Not really 250ft. in a roll of romex?

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quogueelectric

quogueelectric

Senior Member
Location
new york
I have also run across greenlee measuring tape that would leave wire pulls short.
While doing a refrigeration job at a price club in lake grove NY I watched annother contractor having trouble with all of thier feeder pulls they were all short.
You know the look when all of the men have that really bad bad look on thier faces and the foreman are running around looking to fire someone.
It turned out the printing machine on the foot marker on the tape was getting stuck on the 9 numeral.
So the true tape would read for instance 116-117-118-119-119-119-120-121-.....128-129-129-129-129-129-130-131-......so when you read the final number it would be short by the number of times that it skipped.
Greenlee paid to fix them all from what the other foreman told me.
So sometimes it is safer to count the sticks of pipe unless the reels of wire are short.
 
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highvolts582

Senior Member
Location
brick nj
I i started getting "smart" and bent it/ crimped tip with lines mans and i had a couple of mc jacket "breakaways" you know. it helped and yet not when it the pulling got tuff.

I just live and learn hmmmph.
 
iwire

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
cowboyjwc said:
I didn't want to push the little red button just yet, but I think Larry might have been talking about me.:grin:

Bob or Roger if you would be so kind as to beat him around the head and shoulders area. Thank you.:wink:
Click to expand...

I would be happy to but I am pretty sure I would need a step ladder to do it along with a great get away plan. :grin:
 
B

bphgravity

Senior Member
Location
Florida
I had the opportunity to tour the Southwire Conductor and Cable Factory in Alabama during the 2007 Southern Section Meeting. As you would expect, the entire process is fully automated all the way from raw copper on roles to the final product out the door.

Based on what I could see, I seriously doubt you would see a large number of short conductor spools or cable bundles.

I have some pics of thhn and 12/2 NM cable being made. I will upload them when I get a chance and post them for your viewing...
 
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hardworkingstiff

Senior Member
Location
Wilmington, NC
I think the +/- 10% is being used for inventory control (the suppliers inventory). If you need 4200' on a reel and they have 4325' on it, you're going to get 4325', they are not going to cut and hold 125'.
 
mivey

mivey

Senior Member
hardworkingstiff said:
I think the +/- 10% is being used for inventory control (the suppliers inventory). If you need 4200' on a reel and they have 4325' on it, you're going to get 4325', they are not going to cut and hold 125'.
Click to expand...
According to the Southwire rep I talked to, their lengths are -0%, +5%. This does not mean that the measurement is off, only that they may stop the run at a length up to 5% longer than you ordered and you could pay for the extra 5%. That's the official story from Southwire. Well almost, the industrial rep was not in, so they transferred me to the next most official person.

Another manufacturer's rep said they were set up to err on the + side (that's what the plant tells them). Building wire in standard lengths would be paid by the standard length so you would get the extra for "free". For custom-ordered wire, you would pay for the extra that came out of the run. I know some guys at one of their plants and I can get the official scoop from the ones who actually have their hands on the process. I'll ask the next time I'm there, if I don't forget.
 
J

jmiller_55

Member
Location
Alabama
I have worked in Maint. at a wire manufacturing plant.. They wanted the footage counters set-up at +/- 10%.. So this is true or atleast at this particular Manu..
 
J

jmiller_55

Member
Location
Alabama
The footage counters that measured how much wire is on the spool or reel.. On the romex lines they would stop the take-up machine and the wire would be cut once it reached the preset value (automatic cut)... On the THHN lines counters would stop the machine and the operator would cut it with dikes... But yea they never wanted to put the correct amount on the spool/reel they preferred the -10%..
 
S

short circuit faulted

Member
Location
Columbia SC
Not in NM but in building wire

Not in NM but in building wire

I too have been told and unfortunately have experienced the - 10% side from factory - However in building wire cut to length Southwire and others you can and should specific exact length required for wire order. This puts factory on notice that if you have specified 820' of 500KCMIL on a reel of wire for a pull that they must provide at least that amount - I am not concerned if they decide to ship 830' feet but am surely more than upset should they ship 800' feet on a 820' run and it comes up short in the pull. Not a good thing for them as that ugly word backcharge gets tossed about and usually applied to the distributor and the manufacturer of the wire.

Have a great day all!

Steve
 
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