What to expect?
- Thread starter splinetto
- Start date
- Status
resistance
Senior Member
- Location
- WA
Expect to be bending conduit. :grin:
frenchelectrican
Senior Member
- Location
- Nord'est Wisconsin et Paris France
Not only bending the conduit but also have to watch out with Homeruns which they are far more common on commercal set up and they useally have pretty good percentage of MWBC's there.
And there are some code it will come up diffrent than what you been doing in resdentinal side. { keep your eyes open on that one }
Merci,Marc
And there are some code it will come up diffrent than what you been doing in resdentinal side. { keep your eyes open on that one }
Merci,Marc
ItsHot
Senior Member
- Location
- A little piece of heaven!
best of luck
best of luck
You will hopefully gain even more experince in the trade. Raceways, motors, starters, switchgear , troubleshooting etc.,etc. Best of luck to you!:smile: Oh if you do not have an Ugly's, pick one up. The best 15 bucks you can spend! And of course hang out here, and ask many questions!!
best of luck
Which is a good change from yankin' romex!!:grin:resistance said:
You will hopefully gain even more experince in the trade. Raceways, motors, starters, switchgear , troubleshooting etc.,etc. Best of luck to you!:smile: Oh if you do not have an Ugly's, pick one up. The best 15 bucks you can spend! And of course hang out here, and ask many questions!!
jmsbrush
Senior Member
- Location
- Central Florida
Its going to be two different world's. My 1st journey man told me it takes 5 years to become an excellent apprentice and another 5 years to become a great journey man. I dont know if it takes that long but it does take awhile.
You never stop learning! It take's awhile to master the art of bending conduit.You have to learn how to use the table benders, side winders, hand benders and all the formulas it takes to bend. Make it look good and in a timely manner.You have to be able to read a print, there are alot of new things you will see in there! Hopefuly they will put you with a good teacher, Best of luck
You never stop learning! It take's awhile to master the art of bending conduit.You have to learn how to use the table benders, side winders, hand benders and all the formulas it takes to bend. Make it look good and in a timely manner.You have to be able to read a print, there are alot of new things you will see in there! Hopefuly they will put you with a good teacher, Best of luck
quogueelectric
Senior Member
- Location
- new york
OK I will throw you a nice bone. You will probably be pulling a lot of mc cable through steel studs.
Three things.
1- the cable is wound a certain way into the coil.
2 -The armor is wound a certain way around itself.
3 - The holes in the steel studs are punched in the same direction.,..sooooooooooo
1a Throw the coil on the ground so the twist ties are upwards. Clip the ties with your dykes and pull the cable out of the center in a counter clockwise direction and shake it out a little as you pull it up. Gently untwist it a little as you are pulling it out as the center has the highest rate of twists. This will help unwind it without kinking it up and breaking the armor.
2a--The cable armor is wound around itself so pulling in one direction is longer gradual ramping and a sharp dropoff into the next wrap. You want to pull it in the direction consistent with the gradual ramping.
3a-- The studs are punched at the factory in the same direction so when pulling through them you want to pull in the direction of the punch so you are not fighting the sharp edge the whole way.
This will take some practice to learn it without thinking anymore but when you see an apprentice really struggling to pull his cable through a few studs it can be funny . His overall attitude will determine if I want to show him the easy way or not.
Three things.
1- the cable is wound a certain way into the coil.
2 -The armor is wound a certain way around itself.
3 - The holes in the steel studs are punched in the same direction.,..sooooooooooo
1a Throw the coil on the ground so the twist ties are upwards. Clip the ties with your dykes and pull the cable out of the center in a counter clockwise direction and shake it out a little as you pull it up. Gently untwist it a little as you are pulling it out as the center has the highest rate of twists. This will help unwind it without kinking it up and breaking the armor.
2a--The cable armor is wound around itself so pulling in one direction is longer gradual ramping and a sharp dropoff into the next wrap. You want to pull it in the direction consistent with the gradual ramping.
3a-- The studs are punched at the factory in the same direction so when pulling through them you want to pull in the direction of the punch so you are not fighting the sharp edge the whole way.
This will take some practice to learn it without thinking anymore but when you see an apprentice really struggling to pull his cable through a few studs it can be funny . His overall attitude will determine if I want to show him the easy way or not.
You'll also see a lot of larger wire sizes for the same size circuits. It's common to see 20a circuits run in 10, even 8.
You'll need to learn what AFF, RTU, MUA, EIFS and AHU stand for.
Bending pipe is more than just 90s. Kicks, offsets, rolling offsets, 3- and 4-bend saddles, concentric means a lot of math.
You'll also get into 3-phase a lot. Mostly 120/208 and 480/277. The higher voltages are commonly used for motor loads and lighting. You'll need to know how to calculate what phase a circuit is on so you can use the correct color for it.
15amp devices aren't that common, so you'll see a lot of 20a stuff. Forget backstabbing altogether.... ain't ever gonna happen.
Stud punches, offset benders and tuggers actually exist. Buckets of smoke, wire stretches and ID-10-T forms do not.
There's a difference between Class A and Class B fire alarms, which themselves are a world away from smoke detectors.
You most likely will have two important documents on the job site: A set of plans and the spec book. The plans will (hopefully) be complete, with A, S, M and E sheets. On them, you'll find things like a Refelected Ceiling Plan, Room Finish Schedules, Occupancy Load Calculations, Responsibility Matrixes, and an abundance of Details. The spec book will be the size of a phone book, maybe two of them, depending on the size of the job. It will have more details in it that you can shack a stick at.
Don't plan on parking anywhere near, let alone in the driveway like to do at a resi job. First, the driveway won't be done, and second, once it is, no one will be allowed to use it. You'll need to pack your tools in & out every day.
Get used to working up high. On a scissors or articulating lift. 20-30 feet up is common, but 50-100 is not unheard of. Hopefully, you're not afraid of heights. You'll also be working down low, too. Trenches, pits, and basements.
PPE is more prevalent. Hard hats and safety glasses are usually mandatory, no matter what. Fall protection is also common.
Prepare to get certified in first aid, CRP and using PATs.
No more 2- and 3-day project turnarounds. Most commercial jobs last for months. Some stretch out for years, even decades. A normal receptacle that you rough-in in 15 minutes on a resi job can take a day in commercial if the conditions are right.
On a resi job, you probably saw a lot of tinners and plumbers, since their work is closely related to the schedule as ours. But in commericial, you'll see all the trades, all the time, all day long. And you'll see trades you have never seen before.....iron workers, welders, crane operators... There will be others besides the inspectors as well. The GC will have higher-ups visit. The architects and engineers will stroll through. Owner reps, specialty technicians, product & system commissioners.....
Elevators are not to be used during construction. I know that sounds counter-productive, but that's the way it is.
Change orders (wait until you hear about a 'cloud') are common as well.
And fer cryin' out loud, there is NO 12' rule for receptacles.
You'll need to learn what AFF, RTU, MUA, EIFS and AHU stand for.
Bending pipe is more than just 90s. Kicks, offsets, rolling offsets, 3- and 4-bend saddles, concentric means a lot of math.
You'll also get into 3-phase a lot. Mostly 120/208 and 480/277. The higher voltages are commonly used for motor loads and lighting. You'll need to know how to calculate what phase a circuit is on so you can use the correct color for it.
15amp devices aren't that common, so you'll see a lot of 20a stuff. Forget backstabbing altogether.... ain't ever gonna happen.
Stud punches, offset benders and tuggers actually exist. Buckets of smoke, wire stretches and ID-10-T forms do not.
There's a difference between Class A and Class B fire alarms, which themselves are a world away from smoke detectors.
You most likely will have two important documents on the job site: A set of plans and the spec book. The plans will (hopefully) be complete, with A, S, M and E sheets. On them, you'll find things like a Refelected Ceiling Plan, Room Finish Schedules, Occupancy Load Calculations, Responsibility Matrixes, and an abundance of Details. The spec book will be the size of a phone book, maybe two of them, depending on the size of the job. It will have more details in it that you can shack a stick at.
Don't plan on parking anywhere near, let alone in the driveway like to do at a resi job. First, the driveway won't be done, and second, once it is, no one will be allowed to use it. You'll need to pack your tools in & out every day.
Get used to working up high. On a scissors or articulating lift. 20-30 feet up is common, but 50-100 is not unheard of. Hopefully, you're not afraid of heights. You'll also be working down low, too. Trenches, pits, and basements.
PPE is more prevalent. Hard hats and safety glasses are usually mandatory, no matter what. Fall protection is also common.
Prepare to get certified in first aid, CRP and using PATs.
No more 2- and 3-day project turnarounds. Most commercial jobs last for months. Some stretch out for years, even decades. A normal receptacle that you rough-in in 15 minutes on a resi job can take a day in commercial if the conditions are right.
On a resi job, you probably saw a lot of tinners and plumbers, since their work is closely related to the schedule as ours. But in commericial, you'll see all the trades, all the time, all day long. And you'll see trades you have never seen before.....iron workers, welders, crane operators... There will be others besides the inspectors as well. The GC will have higher-ups visit. The architects and engineers will stroll through. Owner reps, specialty technicians, product & system commissioners.....
Elevators are not to be used during construction. I know that sounds counter-productive, but that's the way it is.
Change orders (wait until you hear about a 'cloud') are common as well.
And fer cryin' out loud, there is NO 12' rule for receptacles.
Last edited:
tonyou812
Senior Member
- Location
- North New Jersey
when you start learning conduit bends do your self a favor and try to learn it the right way first then you can "Hot dog it". Some guys that have been doing it for years don't really need to measure as much but I don't recommend you start out this way. If you want your offsets to match you have no choice but to measure. And I would also recomend that you learn how really measure and bend. Alot of guys make their bends and cut the pipe to fit after or "tweak it" this is fine if you are working with EMT but you cant get away with this when it comes to rigid pipe. Rigid is more of an exact science because many times you have to thread first then bend and you can pick up alot of bad habits if you do the bend then cut method with emt. I personally love to work with pipe and prefer it over any other wiring method. I just wish I could land more industrial/commercial jobs myself. Oh and if you happen to work with alot of MC just make sure you have a steady supply of gloves. I wouldnt reccomend the fancy mechnix gloves, for 20 bucks they never seem to last for more than two weeks just get yourself a big bag of the cheep rubber grip ones and youll save your self alot of dirty hands. Good luck to you.
kpepin
Senior Member
Dress code!
When you drive by a residental construction site, you see everyone wearing tank tops, shorts and sneakers in the summer. Long pants, t-shirt, boots are a must. Most of the time in new construction, hard hats and safety glasses at all times. My company makes us wear them all the time, even if we are doing trim.
When you drive by a residental construction site, you see everyone wearing tank tops, shorts and sneakers in the summer. Long pants, t-shirt, boots are a must. Most of the time in new construction, hard hats and safety glasses at all times. My company makes us wear them all the time, even if we are doing trim.
- Status