Tieing a pulling sock

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bpk

Senior Member
Does anybody on here tie there own pulling socks. I've seen people tie them before (out of tie wire I believe) but never learned how to do it. I searched some on the web but had no luck. Thanks in advance.
 

ohmhead

Senior Member
Location
ORLANDO FLA
Does anybody on here tie there own pulling socks. I've seen people tie them before (out of tie wire I believe) but never learned how to do it. I searched some on the web but had no luck. Thanks in advance.

Well yes we have many times basic double the tie wire in a length thats 2 x what your basket will be then put all your conductors together in a group of say 4 conductors with a little staggard set of the group start your tie wire with a loop on the cut conductors end next criss cross each tie wire in each hand back and forth criss cross like a STARTOXXXXXXXXXXXXX= at this end twist and tie tight rap with duct tape add lube and pull its not coming off .

When you criss cross it means raping the tie wire over and under the conductors your raping by making a x rap down the length of you conductors .



A bit or tip we use bisqueen on pulls its saves tape we also put a straight wire down the basket to pull off the tape easy . ill get you a picture if you like ?
 
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cadpoint

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
I was going to yell out with "Half-Hitch", and that Grey Tape! :roll:

Great finger puzzles on a Monday...

Never thought about it! Bring it on!

New nets for a new season! I can C it! Mackeral just started ... :D
 
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e57

Senior Member
You can do it a few ways but the line needs to be thin enoght to tie and not jamb in the conduit, but strong enough to pull it.

I tie on of these a few feet back.... Then tape the loose end back, the end toward the pipe you're pulling into by turning loops of several half hitches, and puling them down to bite on the rest of the wire. Tape up smooth to the line - lube and pull.
Alternately for a short & easy run you could just do a run of several half hitches up the wire.
 

PetrosA

Senior Member
If I understand your question right, I'd say Ohmhead's first answer is closest to what I learned. I call it a basket (regional difference?). For light pulls I'd use just one piece of #12 or #10 crisscrossed in the X pattern. For heavier pulls, get some stronger steel wire and a grommet of some kind to keep the wire from breaking at the pulling end.
 

Phossilman

Member
Location
Vero Beach, Fl
Tieing a pulling sock

When making the basket use only black tie wire, not the galvanized, it's way too stiff and brittle. I like to finish it off by twisting onto the ground wire with a figure 8.
 

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
I've always liked the method where you cut off all but two or three strands on opposite sides of each conductor, and feed the strands through a pulling loop from opposing sides, and wrap them around each other in the afore-mentioned criss-cross pattern.

As long as you don't wrap any strands around the outside of each conductor below the stripped point, nothing in the head of the bundle is larger than the insulated conductors themselves, so the outer wraps of tape are smooth and no thicker than the wires.
 

e57

Senior Member
Well we pull lots of feeders each day there so many different ways i need a web site just to show them but the best fingers ever in this trade is the wire snagger its very high priced but its the best tool ever and my company uses it .

The name is called the WIRE SNAGGER ! http://www.rectorseal.com/index.php?site_id=1&product_id=278
Looks pricey and easy target for walking away...

(That said - I just watched one of the video's and swear i have met the Rosenden forman before.... And near the end of the video - they pull the rest out with knots like mine...)
 

Rockyd

Senior Member
Location
Nevada
Occupation
Retired after 40 years as an electrician.
Depending on room in the pipe...after you put your basket on, put a small piece of visqueen (4 mill plastic wrap) around the head to cover all the basket and tape it good. This allows you to soap the head really good, and to re-use the basket without having to clean it (because you cut plastic off, and away the mess) for multiple pulls.
 

e57

Senior Member
I've always liked the method where you cut off all but two or three strands on opposite sides of each conductor, and feed the strands through a pulling loop from opposing sides, and wrap them around each other in the afore-mentioned criss-cross pattern.

As long as you don't wrap any strands around the outside of each conductor below the stripped point, nothing in the head of the bundle is larger than the insulated conductors themselves, so the outer wraps of tape are smooth and no thicker than the wires.
This method is pretty good IMO - and a must on larger pulls - but suggest >1/2 of the conductor and staggered. You have to keep it slim and flexible IMO.
 

Smart $

Esteemed Member
Location
Ohio
This method is pretty good IMO - and a must on larger pulls - but suggest >1/2 of the conductor and staggered. You have to keep it slim and flexible IMO.
Good method but not an option on pull continuations, where you have to pull out a length of conductors longer than your pull rigging permits.
 

ohmhead

Senior Member
Location
ORLANDO FLA
Looks pricey and easy target for walking away...

(That said - I just watched one of the video's and swear i have met the Rosenden forman before.... And near the end of the video - they pull the rest out with knots like mine...)

Well when it first came out on the market the inventor came to our job site here in orlando with a sales rep from Graybar .

They let us test it out the price was $8000.00 for the full kit then ? But the down fall is this in each conductor sized set there is no finger for the ground only four in any group of a conductor sized set back then when it first came out you would attach the ground yourself not a bigg problem . kinda asked the guy who invented it why? I told him that theres lots of runs with a ground wire and we just dont pull service wire everyday .

Next issue was its good for 3 1/2 inch and up conduit as the fingers are bigg in size and if you pull a feeder in thats per code they can get stuck in the 90 elbows or drag tight in the radi there only good for one thing 4 inch conduit lots of paralleled same sized feeders bigg wire pulls .

But you have to give this guy credit it is a great invention for its purpose it does save makeup time by a mile and its easy to take off .

We save thousands of hours per year it adds up to labor saving if you assign your tools out per electrician things dont walk as on most jobs each person signs for tools and signs them back into tool crib .

On our projects we have one person who handles tools only the tool crib its a trailer set up for tools only .

Its right next to the bone yard!
 
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realolman

Senior Member
I'm with Larry Fine.

If I have to pull it more than once, I'll just hook the conductors to a loop of some sort of wire and hook the fish tape or rope to that... then the rope can be easily removed and re hooked.

I think the hookup being smaller than the conductors is the most important thing.
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
I have used the basket method on occassion but use three sets of them.
Fold the tie wire in half and make a twist or two then start the wrap around the cables. Move about a third the way around and do again. Then again. On bigger pulls with heavy conductors, let someone else do the basket because when it pulls off you will not be a popular guy.

We have used individual mesh type strain reliefs on each conductor if they won't fit in our only pulling sock.
 

masterinbama

Senior Member
I use the Kellum type grips on almost all of my pulls. One trick is to wrap the head with friction tape before you slide the kellum on then do as was said above, wrap the head in visquean to keep the soap out. I also take all of my pulling socks to a local automotive machine shop every three or four months and have them run through the hot tank. That gets all of the old lube and dirt out of them and only costs about 30 or 40 bucks.
 
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