Cutting large flexible cable

W

Wade M

Member
Location
New York
Occupation
Electrician
I've been reading this forum for years but finally took the jump to register because I have a very specific question I hope someone might help with.

I'm going to be working soon with some Type W portable power cable. Five conductors at 2 AWG. Each conductor has 259 strands. The overall cable diameter is approximately 1.6 inches. I'm going to need to cut this cable.

My shop has Greenlee battery cable cutters and I have a portaband. If this was THHN I wouldn't think twice and would just hit it with the portaband. But I've never taken a portaband to such a large and finely stranded cable, and I wonder how the Greenlee cutters would work on this cable. This cable is about $18/foot so I don't want to waste too much of it experimenting.

My inclination is to use a 24 TPI portaband blade and run it fast but with very light pressure. If anyone has other ideas I'd love to hear them.

Thanks.
 
What do you intend to do with the cable after you cut it? After it's cut to length don't you strip the jacket leaving you with the individual #2s? Wouldn't you trim them with cable cutters and terminate them with, probably, crimps? So, what difference does it make what you rough cut it with?

Or are you going to scrap it?

-Hal
 
Well thanks everyone for the input. I'm planning on the portaband for the main cable and cable cutters for the individual conductors. I've never worked with flex cable larger than 8/5 before so I was just hoping to assure myself I wasn't doing something completely stupid.
 
I use a portaband with no issues. Work with BIG (500 MCM 3 conductor) all the time. Ship shore power cables.

Mark
 
I use handcuff cutters on this size cable. I have found that power saws can smear the copper strands to the left or right of the end of the insulation and make it hard to terminate. Handcuff shears cut more cleanly. Hopefully they are sharp.
 
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