Old school way

Hi all,

I saw some work done by an old school sparky the other day, who has been in the trade for over 30 years. One of the tricks he used for fixing cable to joists e.t.c was to nail in small loops of twin and earth along the joists, and then he would simply thread the new cable through these loops. Has anyone else seen this method, or uses it ?? And would the current regulations allow this as a suitable fixing method ?
 
Yep hit it, twist it a bit, hit it, twist it a bit and so on and so forth. Takes ages but as 'wise says, they can be a lot more accurate, no drill buggering off up the wall when you're starting your hole.
 
wonder what today's young sparks would do if we took away their plastic clips, rawlplugs ( yes we made our own out of bits of scrap wood), power tools ( brace & bit for wood. hammer and rawlplug tool for brick) , and digital all singing & dancing meters.

now you are talking my language. i remember those days, still have the marks on my hand after using hamer and rawl plug tool for days on end.
 
Seem to recall the NIC...or maybe IEE frowning on the practice of using loops of cable........but providing it is done with care I cant see a problem.......
Takes me back to the days when the only time the old wind up megger came out was when you switched on and it went bang!......happy days:o
 
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Had to use "spit" guns on concrete ceilings when I was an apprentice - does anyone still use them, the type that hammers in a rawlbolt type fixing that you then screw a bolt or studding into ? used to go home looking like a ghost
 
How to get yourself in to trouble
Give a wet behind the ears apprentice a rawl drill to install new lighting in the intake sub. Soon got fed up with the hammer and rawl drill so pinched a 110 drill from the workshop. A bit of bodging and codging I wired it in to the 11KV metering supply. North Western Electricity were not impressed.
 
Was taught that way as a nipper. Wouldn't use it myself, and haven't beyond site work back in the day when it was acceptable.

The principle behind it was (equally applicable today) - cable is EXPENSIVE and not to be wasted. The offcuts were used to hold cable, as they'd already paid for the cable and didn't have to pay for clips or bands too.

Fairly sure it wouldn't stand up as a permanent fixing mind.
 
I use a scutch on an almost daily basis. I've got the chisels and a hammer. They are brilliant tools if anyone doesn't have one I recommend they get one.
 

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