused. :)

[jeff43222]

A metric screwdriver is such a waste! The one I use works on both metric and SAE screws. :D

Is that's guy's wife talking to him yet? Or is she talking to a lawyer? :)

[dezwitinc]

I have a great source for boxes of post holes in case you need a large quantity for a site light installation.
P.S. They are made in America and of much better quality than those Chinese ones.

[DesertRat]

"Hmm, my level seems to be a bit off. Go to the truck and get me the bubble water."



Actually, level vials are filled with alcohol not water. :) I've worked onsite with a carpentry crew inwhich the foreman would grab an apprentice in the early afternoon and send him out for some "vial fluid" for the levels. Everyday the kid would come back with a case of beer :)

[JohnJ0906]

I've worked onsite with a carpentry crew inwhich the foreman would grab an apprentice in the early afternoon and send him out for some "vial fluid" for the levels. Everyday the kid would come back with a case of beer :)
Are you sure he didn't ask for
'vital fluid"?:D

[Shockedby277v]

An apprentice told me his level was off. So I told him to take it to a local hardware during the week and they'll calibrate it for free cause their way to busy on the weekend to just do it for free. I told him, if you take it to home depot they charge a lil more. He replies" Pfft, I'm not taking my level to be calibrated to home depot, those guys are idiots!"