How many times can copper be bent before it breaks?

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stickboy1375

stickboy1375

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Litchfield, CT
Was doing a job today, existing 3 wire in switch box and the black conductor was broken off where it entered the box, this of course was older cloth wiring, but what I'm curious is how many times was this bent before it broke? The splice looked original, still soldered, and taped.. so kind of curious why it failed...
 
stickboy1375 said:
Was doing a job today, existing 3 wire in switch box and the black conductor was broken off where it entered the box, this of course was older cloth wiring, but what I'm curious is how many times was this bent before it broke? The splice looked original, still soldered, and taped.. so kind of curious why it failed...
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My guess would be it was damaged during install and maybe someone pulled on the wire either trying to stretch it or something caught on it.
 
I agree with the others . If it gets knicked it doesn't take to many bends for it to break. Even strippers can damage it if your useing stripper size 14 on a #12
 
Minuteman said:
If the drywallers have been close by with a rotozip, then all bets are off.
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I seem to recall one member talking about finding a buried box by punching a sequence of holes in the drywall with a hammer while saying "I know it was here somewhere..."

My fellow contractors, punish those contumacious drywallers;
Oh give thy brothers a revenge as sweet as their injuries are great.
Infuse into the bosoms of those thoughtless mudders a passion for patching holes,
so they may reap a reward as great as the punishment they heap upon us.
 
mivey said:
My fellow contractors, punish those contumacious drywallers;
Oh give thy brothers a revenge as sweet as their injuries are great.
Infuse into the bosoms of those thoughtless mudders a passion for patching holes,
so they may reap a reward as great as the punishment they heap upon us.
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This is getting printed and going up on the bulletin board at the shop.
 
ActionDave said:
This is getting printed and going up on the bulletin board at the shop.
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Since no one made the connection, I must give proper credit to Thomas Bulfinch.

From "Bulfinch Mythology" on Cupid and Psyche:

Thereupon she calls her winged son Cupid, mischievous enough in his own nature, and rouses and provokes him yet more by her complaints. She points out Psyche to him and says, ?My dear son, punish that contumacious beauty; give thy mother a revenge as sweet as her injuries are great; infuse into the bosom of that haughty girl a passion for some low, mean, unworthy being, so that she may reap a mortification as great as her present exultation and triumph.?
 
Hendrix said:
OMG, no one made that connection?:dunce:
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"Alex, I'll take literature for $1000" (and promptly perform an epic faceplant).:happyyes:

Pete

p.s. I will be showing that poetry to my brother-in-law... he happens to be "one of those guys" that uses a drywall router.
 
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Hendrix said:
OMG, no one made that connection?:dunce:
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I thought that would be funny. I was actually looking for a different quote when I ran across that. Never read the book.

pete m. said:
"Alex, I'll take literature for $1000" (and promptly perform an epic faceplant).:happyyes:
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Yeah, me too. Why don't they ever ask EC or EE questions?

pete m. said:
p.s. I will be showing that poetry to my brother-in-law... he happens to be "one of those guys" that uses a drywall router.
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That makes him your brother-out-law.:D
 
If you strip it properly it should bend quite a few times.
But strip 12 with the 14 gauge on the stripper and it'll break once you bend it couple times.

stickboy1375 said:
Was doing a job today, existing 3 wire in switch box and the black conductor was broken off where it entered the box, this of course was older cloth wiring, but what I'm curious is how many times was this bent before it broke? The splice looked original, still soldered, and taped.. so kind of curious why it failed...
Click to expand...
 
take a piece of 14 ga steel wire and bend it back in forth a few times and it will break.

take a piece of 14 ga copper wire and bend it back and forth for a couple minutes and it still may not have broken, unless something had nicked it as others have mentioned, or if you used a pliers or something and gave it addtional stress to make a really sharp bend.
 
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