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hobbyfarm · 07-01-2005, 09:42 AM

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Would this technique work well on 1/2" diameter conduit? )</font>

Anything less than say, 1"conduit use a different technique! Use a fish tape to pull with. This is especially true with metal conduit. Lots of edges inside that can catch the cable. PVC is much smoother.
When running new conduit, try not to make any more 90's than you have to. When you have (in the total conduit run) 360 or more degrees, that's a very hard pull without special tools, and that's with cable-pulling lube (BTW, liquid hand soap works great, so no special product is needed).
If while pulling, you get stuck, don't yank on the cable. Usually all this accomplishes is it pulls the string off the cable. Just pull the line back a foot or so, and give it a quick pull, repeat if necessary.
There's all sorts of stuff that they'll sell you to put on the end of a pull string, but for small cable like telephone/security/Ethernet cables, the best attachment method is the remove the outer jacket 8" or so and split the conductors in half and then twist them together to form a loop and tie to the loop. The more twists the better. Discard this loop when done pulling. Do I have to say - if you are pulling from a box or reel DO NOT CUT until the cable is like 90 percent installed. Sometimes you may need another few feet and splices suck. Just always remember to be generous with your cable and try not to be King Kong while pulling, steady pulling is the key.
If I sound experienced, well, for the last ten years, in a typical year I pull say, 12 miles of various types of telephone/fiber cable.

07-01-2005, 09:42 AM	#13 (permalink)
hobbyfarm Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Hidalgo County, TEXAS Posts: 1,447	Re: Electrical Conduit Question </font><font color="blue" class="small">( Would this technique work well on 1/2" diameter conduit? )</font> Anything less than say, 1"conduit use a different technique! Use a fish tape to pull with. This is especially true with metal conduit. Lots of edges inside that can catch the cable. PVC is much smoother. When running new conduit, try not to make any more 90's than you have to. When you have (in the total conduit run) 360 or more degrees, that's a very hard pull without special tools, and that's with cable-pulling lube (BTW, liquid hand soap works great, so no special product is needed). If while pulling, you get stuck, don't yank on the cable. Usually all this accomplishes is it pulls the string off the cable. Just pull the line back a foot or so, and give it a quick pull, repeat if necessary. There's all sorts of stuff that they'll sell you to put on the end of a pull string, but for small cable like telephone/security/Ethernet cables, the best attachment method is the remove the outer jacket 8" or so and split the conductors in half and then twist them together to form a loop and tie to the loop. The more twists the better. Discard this loop when done pulling. Do I have to say - if you are pulling from a box or reel DO NOT CUT until the cable is like 90 percent installed. Sometimes you may need another few feet and splices suck. Just always remember to be generous with your cable and try not to be King Kong while pulling, steady pulling is the key. If I sound experienced, well, for the last ten years, in a typical year I pull say, 12 miles of various types of telephone/fiber cable.