Put a folder clip on the talk key on your company radio so you can not accidently play everything you say over the air.
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Put a folder clip on the talk key on your company radio so you can not accidently play everything you say over the air.
LMAO! I can only imagine what Ms. Lizzy can say. Heh. Too funny.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lizzy Borden
The ratchiting handle on a set of isolaters is actually one of them there rodeo wrenches ya pay a hundred dollars for if ya buy one. But I'm sure no one is gonna take one from greed.
My trick of the trade is to always have a rope sling in your bucket it will get you out of more binds than superglue well it least it has for me cause its the best extra set of hands you have
Ya know Swamp, you n I think alot a like! Although I hate to admit it! LOL
I too like a set of 6' comies with a bulldog grip. The new guys make up comies to extend way out to almost 25' ! Way too much rope for me! And a bulldog grip will fit about anything! Ya ever see the leather strap comies that Halls Equipment sells? A nice setup also.
Swamprat the set I have on my bucket are 25-30 feet long and they are great when you need em I used them the other day transfering triplex from the second story of a house to a new mast riser on an addition without having to let the service down across the road by myself !! But I am going to get me a short pair just like you use for those times you just need a little bit of rope!!
http://www.hallssafety.com/
they are under blocks n tackel, only they are nylon now a days.
I;m a old groundman and my trick is to cut little hole in my glove to send up splitbolts,cotter keys,copper sleeves and all the little things dropped off the pole.Can;t teach the young guns where to put the handline when on a pole they hang it at there feet.Lord help us . LOL
When cutting in a inline dead end [hot with gloves] to sectionalize a peice of line, turn the shoe upside down to put the nuts on saves going to the tool tray or calling down to the grunt for dropped nuts.
work safe or not at all spur
years ago when I was working for corn tractors and we had to drive rods to achieve a reading of 25 mega ohms or 5 rods which ever came first, we used to hold a 3/4 head hex nut to the end of the first rod as we set it on the ground. The nut being slightly bigger than the 5/8 rod made driving ever how many rods you were driving easy, since all you were actually driving was the nut its self. From the contractors stand point we were achieving the goal, but in reality the ground wasn't as good because less surface of the rods was actually touching earth. That is the difference between quality work and contractor UNIT work.
Back in 63 when I started, an old lineman showed me to get an old solid rubber ball (soft) and stick all the groundwire nails and clips in it. That way you pull out a nail and clip each time without digging in your ditty bag among all the other junk (Split bolts,scrap wire ends, etc.) If he was an old Lineman in 63, just think how old this trick of the trade is. LOL
I Use This Sometimes When Troubleshoting A Line For A Temp Opening.i Put A Wrap On Both End Off The Bells And Wrap Them On To The Wire.then Cut The Wire In The Middle And Bend Tails Up .no Hoist Need For Now.works Great Off The Wood Or In A Bucket.the Line Is Grd And Dead.be Safe.
Sounds like a neat trick there Polehiker, think I'll borrow one off my boys sponge road hockey balls and give it a try.
Swamprat you just hit on something that is in need of me getting up on my soapbox and talking about!!! To all lineman and apprentices listen and always make this your number one priority when you are building any type of line work remember to build everything like you were in your hooks !Why you ask if you turn all your hot line clamps toward the pole when you have to climb it you wont be cussing because its turned away from the pole and make you do something you shouldnot have to in the first place !It only takes a minute to look down and see that maybe if you turned the the cutout a little it would make it a little better for when you cant get your bucket there just like running underground cables up the pole look up from the ground first and see where you would have to be to do the work in your hooks and move it to another spot leaving the good climbing spot open!! Sorry for rambling on but if we all worked this way it will make it better when someone else has to come back{maybe you} and climb it and the first thing he sees is it was built out of a bucket and its damn near impossible for him to do out of his tools!!!
man that sure is a lost art there. thinking about the next guy till some nite in a hell of a rain u have to climb up and low and behold the sorry sob that short cutted his work and now u gotta work ur ass off because of him.teach the new guys to think about the next guy it may be you.
Couldn't have been better stated Farky, I do the work right the first time as I might be back up there again if I didn't.Quote:
Originally Posted by farky
Hey Swamprat started linework in june of 77,i work on bucket truck with two lineman now almost 23 yrs. Was digger derrick operater for 5 yrs. Love to watch young guns work on the ground so funny ,like seeing myself years ago.The work has come a long way. My frist foreman was old school started in the late forty,s had to walk the line with him.
One thing that can be helpful if you don't wear a chin strap on your hard hat is a piece of number 6 copper bent to form a hook. You can hang this in your toolboard and hang carter keys on it. Make it longer and you can hang nuts on it that come off your deadend shoes or 3 angle shoes.
Your lineman ratchet will come in handy when you are needing to bend some half inch guy wire. Just take the short tail that was left and pry it out with your flat head and slip your wrench over it with the small hole down. Now you can get some leverage to bend it out and bond your guys. This is probally violating some saftey rule as it is improper use of a tool, but we don't do that sort of thing do we? (Myself? I bought my tools to use.)
This tool is simple. It is just a twelve inch by half inch bolt. I wrap tape around it a the head for a thicker grip. Countless times I have used it to drive out old bolts, tighten hotline clamps or remove Jhooks. Countless times I have seen people use a 5/8" bolt to remove another 5/8" bolt only to have to remove the one they drove in. Bolt was free, tape was free. This is probally violating some saftey rule as it is a makeshift tool, but we don't do that sort of thing do we?
This tool is handy for removing staples, straightening squares and removing carter keys. You will probally drop the carter key so keep some extras. I only use it for that when I am trying to remove one that I is difficult to get with my hand or difficult to get to with my kliens once the hand fails me. (Square Cleves.) Tool reads ENDERES E5 5/8.
Reminds me of my fourteen years on nights... Many a cold rainy night when I was out der by my lonesome, I'd refuse a switch, n when I'd close it, it'd drop open... I discovered if'n ya held it up der just barely open you could draw a small arc N weld the barrel to the switch... Probably some of em out der still holdin... Later when one of em did drop back open I knew to dodge that order til daylight.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamprat
From all dem years of trouble shootin URD drops, I put another pain in the gazoo out der for the enjoyment of future trouble men... When you are diggin lookin fer the drops ya gotta stop N figure out which ones ya have as you come to a set of wires... When hookin up new services we started markin the wire wit colored tape... So I'd take the excess ya cut off, mark it wit tape... lay it in the trench just below the surface with the ends barely stuck up under the transformer pad... Right when a fella stuck his shovel in the ground he would think he knicked the drops... I just imagine their faces when they discover after ten min's of careful diggin that it is a fake set of drops... There is thousands of em out der that way...
When jackstrapping a small conductor to the insulator, don't use your good bulldogs. Use a service catchoff. Troublemen never get their grips back from the line crews.
Time to share some knowledge with you guys.
Ever reconductor an existing line, complete with pole change-outs? Yeah. I thought so.
Here is one of the tricks from up my sleeve.
I have seen many men struggle with the effort of transfering a transformer from one pole to another.
I have seen guy rig two hoists. or a set of blocks, drop the tx to the ground, then pull it up the new pole.
Bah Humbug!
Generally the new pole is taller. Rig a tx gin off that pole (after the primary has been tranferred). Cut the old pole just above the tx.
Next. get a strain on the tx from a hoist rigged off the new pole.
Then, tie off a tag line to the grunts, who love to pull things, to the tx.
Call for the chain saw! Cut the old pole just below the tx, using a snap cut.
Get the grunt to get a strain on the tx against how it's going to swing.
Snap the pole, let the grunt ease off the tag. The tx, still bolted to a small section of pole will gently swing into position on the new pole .
Just back off the tx bolts from the small old pole section, remove it, and throw it at a grunt.
Jack the tx into position on the new pole and...well I hope you can take it from here.
I've got a million of 'em.
A rigging fool.
Linetrash :cool:
a small but useful trick. When installing a bridle guy on a two pole structure, after your pole buddy has his on his pole take the guy wire put it over your belt stretch it to were it should go bend it and install a preform [only with a couple of wraps incase you have to re do it] at the bend. Make sure that the bolt for the guy hook is not tight and install the preform as you tighten up the guy hook it will tighen up the bridle make sure the nut is on the outside makes it easier to tighten.
work safe or not at all Spur
Hey linefriends,
I've been reading the forums for quite sometime and have really enjoyed them. Thought I would share this trick with everyone. With URD wire, such as 1/0, remove the jacket and wrap the end of the concentric just enough that it will fit in the end of your cordless drill. Tighten down the drill and drill forward. It tightens the concentric tight and fast. Works really well.
P.S. This is my first posting, hope I went about it right.
Stratcat
Hey guys,
We get alot of real hard cca (green poles) now at our utility.It can be a real pain to drive date nails,copper ground wire staples,and underground shield lags into these things they call cca poles.I have gotten into the habit of spraying wd-40 on these things before you drive them in with your hammer.
We do this on new construction/dead work only.
On a new roll of tri-plex the end of the wire has two rubber caps on the hot legs,these are nice to slip on temporarily to some tri-plex up on the pole were you have cut the hot jumpers and the customer is doing an upgrade and you will be back later in the day to hook ' em back up,saves a little time and aggravation with tape while on hooks.They fit nice on the handles of channel locks on your belt so you can grab them easy to.3/0 underground wire caps fit real well on your sidecut/dikes handles to , seems to give them a better feel with rubber gloves on to,plus you can easily find your sidecuts when everybody's tools are mixed up on the ground. :)
Easy one, some don't know about! Got a M.F. nut or pal nut twisted on tight? Loosen 3 turns off regular nut, then turn your lineman's wrench upsidedown, place on bolt, and hit with your hammer! Presto, the nut is staight again, and will come off with your fingers! :D
How 'bout this one guys.
Ever have those pain in the ass pole butts that broke at ground level? You know, the ones that you have to dig down about 18 inches, wrap a chain around it and if you are lucky the chain might grab. If your chain slips, try cutting a notch in the butt with a chain saw giving the chain something to grab or try hammering a ground rod through the center of the butt, grab the ground rod with a little mule grip and pick that with your winch.
Works for me!!!
How about this Maverick. Position your truck so an outrigger is over the ground level pole butt. Press that sucker down about 3,4 inches and cover with dirt,go to lunch. I sure miss the old days!!!
Brings back memories Apples. Did a few that way myself.I also pulled a few with the ground rod trick too. Glad to see a few of the old tricks of the trade are still around. Bet these young'uns still push one down now and then too.
So that's the reason we hit a pole in the ground when we do a changeout... :)
I like to use some hardheads. I drive them in around the side and put a choker cable on it. Sometimes I put the auger on the ground and just yank it out. If it's rotten then it doesn't work so well.
I have found that if you drive a pipe of about 1 1/2' diameter about 2-3 ft into the butt and hook your pole chain around the pipe you can pull it right out. The local rea I work with just has some scraps of ridgid pipe and we leave them in the pole.
Ever fight trying to get a line hose on say 4/0 or 750 on any size really.A little glove dust sprinkled in the crack sure makes it slide on alot easier.
Dont come down the same way you went up
Koga
Another trick on your hoses,guts pigs etc {whatever else you call em} is when you get your new ones to look for the ones with the longer lips on the bottom open side they go on so much better !Just in case you dont understand look at your hoses and if you have two different types try them and you will feel the difference but if you dont glove dust will be your best friend
Just remembered this after reading a post by Koga about purple cuff URD elbows being a pain here is a little trick when installing the probe if you look at the probe from the white poly end you will notice where the poly meets the metal load carrying part that there are two dimples on them just find the dimple closest to the threads and this lines up with the hole in the probe where your installation tool fits remember this and you will never have to look inside elbows again to try to line them up it will always work
Tied in with a guy once, I did'nt know about glove dust on the line hose.
This guy dusted all his hose.
I went to slap on a gut .
Sucker was mid-span before I knew it.
glove dust works good but doesn't last ,try a silicone rag you use to wipe down sticks . works good and lasts a little longer than dust
Baby powder works real well also.
Be careful with baby powder, some of it contains
aluminum, which can create a problem.
Thanks SWAMPRAT.
Been yousing baby powder for 40 yrs.Never had a problem yet.
But I guess the next Generation Lineman see things We DIDN'T.
Probably not, since there's aluminum in most antacids.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swamprat
We've started using a silicone spray. Works 1000% better than powder. Just be sure to wait a min or two after spraying. The can says the gas is very flamable, so I don't think you want to put em on right away.
Just have your grunt swing them over his head like a helicopter for a little while.That ought to get enough air through them (plus it'll be fun to watch).
I'll get the name for you tommorow.
You should rub some of that baby powder on your ass. It'll help your chaffing, and it smells good!:-)