large conductor bending

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SceneryDriver

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Location
NJ
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Electrical and Automation Designer
I preface this post with the statement that I'm primarily a controls guy, and wire over 10ga MTW tends to make me a little whiny. That said, I recently did a service upgrade and added a whole-house ATS and generator at my parents' home, and the 1/O and 2/O wire for the service conductors was a bit of a wrestling match.

Is there merit to the idea that slightly more flexible stranding in larger conductors would be a good thing? I'm not suggesting class-K stranding, or even changing the insulation type (THWN-2), but slightly finer stranding would probably take some of the stress off terminations and possibly make conductors easier to pull, yes?



SceneryDriver
 
With you on that one!

But I usually don't start whining until 500 mcm copper. Using my chest as a platform gets a little soar after few good bends.

still would be nice if anything 6awg and larger did have more stranding though.
 
I'm with the 500 and over crowd. That's when it gets a little more like real work.

On another note, I really hate make-up on #10 solid compared to 12 and 14.
 
For us up to 600 kcmil copper or 750 kcmil Al is the norm. There was a time when we used 750 kcmil copper but I haven't seen that in years.
 
ptonsparky said:
Whiners. My help never complains about anything less than 500 cu.
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Agreed. Am a whiner. :)

Is there a technical reason that larger conductors are so coarsely stranded, and so are "flexible" in only the most general sense of the word? I use class-K stranded wire in control panels occasionally, and so am acutely aware of issues with very fine stranding and needing to use ferrules to protect the strands from the set screws. I just wonder if there's a middle ground somewhere between the two. I know I'd pay a few cents extra per foot for more flexible conductors that could still be used in standard devices and lugs.



SceneryDriver
 
If it was easy, everyone could do it! I never really thought to complain or re-engineer larger conductors, I just get out a bender to assist and groom the wires. When you have the code required bending space available for the conductors it isn't that difficult to bend them. In regards to stress, I teach my guys to bend them first so they will lay in place BEFORE landing them on the breaker. I only had to break one breaker to learn that lesson.
 
SceneryDriver said:
Agreed. Am a whiner. :)

Is there a technical reason that larger conductors are so coarsely stranded, and so are "flexible" in only the most general sense of the word? I use class-K stranded wire in control panels occasionally, and so am acutely aware of issues with very fine stranding and needing to use ferrules to protect the strands from the set screws. I just wonder if there's a middle ground somewhere between the two. I know I'd pay a few cents extra per foot for more flexible conductors that could still be used in standard devices and lugs.



SceneryDriver
Click to expand...

That's the problem, I know there are lugs out there for finer stranded wire but they aren't kept in stock like standard lugs. And breaker lugs would be special order too.
 
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