"john reeves" wrote in message
...
This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from B
& Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel them
up and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every time
you reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? It has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.


We use a device similar to this:
http://www.metals4u.co.uk/detail.asp...36&prd_id=4342
although ours has two swivel handles, one that is in the centre of one side
and the other at the end of the other side. You simply push the plug into
three holes on the flat section, hold the centre handle and start winding
with the other. No twists, no tangles and the cable has lasted for years.
--
Tinkerer

On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 23:01:45 -0000, Skipweasel wrote:

What does that BS number mean?

http://www.bs6500.co.uk/

No involved with Eland cables are we? B-)

Doesn't say a lot in terms that can be reall pinned down.

Anyway my B&Q "Masterplug" extension cable, after being out in the
porch over night at 0C, is stiff but still coilable without it
fighting back a great deal.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Feb 20, 10:15*am, "john reeves" wrote:
This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from B &
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel them up
and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every time you
reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? *It has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.

I try not to wind then at all.

greg

In article ,
john reeves wrote:
This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from
B & Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel them
up and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have been
stored in previously.

Even the most expensive and flexible of cables take a 'set' - due to being
supplied on a drum of some sort or the other. So you still need to develop
a technique for tidy wrapping up. The trick is to coil it in the direction
it wants to go. And in a coil size it's happy with.

--
*Sleep with a photographer and watch things develop

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
ll.co.uk...
On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 16:57:18 -0000, Gareth Magennis wrote:

You need the double twisting method on any cable longer than a couple of
metres or so.

Agreed.

This is how the noise boys do it. They wrap a lot of cables, some of
them 100's of metres of multicore which is a damn sight stiffer than B&W
mains cable.

I doubt that you mean that literally for hand coiling, it would be
too damn heavy! 50m of heavy star quad is too much and my hand isn't
big enough even with each loop taking 5' of cable... Multicore over
about 20m is figure of eighted on the ground or more likely wound
onto a drum.



Not coiling the multi by hand, but doing the same over/under twisty thing
whilst coiling it into its flightcase. Once this is done you can grab the
end and just run off with it down to FOH and the cable comes out perfectly
straight with not a twist or snag in sight.


Gareth.

On 20/02/2011 21:54, Ronald Raygun wrote:

No. Do not twist. Twisting is what leads to kinking and tangling.

The correct way to coil a cable, rope, or hose, is to imagine that
it were a flat ribbon with the two sides a different colour. Suppose
the ribbon is lying flat on the ground with no twists in it so that
the blue side is on top and the red side underneath.

(For a right handed person hold the end of the cable in your
left hand blue side up. Grasp the cable with your right hand,
holding it blue side up, then bring your right hand towards your
left hand and just place the cable onto what is already there, so
that it stays blue side up during the whole move. The action of
your right hand does not involve any twisting. You just lift a bit
of cable straight up and plonk it down again, as if you were lifting
a chess piece from one square and putting it down on another.

If the cable is stiff, a side effect of this will be that each coil
will end up with a self-cancelling double twist in it, and will most
likely hang in a figure of eight pattern. But that's the idea.


Ronald, as a sailor you should know the difference between a cable and a
hawser. And of course the hand you use should be the opposite one
depending which way the rope is laid.

When you are coiling twisted rope it's imperative to coil it in such a
way that the twist is not destroyed. This is of course not an issue
with plaited ropes, mains leads or garden hoses.

Andy

Andy Champ wrote:

On 20/02/2011 21:54, Ronald Raygun wrote:

No. Do not twist. Twisting is what leads to kinking and tangling.

The correct way to coil a cable, rope, or hose, is to imagine that
it were a flat ribbon with the two sides a different colour. Suppose
the ribbon is lying flat on the ground with no twists in it so that
the blue side is on top and the red side underneath.

(For a right handed person hold the end of the cable in your
left hand blue side up. Grasp the cable with your right hand,
holding it blue side up, then bring your right hand towards your
left hand and just place the cable onto what is already there, so
that it stays blue side up during the whole move. The action of
your right hand does not involve any twisting. You just lift a bit
of cable straight up and plonk it down again, as if you were lifting
a chess piece from one square and putting it down on another.

If the cable is stiff, a side effect of this will be that each coil
will end up with a self-cancelling double twist in it, and will most
likely hang in a figure of eight pattern. But that's the idea.

Ronald, as a sailor you should know the difference between a cable and a
hawser.

Naturally.

And of course the hand you use should be the opposite one
depending which way the rope is laid.

Not necessarily. If the method does not add or remove twist (and the
one I described doesn't) then it doesn't matter which hand you use.

When you are coiling twisted rope it's imperative to coil it in such a
way that the twist is not destroyed.

Fair enough, but the other important consideration is that you want the
coiled rope to uncoil freely without snagging. For that, it's important
that the coiling and uncoiling procedures should be mirror images of each
other, in terms of any twists added or subtracted cancelling out.

Imagine trying to coil a rope the other end of which is tied on to a
fixed object (not that you'd normally do this - you'd start at the fixed
end pulling the loose end towards you). If you added a twist with each
loop, then by the time you got near the fixed end, it would all be a
twisted mess, having suffered an accumulation of anti-twists (you can
easily convince yourself of this by imagining a rope tied between two
fixed points, then grabbing it in the middle to apply a twist - then on
one half of the rope the lay will get tighter, on the other it will get
looser).

What would be OK, though, and is the recommended method for coiling
stiff stuff like electric cable or water hose, is to give a positive
twist to the first coil, then a negative twist to the second, and so
on, alternating positive with negative so that the overall effect
along the whole length of rope is neutral.

One of the methods of tidying a rope is to roll it up on a drum (this
is the preferred method for garden hose). Having done this, it is
imperative that the rope, when next needed, should be taken off the
drum the same way, i.e. tangentially, so the drum revolves in the
opposite direction. What you should not do is remove the rope
axially, such as by laying the drum flat on the ground (axis vertical)
and unwrapping the loops up off it. Depending on which side of the drum
is uppermost, the uncoiled rope will have its lay tightened or loosened.
Likewise if you were to wrap rope onto a drum axially, you should
not then unwind it tangentially.

One traditional method of coiling rope is not into the hand but flat
onto the deck (or ground). This is equivalent to wrapping it axially
onto a drum, and leaves each loop neutral while adding and subtracting
a half twist to alternate half-loops. Laid rope is usually flexible
enough to absorb these half-twists without trying to lie in figures of
eight as a stiff cable or hose would want to do.

On Feb 20, 7:15*am, "john reeves" wrote:
This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from B &
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel them up
and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every time you
reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? *It has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

TIA


HB

On Fri, 25 Feb 2011 10:17:07 -0800 (PST), Higgs Boson wrote:

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

Yes the twist/counter twist method of coiling then flat not hung on a
hook. Unless said hook is fairly broard, couple of inches wide and
curved.
A velcro based wrap is useful to keep the bundle tidy. *Do not* tie
an end around the bundle it will damage the cable over repeated ties
and time besides which a knot works loose.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:05:11 -0000, Gareth Magennis wrote:

I doubt that you mean that literally for hand coiling, it would be
too damn heavy!

Not coiling the multi by hand, but doing the same over/under twisty
thing whilst coiling it into its flightcase.

Ah right the multies I use are kept on drums not in flightcases.
Flightcases would take up more space in the cable tender. Even a
small outside broadcast will have half a dozen or more 8 pair multies
up to a few hundred metres long depending on the venue.

--
Cheers
Dave.

You mean 'losing'.
--

On 2/28/2011 7:19 AM, Roy Bailey wrote:
You mean 'losing'.

Shhhh, don't give it away, everybody's still giggling. ^_^

TDD

On Feb 25, 1:17*pm, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Feb 20, 7:15*am, "john *reeves" wrote:





This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from B &
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel them up
and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every time you
reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? *It has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store *ordinary household extension cords?

TIA

HB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have two 25 foot outdoor extension cords that I keep on orange cord
reels.

I "installed" the cords as follows:

I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
...
On Feb 25, 1:17 pm, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Feb 20, 7:15 am, "john reeves" wrote:





This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured from
B &
Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel them
up
and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have been
stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every time
you
reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do that
successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with this? It has
crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has lost what
flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

TIA

HB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have two 25 foot outdoor extension cords that I keep on orange cord
reels.

I "installed" the cords as follows:

I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

.................................................. .................................................. ........

BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE.

If you are only using your lead for a short period over a short distance and
with a small load and you leave it coiled, 'sort of OK'

However, if you are running a large load, Electric Fires etc, uncoil THE LOT
and snake it out.

I had an 100 Metre extension lead made just as you described. Some
boatbuilders borrowed it to run an Electric Fire in their 'tea room'.
Overheated and buggarred up the complete reel. "Mike this has burnt out.
Have you got another one?"

I am much too polite to print here what I said ;-)

Mike


--

....................................
Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive
....................................

DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Feb 25, 1:17 pm, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Feb 20, 7:15 am, "john reeves" wrote:





This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured
from B & Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel
them up and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have
been stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted
and frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after
time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every
time you reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to
do that successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with
this? It has crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and
has lost what flexibility it did have once.

I read through this interesting thread dealing with heavy-duty cords/
cables/ropes.

Is there a "right" was to store ordinary household extension cords?

TIA

HB- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have two 25 foot outdoor extension cords that I keep on orange cord
reels.

I "installed" the cords as follows:

I put the plug end through one of the holes in the side of the reel,
and left about 6 feet hanging out. I then wrapped the rest of the cord
around the reel in the normal fashion. Once the cord is fully coiled
on the reel, I wrapped the 6 feet that was hanging loose around the
reel.

What this allows me to do is unwrap the 6 foot length that has the
plug, plug it it into an outlet and lay the reel on the ground. I can
now un-reel only as much of the receptacle end as I need.

The reason for the 6 feet is that all of my garage receptacles and and
the receptacle under my raised deck are 4 - 5 feet off of the ground.
If I started wrapping the plug end tight against the reel, I'd have to
unwrap the full cord in order to plug it in.

having the lead in a coil on the drum can be dangerous if you use anything
over a kilowatt for more than a few minutes.