conduit hickey question

On 05/18/2016 3:06 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote: ...

Yeah, sorta' at least but don't get the connection (so to speak :) )???

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dpb
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Conduit on the ceiling, drops to the machines.

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

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Well, yeah, that I got; just couldn't see that it had any bearing on previous comment...it's what I've done for stationary machines in middle of shop floor but at least I've never seen in an industrial plant application although I'm sure there must be places where is...

Reply to
dpb

I saw them in electronic labs, cubicles and light manufacturing plants where the floor layout changed for new products or equipment. IIRC the drops hung low enough to be tied to benches or were coiled and tie-wrapped above head height in more open areas. They might be a nuisance in a wood shop where you handle long stock.

--jsw

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Jim Wilkins

On 05/19/2016 11:32 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote: ...

...

Can be (nuisance, that is) in some geometries; it's better if can have raised floor so everything is out of the way, certainly.

But, in some layouts it can be arranged so there's not a need to swing long stock in the direction where the ceiling drop will interfere; in others, "not so much".

The planer for which this run is being done sits along an outside wall and has dedicated outlet for it on that wall -- it's arranged to be a little closer on the exit end to a door(*) so anything up to 18-ft can be handled easily. _Really_ long stuff could actually be fed thru another partition break and, theoretically at least, go in the door on the opposite end of the barn and all the way thru! :)

(*) This corner of the barn originally held the milking stalls; they were removed 60 yr ago when put in the feedmill bins in the mow and the elevator leg and roller mill, etc. We no longer run the feed lot or cattle so I've dismantled the chutes from the bins to the return leg so there's about 10' x 32' open area outside the outer column row. The planer takes up a fair chunk of the width where it sits; while I've not actually taken a measurement it's at least 4' wide as the motor is mounted on a bolt-on stand on one side so it adds almost 2' on its own...

The TS sits in another corner at the moment in a section where it has only 10' or so unobstructed. That corner was the only area that was still dry when we came back to the farm after Dad died; he had decided not to invest any more in the old barn so it hadn't been re-roofed. That was the first major project after--almost 3 full years of fairly major rework including the roof. Hired hand deserted over one Christmas while we were off visiting daughter in WA and that kinda' brought the project to a halt with so much to get done with only me...I'm trying to get back to it...

Reply to
dpb

The factory I will be in half an hour from now has ALL equipment powered witth cable drops from the ceiling including about 35 computers and over a dozen lacer printers, as well as presses, sewing machines, skivers etc.

Reply to
clare

On 05/19/2016 11:54 AM, dpb wrote: ...

And, pleased to say, made the connection to single-phase power this morning and powered up -- all is well!!! :)

Reply to
dpb

Finally found an old stock, in the box Ideal 74-011 1/2 EMT hickey. It's iron with the standard 3/4" thread for a handle. If you need it, the good folks at frostelectric.com have one left.

If you try a full bend it will kink any EMT I've dug up. If you go easy and walk the bender along a bend, you can get a nice looking, short radius. Wasn't really expecting too much more than that, but it's way cooler than the standard bender.

The next question is has the wall thickness of EMT dropped over the years to save fractions of a cent? I don't have any decades old scraps to compare to stuff made recently.

Will try some salt or sand next to see if I can really crank in a tight bend without getting that one kink on the inside of the radius, just for the hell of it.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

On 05/26/2016 11:05 AM, Cydrome Leader wrote: ...

AFAIK the spec's haven't changed; I think the current large-market retailers are carrying Chinese or Indian or similar import stuff that looks to me to be softer/sorrier steel even though wall thickness seems the same as the old stuff here, some of which probably dates from the late 40s, I know much is late 50/early '60 vintage and it is stiffer it seems.

Will be interested to hear how that works; the one demo showed a guy making a "spring" coiling a 10-ft section I forget how many times...but, it was still on the order of the radius of a standard bend.

Don't think you'll get sharper than the pull elbow would have given right off the shelf, though... :)

Reply to
dpb

I've not seen any import junk here in Chicago yet. We have one of the largest conduit makers (Wheatland) in the city and another just ouside it (Allied). It's all even the big box places carry, and they love the cheapest junk.

Lots of the die cast fittings are from India these days though.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

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Just checked at Allied site; the spec's are the same as those from an old (60s college-days) handbook--0.042" wall thickness for 1/2" EMT.

I hadn't really paid any attention; just thought it likely the local Mead Lumber/DoItBest chain would be import; turns out it's actually Allied. I _still_ think despite the spec's it isn't as hard and certainly the exterior finish isn't as clean/uniform as the old, old stuff.

I'd say they've "cheapened-up" the manufacturing still keeping to at least the minimum of the pertinent UL and ANSI Standards.

Reply to
dpb

On 05/26/2016 2:19 PM, dpb wrote: ...

Just out of curiosity, what can you get it for there? 10-ft 1/2" E-Z Pull is $2.29/stick at Mead; Ace and a farm/home store were more like $3+, didn't even bother to ask at the local Stannion distributor; they'd probably be $5 or more given they won't give me a discount since don't do enough work on regular basis to meet their monthly minimums...

Reply to
dpb

Thanks for looking this up.

The new stuff has the shiny spangled zinc coating, older stuff seem to have a thicker, dull grey coating. Neither flake off, but the grey looking stuff looks like it's galvanealed. I don't see any conduit with the inch markings on it anymore either, but it may exist somewhere or be an options you can pay for.

That's quite possible. I'm sort of surprised they still make this stuff here and not in mexico. Maybe the plant costs too much to move, and I know the union is involved. The Wheatland plants are pretty large.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

Usually right at $2 give or take 10 cents. Even if you don't have an account and pay cash at an electrical distrubutor it's under $2 a piece even if you just get a few, and a nice place will even load them into your vehicle while you drink their coffee and watch them fuss with the 3 part dot matrix printer for a few minutes while trying to print a receipt.

The nearest home depot claims over 52,000 in stock and if you get 100 or more the price drops to $1.89.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

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Other than the color difference from the zinc, what I see are fairly sizable imperfections in the surface, the tubing seams are obvious, etc., etc., etc., ... that is, it just "looks cheap" in comparison plus bending it it simply isn't as stiff.

Not that it really matters that much; it still functions...and when it's in place it pretty much gets ignored, anyway.

I've not seen any marked, either, altho there are a few sticks of it in the salvage pile. I suspect as you say it's a premium but probably somebody still makes it.

I saw Allied has some variations with formed-in compression or screw connectors in their product line now (and probably for quite some time but I hadn't seen that before)

Reply to
dpb

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