Why does it always happen this way?

Merry Christmas
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peter d

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
Why is it that when you put your brand new pliers into service that you cut through a live wire while demoing??? :mad: And the wire you cut through is on a 1960's GE breaker that didn't trip. :roll:

I think I'm going to start calling this phenomenon "Klein's Law" It goes like this: "The probability of cutting through a live cable with your linesman's is inversely related to the amount of time in service."
 
peter d said:
Why is it that when you put your brand new pliers into service that you cut through a live wire while demoing??? :mad: And the wire you cut through is on a 1960's GE breaker that didn't trip. :roll:

I think I'm going to start calling this phenomenon "Klein's Law" It goes like this: "The probability of cutting through a live cable with your linesman's is inversely related to the amount of time in service."
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And some people say "I don't need no stinking arc flash PPE, because I know what I'm doing - I'm experienced".

Glad to hear you are okay.
 
peter d said:
Why is it that when you put your brand new pliers into service that you cut through a live wire while demoing??? :mad: And the wire you cut through is on a 1960's GE breaker that didn't trip. :roll:

I think I'm going to start calling this phenomenon "Klein's Law" It goes like this: "The probability of cutting through a live cable with your linesman's is inversely related to the amount of time in service."
Click to expand...

'time in service': does that mean the tool, or the operator? ;)
 
I'm starting to think that every time I buy a new pair of any sort of cutters, I might as well just cut through a hot cable and get it over with.
 
mdshunk said:
I'm starting to think that every time I buy a new pair of any sort of cutters, I might as well just cut through a hot cable and get it over with.
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Unless it's a nice pair of large ratcheting cable cutters.... break out the ACSR!
 
When I was an apprentice, I had bought a pair of Craftsman dikes, mainly because of the lifetime warranty, which, at that time, said "if ever yu are not satisfied with this tool, just return it for a replacemnt." And they really were okay dikes.

We were demo-ing a Courtroom in the Federal Building, and my JW says "Go ahead and cut all the lighting circuit wiring out of the j-boxes.... I checked everything and it is all dead." Well, like a good 2nd year apprentice, I did what my JW said. And.... boom! 277 volts when I cut a hot and neutral together. The dike blades were notched pretty bad.

That night, I took the dikes back to Sears, and told the salesman I wasn't satisfied with them. He looked at them and said "That is an electrical burn." I said "Yes, but I am still not satisfied with them." He gave me another pair. :smile:
 
crossman said:
That night, I took the dikes back to Sears, and told the salesman I wasn't satisfied with them. He looked at them and said "That is an electrical burn." I said "Yes, but I am still not satisfied with them." He gave me another pair. :smile:
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LMAO - Good one! I'll have to remember that one.

We usually carry around our new side cutters (still in the package) for a few months without using them for precisely that reason.
 
mdshunk said:
I'm starting to think that every time I buy a new pair of any sort of cutters, I might as well just cut through a hot cable and get it over with.
Click to expand...
POCO lineman was showing me his new ratcheting cutters today with burned blades from the second day he got them.:smile:
 
peter d said:
"The probability of cutting through a live cable with your linesman's is inversely related to the amount of time in service."
Click to expand...
As an independant observer, working with the tools on a regular basis. . .I believe this to be a fact.

I've come to the conclusion that this inverse time relationship is manufacturer created and added to each tool to drive sales. The manufacturer's "Arc Attraction Charge" (AAC) will disipate over the first few months of field service, leaving a reliable tool.

Like the Lottery, on occasion, the tool I purchase has a manufacturing defect straight out of the factory, where the AAC was not included.
 
al hildenbrand said:
I've come to the conclusion that this inverse time relationship is manufacturer created and added to each tool to drive sales. The manufacturer's "Arc Attraction Charge" (AAC) will disipate over the first few months of field service, leaving a reliable tool.

Like the Lottery, on occasion, the tool I purchase has a manufacturing defect straight out of the factory, where the AAC was not included.
Click to expand...

:D :D

Perhaps connecting a capacitor would bleed off the AAC?
 
jim dungar said:
Glad to hear you are okay.
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I'm OK, but my pliers definitely aren't. Thanks to the old GE arc welding breaker they put the biggest holes in the blades I have ever seen on any pliers that had suffered Klein's Law. Sometimes the "stripping holes" aren't big enough to condemn the pliers, but these are now junk.
 
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