electrician tricks

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cschmid

cschmid

Senior Member
Location
Northern cold country
man and here I do my the old fashion way I throw down a trap on the floor and cut the can in with a hand saw..I have the fancy hole saw for large jobs but most of the reto can installs are singles or minimal numbers cans and the hand saw allows for minor alterations..large jobs or new construction are normally before the sheet rock goes up..I too like to mark them on the floor and lazer plumb them to the ceiling..
 
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rattus

Senior Member
Back to tricks:

Back to tricks:

A dab of latex caulk on the tip of a Philips head screwdriver will hold those bitty little screws until they are started. A little messy, but it works--especially when you have lost your screw starter.
 
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rattus

Senior Member
Back stabbers:

Back stabbers:

Does anyone else have trouble removing the wire from quick connect terminals? Some are easy, but others try men's souls. I find a small scratch awl wedged between the spring and plastic case works fine on the Slater brand.

Of course a pair of side cutters is probably the best tool for the job!
 
mdshunk

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
rattus said:
Does anyone else have trouble removing the wire from quick connect terminals? Some are easy, but others try men's souls. I find a small scratch awl wedged between the spring and plastic case works fine on the Slater brand.

Of course a pair of side cutters is probably the best tool for the job!
Click to expand...
A "thermostat screwdriver" works great on most all of them.
 
mdshunk

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
What I call a thermostat screwdriver is one of those little screwdrivers, often with a pocket clip, that are freebies different places. They frequently come packaged with certain items that have small terminal blocks, and are great for thermostats. They work perfectly for releasing backstabs.

a55r.jpg
 
480sparky

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
mdshunk said:
What I call a thermostat screwdriver is one of those little screwdrivers, often with a pocket clip, that are freebies different places. They frequently come packaged with certain items that have small terminal blocks, and are great for thermostats. They work perfectly for releasing backstabs.
Click to expand...

Some also have small magnets on the top ends as well to test small relays.
 
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220/221

Senior Member
Location
AZ
I find a small scratch awl wedged between the spring and plastic case works fine
Click to expand...

A short piece of fishtape works well too. I usually cut them off and screw them back on.

A short piece of fishtape with a hook bent in it works well for removing retrofitted cans (the halo style with the clips). It grabs the clips at a good angle and pulls the down and out.
 
480sparky

480sparky

Senior Member
Location
Iowegia
Installing nuts on threaded rod

Installing nuts on threaded rod

Another idea came to mind tonight:

When working with threaded rod, and you need to run a nut a long way onto the rod, here's a neat trick I learned years ago.

Take some duct tape, and wrap it around the chuck of your cordless drill, sticky side out. 3 or 4 layers should do it. Place the tape lightly against a nut you've started on the rod, and make sure your drill is set to run in the correct rotation. Pull the trigger. It takes a while to get used to it, but it's pretty easy to learn. Soon, you'll be zipping those nuts up the rods so fast everyone else will be amazed.

Works great when you've got a lot of them to do, such as when you're building multi-layered trapezes.
 
electricalperson

electricalperson

Senior Member
Location
massachusetts
one of my favorite tricks: when pulling in using a string in underground conduit, for whatever reason the string gets pulled down the pipe a few feet you can shove a snake down the pipe and stick the end in a cordless drill and spin it a couple times. captures the string so you can pull it out works every time
 
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bpk

Senior Member
Location
Northern Minnesota
When I was an apprentice on my first pipe running job I bent a lot of 90's backwards, offsets the wrong way,ect. The old journeyman I was working with gave me a short piece of 12 solid wire and told me to bend the wire the shape I needed the pipe to go and it would help you remember better or have something to compare it to when you got to the bender. It worked really well.
 
TwinCitySparky

TwinCitySparky

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
480sparky said:
Another idea came to mind tonight:

When working with threaded rod, and you need to run a nut a long way onto the rod, here's a neat trick I learned years ago.

Take some duct tape, and wrap it around the chuck of your cordless drill, sticky side out. 3 or 4 layers should do it. Place the tape lightly against a nut you've started on the rod, and make sure your drill is set to run in the correct rotation. Pull the trigger. It takes a while to get used to it, but it's pretty easy to learn. Soon, you'll be zipping those nuts up the rods so fast everyone else will be amazed.

Works great when you've got a lot of them to do, such as when you're building multi-layered trapezes.
Click to expand...

I've always used one of these instead. Saves tape, works great!

wirewheel.jpg
 
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LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
bpk said:
The old journeyman I was working with gave me a short piece of 12 solid wire and told me to bend the wire the shape I needed the pipe to go and it would help you remember better or have something to compare it to when you got to the bender. It worked really well.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a great idea for the newbies. :smile:

Did you use larger wire for larger conduits? :D
 
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