TOOL_5150

Hey guys,

I have 3 tool boxes that I have loaded full of wire nuts, clamps, some wiring devices, breakers, screws... etc. All of them need to be replaced because they are cracked or have broken handles or latches. 2 of them are actually tackle boxes - good for small parts, and 1 is just a regular tool box. I do a lot of smaller jobs on weekends and having my '3 bins' works out for me as its easy to load and unload my truck. Do you have any ideas of some replacement 'tool boxes' or should I just stick to a tackle box? Just wondering if you have happen to come across any type of tool/tackle box that you said 'that would work good for an electrician'

Thanks!

~Matt

MDShunk

The old-school "electrician's toolbox" that has a barn roof looking lid might be interesting to you. Craftsman and Kennedy both make them in metal.

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chrisb271

I always get my apprentices the Kennedy tool box as i also started out with one,i think they are great !

Chris

chrisb271

Ps

What are wire nuts ?

Do they screw onto the ends of twisted wires

Chris

frank

I like the Plastic moulded types. A have 6 of this type. Made by Plano. I think someplace in the USA. They are various sizes and colours and light enough to haul up 10 flights of stairs. Phew!!

Frank

frank

Chris.
I think wirenuts are like the old 'screwits we had years ago. I don't think connectors are too popular in the US. Maybe wrong though.

Frank

jbfan

Wire nuts

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GO JACKETS!

frank

Yep! Screwits. When I was apprenticed we used these all the time. I don't remember though if they went out of favour in place of screw connector strips or if they were outlawed. They just seemed to disapear from the work scene. I always - and still do- think they are a great way to connect low current joints.


Frank

chrisb271

Thanks Frank

Hell yeah ! screwits,they were made mainly of porcelain frank,amazing !

I can remember using them on some jobs,they went out of favour because they was not any good on solid draw cable like our bs6242y 2.5 twin and earth,they just fell off all the time.

They were designed for the old stranded conductors.

So are buckle clips the in thing in the USA then Frank

Chris

Greg

Ours are plastic with a metal tapered heli-coil inside. They are great on solid wire, when installed properly. Twist the wire together in a CW direction then screw the wire-nut on tight and you're done. Why don't you UK guys post-up a picture of what you use. I'm curious, since I get lost trying to follow your conversations.

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If you're gonna be stupid, you better be tough.

frank

Greg.
In cable terms the fancy numbers are really Manufacturers catalogue identifiers that electricians here use to describe cable types. The suffix number is always the copper core size.
So when Chris mentions BS6242Y2.5 he means a British Standard flat pvc sheathed cable having two cores of sheathed copper conductors each 2.5mm cross sectional area and a third copper conductor unsheathed used as the circuit protective earthing return conductor of 1.5mm cross sectional area. In short you would describe it as 2.5 T&E. With literally dozens of cable types to choose from it would be difficult to describe them all but it is surprising how easily you begin to remember them.

Chris mentioned the 'screwits, we used. (wire nuts). When they were popular we had Imperial cables that were stranded. When they became metric they became solid drawn at 2.5mm and below. (popular cable sizes for domestic circuitry).

I have posted pictures in the past showing connectors and junction boxes. I will dig them out of my file and post them again

Frank

frank

Chris.

In the US when clipping surface cable they use something like horseshoe (Staple) clip. They don't seem to dress them down as we do I have never seen Tower Clips or Thorsmans etc. I have looked long and hard for T type sticky back trunking but not come across this either.

Frank

Greg

So your 2.5 is pretty much the same as our romex.

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If you're gonna be stupid, you better be tough.

Andy in ATL

All this Brit stuff fascninates me. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say us Yanks would love to see pics of this t&e 2.5, what you use to connect residential wire and while your are at it, the inside of a panel. I'm convinced that when I finally make it to the EU the first thing I'm gonna do is buy a screwdriver and start tearing stuff apart in the hotel room!

brian john

Kennedy is the only tool box of any quality still made of steel I like mine, The plastic tool boxes always break when they fall off my truck at 60 MPH.

frank

Only 60 mph. Brian. Your not going fast enough. Greg. Is St Cloud the same place as in the 'Cider House Rules' film. And if so. Where is it?

I am just back from work- been moonlighting this Sunday. Installed an Air Conditioner in a Wedding Gown Shop. Been trying for weeks to get the job done during a weekday but the ladies didn't believe I would work in the changing room with my eyes shut.

Pictures coming soon.

Frank

frank

http://www.qvsdirect.com/



Thought it best to give you a link to browse through. But I will send 'on site photo's' over the next couple of days.


Frank

MDShunk

That's funnny.

I have a customer that's a tanning salon that I can't work in during their open hours. I was a little naieve at first about such places, and didn't really realize that people took all their clothes off to get in those things to tan. The booths at the place have walls, but they stop about 3 feet short of the ceiling. You can't get on a ladder to do any work there while they're open, or you get a free view of wrinkled old ladies in their birthday suit.

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John

I have used the 'Bucket Method" for years.

Attachment 251


I have just started to upgrade to a better system. thumbsup:

Attachment 252

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Doubt All Before Believing Anything.......

Speedy Petey

Ahhh...Klein boxes (as I call them).

I have the slide out rack that holds four of them. One looks like the pic. Others have screws, big staples, etc. One has EMT fittings. One has...oh I forget. I love them though.
I also have two of the smaller ones for LO-VO stuff like CATV, Cat3&5 inserts, phone crimps, splitters, F-conn, Etc., and another one from T&B full of Sta-Kons.

My van shelves also have similar built in ones for everything else small. I have two sections of four shelves of them.

One of these days I'll get some pics of the interior. Most of the time you cannot see most of this.